Gap eyes the former Urban Outfitters space on State Street in the Loop

Gap appears to be planning another store on State Street, this time in a storefront across from Target. A city permit filing shows the retailer applying for space at 20 S. State St., the former Urban Outfitters store in the Loop, What Now Chicago reported on October 2, 2026.

Gap has not announced the store or named an opening date, and What Now reported no comment from the company. The storefront is on the west side of State Street between Madison and Monroe streets, about two blocks west of Millennium Park. What Now placed the space on the same block as Foot Locker and Five Below. The outlet also pointed out that Gap Inc. owns other chains, including Old Navy and Banana Republic, so the storefront could end up carrying one of those names instead.

These are the basics as of October 7, 2026.

• The address is 20 S. State St., on the west side of the street between Madison and Monroe.
• Urban Outfitters, the previous tenant, closed the store during the pandemic.
• Gap already runs a Gap Factory store across State Street and one block north, at 17 N. State St.
• Gap Inc. owns Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta as well as Gap, according to the company’s website.
• The CTA’s Monroe Red Line station is on the same block.

What the city’s permit records show

What Now did not publish a permit number, a cost or a filing date. The city’s building permit data on the Chicago Data Portal, last updated October 6, 2026, has no permit at 20 S. State St. that names Gap or any other Gap Inc. brand. That dataset covers only permits the city has issued, so an application still under review would not appear there yet.

The newest permit on file for the address is more than seven years old, and it ties the space to the previous tenant. Here is what that record says.

• The record is permit No. 100807736, an elevator equipment permit issued March 6, 2019.
• The work was a fire service upgrade, required under a 2017 city mandate, on one three-stop hydraulic passenger elevator.
• Schindler Elevator Corporation is listed as the elevator contractor.
• Urban Outfitters, with a Philadelphia address, is listed as the owner.
• The reported cost is $0, and the fees paid total $405.

Gap’s most recent Loop opening shows what the paper trail can look like once a project moves forward. For the Gap Factory store at 17 N. State St., the city issued the main interior build-out permit on March 19, 2025, about six weeks after the application, with a reported cost of $861,396. Sign permits naming Gap Factory followed in June and July 2025, and Axios Chicago reported in late September that the store had opened the month before.

What is confirmed and what is not

The reporting so far splits into a few firm facts and several open questions.

• What Now Chicago reported a city permit filing for Gap at 20 S. State St. on October 2, 2026.
• City records list Urban Outfitters as the owner at the address on the 2019 elevator permit.
• Gap has made no public announcement, and What Now reported no comment from the company.
• No published source has named the brand, the size of the store or an opening date.
• The city’s issued-permit data showed no Gap permit at the address as of October 6, 2026.

How Urban Outfitters left State Street

Urban Outfitters left during the pandemic. The Real Deal reported in June 2022 that the chain was among several that had closed State Street stores in that period. In April 2026, Stone Real Estate principal John Vance counted Urban Outfitters among more than 15 retailers that had left the corridor since 2020, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Neither report gave an exact closing date or a reason for the exit.

The old tenant still shows up in places. The state’s Enjoy Illinois tourism site continues to list an Urban Outfitters at 20 S. State St. The company has also pulled back elsewhere in the city: The Real Deal reported in January 2026 that the Urban Outfitters at 1100 N. State St. in the Gold Coast was closing that month after the lease ran out.

Gap’s earlier stores on State Street and Michigan Avenue

This would not be Gap’s first run on State Street. The company closed a store at 35 N. State St. on February 23, 2017, DNAinfo Chicago reported at the time. That report said the owner of the property had considered a high-rise for the site when buying it in 2011, and a Gap spokeswoman said the company regularly evaluates the store fleet. Gap came back eight years later with the Gap Factory store at 17 N. State St., which Axios Chicago, citing Crain’s, reported as planned in February 2025.

On Michigan Avenue, the Gap flagship at 555 N. Michigan Ave. opened in 2000, and ABC7 Chicago reported in December 2020 that the store would close at the end of the following month. In February 2026, CoStar News reported that Gap, gone from the avenue since that January 2021 closing, was in advanced talks to lease 8,325 square feet at 700 N. Michigan Ave., a former T-Mobile store. CoStar cautioned that the deal was not done and could still fall apart, and Time Out Chicago repeated that caution in March. Gap’s store locator does not list a Michigan Avenue store as of October 7, 2026. Other national chains have been signing leases on the Magnificent Mile this year, including Lululemon at Tribune Tower.

Where Gap Inc. has stores in Chicago now

What Now counted three Gap stores in Chicago, and that matches the company’s store locator. The locators for all four Gap Inc. brands list a dozen stores in the city.

• Gap’s locator lists a Gap store at 3416 N. Southport Ave. in Lakeview and Gap Factory stores at 2778 N. Milwaukee Ave. and 17 N. State St.
• Old Navy’s locator lists five Chicago stores, none of them in the Loop.
• Banana Republic’s locator lists two factory stores, at 108 N. State St. and 2720 N. Clark St.
• Athleta’s locator lists two Chicago stores, at 901 W. Weed St. and 3415 N. Southport Ave.

City records point to more Gap work on the North Side. Gap Inc. is listed as the owner-occupant on a $683,212 interior build-out permit issued May 21, 2026, for ground-floor retail space at 659 W. Diversey Pkwy., in the city’s Lincoln Park community area. Low-voltage wiring permits issued