In today’s commercial real estate market, Class A office buildings face a challenge that would have been almost unthinkable a decade ago: convincing people to come back to the office.
For the property management team at Chicago’s iconic Aon Center, the challenge was creating an environment people genuinely wanted to experience—not just work in. For more than a decade, Amlings has played a key role in helping transform the Aon Center from a traditional office tower into a hospitality-inspired workplace destination.
Working closely with Vice President and Property Manager Catherine Carlson and Senior Property Associate Linda Carlson, Amlings has helped elevate the building’s lobbies, amenity spaces, seasonal experiences, and tenant engagement through design-forward interior landscaping and holiday installations.
The result is more than a collection of plants.
It is a building experience designed to create community and reinforce the premium identity of one of Chicago’s most recognizable office towers.
The result is a building that feels warmer, healthier, more elevated, and more welcoming—while also helping strengthen tenant engagement in a post-pandemic workplace landscape.
For companies and property managers navigating similar challenges, the Aon Center offers a powerful example of how office plants can completely reshape the workplace experience.
The New Era of Tenant Amenitizing
When Catherine Carlson began her career in property management many years ago, the industry looked very different.
Property management has become much more hospitality-focused, she explained. Years ago, we might have offered an occasional treat like ice cream sandwiches in the summer. Now I have a dedicated team member whose entire role is creating experiences that engage and educate our tenants to enhance their daily workplace experience.
That evolution accelerated dramatically after the pandemic – and a new term emerged, tenant amenitizing.
Like many downtown office buildings, the Aon Center saw on-site occupancy numbers collapse during COVID-19. Before the pandemic, the building regularly welcomed approximately 10,000 people per day. During the height of remote work, that number fell to just hundreds.
Now, with office attendance recovering, the property management team is focused on engaging the growing number of employees returning to work. Before the pandemic, office towers primarily competed on location, prestige, and square footage. Today, its all about amenitizing and beautifying spaces and creating engaging experiences. It’s interesting to note younger generations prioritize community and meaningful workplace environments.
Property managers across the country are investing heavily in:
- Workplace wellness
- Hospitality-inspired amenities
- Flexible gathering spaces
- Employee engagement programming
- Wellness-centered commercial office design
- Biophilic interior landscaping
“Companies want to draw people back into the building,” Linda Carlson said.
Designing for a Landmark Property
The Aon Center is one of Chicago’s most recognizable skyscrapers, home to major tenants including Aon Corporation, Kraft Heinz, KPMG, and JLL itself. The fourth tallest skyscraper in the city, the building houses approximately 30 tenants and thousands of daily occupants throughout the workweek.
For a property of that scale and visibility, design expectations are exceptionally high.
That mindset shaped the partnership between Amlings and the Aon Center team.
Linda Carlson, who has worked at the building for nearly 11 years and oversees both interior and exterior landscaping alongside Catherine Carlson, said Amlings distinguished itself by combining creativity with operational reliability. “We want to have that wow factor. The Amlings team has been phenomenal, their designs are beautiful and interesting and you don’t see them anywhere else.”
For the Aon Center, that meant creating installations that complemented the architecture and elevated the atmosphere of the building rather than simply filling space with greenery.
The building’s landscaping program includes:
- Large-scale lobby displays
- Rotating orchid installations
- Succulent arrangements
- Moss ball installations
- Conference room plants
- Amenity floor landscaping
- Seasonal and holiday experiences
The goal was not only visual enhancement, but also emotional impact.
“The plants must do two things: they must be aesthetically pleasing and wellness-focused,” Catherine explained. “Many of our tenants prioritize sustainability and wellbeing, so incorporating plants into shared seating areas is important to them. They bring warmth, beauty, and a greater sense of comfort to the workplace.”
Research supports that impact. Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health has found that indoor environmental quality—including the presence of natural elements—can positively influence cognitive function and workplace satisfaction. The University of Exeter has also published studies linking office greenery to improved employee wellbeing and productivity.
Together, the research and tenant feedback point to the same conclusion: thoughtfully integrated greenery does more than enhance aesthetics—it helps create workplaces where people feel better, work better, and want to spend time.
Throughout the property, Amlings created layered interior landscaping installations designed to complement the architecture and elevate the atmosphere of the building.
The office plants program includes:
- Rotating orchid displays
- Succulent installations
- Large-scale fiddle leaf figs
- Moss ball installations
- Lounge greenery
- Lobby statement pieces
- Conference room plants
- Amenity floor landscaping
- Seasonal floral accents
The office plant installations are intentionally placed throughout key gathering and transition spaces.
According to Catherine Carlson, plants help soften seating areas and create more welcoming environments.
“We focus a lot on seating vignettes and adding plants to those spaces,” she explained. “It’s where people can go when looking for a place to meet someone.”
This is one of the most overlooked benefits of commercial interior landscaping.
Office plants do not simply fill empty corners.
When used strategically, they help shape how people experience a space.
An Amenity Floor that Reaches New Heights
One of the most significant developments at the Aon Center was the transformation of the building’s 70th floor into a dramatic tenant amenity space known as Cloud Level.
Completed in 2018, the space includes:
- A fitness center
- Conference facilities
- Tenant lounge areas
- Coffee and food service
- Evening bar service
- Multiple gathering and seating spaces
- Library
- Game Room
“It’s the highest tenant amenity floor in the city,” Catherine Carlson explained.
Amenity spaces are typically located on what are known as “dead” floors or middle to lower level floors – those that tend to be chosen last by tenants. Aon took a chance, and built the Cloud Level, and the result became one of the building’s differentiators.
With sweeping lakefront and skyline views, the space demanded equally sophisticated landscaping.
“The landscaping up there had to be dramatic and breathtaking too,” Linda explained. “Planters were specifically curated to have a very specific blue bowl for the plant display. Every finishing touch had to be elegant.”
Amlings helped create that atmosphere through carefully selected plant installations that reinforced the premium hospitality aesthetic of the space.
The installations included:
- Large fiddle leaf figs
- Orchid displays
- Statement containers
- Lounge area greenery
- Conference room plantings
The visual impact became so seamless that at one point, someone mistakenly assumed some of the fiddle leaf figs were artificial.
“They put our beautiful fiddle leaf figs in a closet,” Linda recalled, laughing. “I called Amlings in a panic, and they got them swapped out immediately.”
The story illustrates one of the key themes repeatedly emphasized by both JLL and Amlings: responsiveness. “There’s never a ‘we can’t do that’ from Amlings,” Linda said.
Creating Community Through Office Plants
At the Aon Center, landscaping is not viewed simply as décor.
It has become a tool for tenant engagement and community building.
One of the most successful examples has been the building’s orchid program.
Each month, orchid displays throughout the property are refreshed with new colors and arrangements. Once replaced, the orchids are offered to tenants through the building’s tenant mobile app.
“The message will say we have free orchids on a first come first served basis and they are snapped up in seconds,” Catherine said. “It’s a great way to build community among everyone.”
Over time, the program has become so popular that tenants have learned the replacement schedule.
“They don’t even wait for the announcement anymore,” Catherine said. “They come up to the property management office, in search of the orchids.”
The enthusiasm reflects a broader shift in workplace culture – workplace wellness and beautification.
Employees increasingly expect office environments that feel healthier, calmer, and more human-centered.
At the Aon Center, plants became part of that broader wellness conversation.
“There’s a trend of wellness and bringing wellness into corporate America,” Catherine said. “Plants provide oxygen and give the impression that it’s a healthy environment.”
This connection between office plants and wellness is one reason biophilic design has become such an important concept in commercial office design.
Biophilic design refers to incorporating natural elements into built environments to help reconnect people with nature.
Examples include:
- Indoor greenery
- Living plant walls
- Natural materials
- Natural lighting
- Organic textures
- Outdoor-inspired gathering spaces
“Any time we do something with plants, we get a good response rate,” Catherine explained. “There’s a trend of wellness and bringing wellness into corporate America, and certainly plants do that.”
That same response carried over into tenant events.
Amlings partnered with the Aon Center team on educational programming, including a tenant plant propagation class.
“It was one of the better attended events we’ve ever had,” Catherine said. “We had to turn away many people.”
Linda echoed the success of those programs.
“Our Earth Day vendor fair is always popular when Amlings participates,” she said. “I ask and they do it. There’s nothing more you want from a vendor than that.”
The events reinforced the building’s emphasis on wellness, sustainability, and workplace experience—all themes increasingly important to office tenants.
Holiday Installations as Destination Experiences
Perhaps no part of the partnership better illustrates the creativity and scale of the relationship than the Aon Center’s holiday program.
For years, Amlings has worked with the JLL team to transform the building into a seasonal destination experience.
“We call it the Disney of the Aon Center,” Catherine said.
The process begins months in advance.
Each year, Amlings develops themed concepts complete with visual storytelling presentations and sketches.
“The Amlings team always presents it in such a storytelling way,” Catherine said. “It’s so hard to pick one.” The resulting installations extend throughout the building’s amenity spaces and public areas, creating interactive moments designed for photography, social sharing, and tenant engagement.
One particularly memorable year featured:
- Giant illuminated angel wings
- A large-scale sleigh installation in our plaza
- Oversized decorative frames
- Photo vignette areas throughout the building
“We received high praise from our leasing agents.” Catherine recalled.
Linda remembered another favorite installation involving oversized illuminated twig balls that were a new installation to the property’s holiday display. “I fought for those,” she said. “When they were installed, a manager who questioned them came up and hugged the Amlings team because he loved them so much.”
Measuring Success
For the property management team, success is ultimately measured through tenant response.
“When tenants and other property managers ask me who does the landscaping,” Linda said, “that’s success.”
She also pointed to comparisons with competing properties.
“We always love when we look better than our neighbors.”
The feedback often becomes deeply personal.
Linda recalled one tenant who recently relocated from the building.
“She told me, ‘I’m going to miss your Christmas so much. The building is so beautiful.’”
That emotional connection reflects something broader happening across commercial real estate. The future of the workplace is not just about work.
It is about how a space makes people feel.
The Operational Side of Commercial Office Plants
Behind every successful office plant program is an enormous amount of operational coordination.
This is especially true in large commercial office buildings.
At the Aon Center, Amlings regularly coordinates with:
- Security teams
- Dock management
- Engineers
- Electrical systems
- Lift operators
- Property management staff
Clients want vendors who:
- Understand commercial building logistics
- Communicate proactively
- Solve problems quickly
- Minimize disruption
- Maintain high presentation standards
Linda Carlson emphasized how important that reliability has been.
“There’s never a ‘we can’t do that’ from Amlings,” she said.
That responsiveness became especially important during the pandemic.
Even as budgets tightened and occupancy declined, the building still needed to feel welcoming.
Amlings helped the property management team adapt by:
- Extending rotations strategically
- Maintaining existing installations
- Adjusting seasonal programming
- Preserving the visual experience despite budget pressure
That partnership mindset helped the building continue delivering a premium workplace experience during an incredibly difficult period for commercial real estate.
Ready to Elevate Your Space With Office Plants?
If your building, office, or hospitality space is looking to create a more welcoming and hospitality-driven environment, Amlings can help.
From dramatic lobby installations to workplace wellness enhancements and seasonal experiences, our team creates office plant programs tailored to your architecture, brand, and audience.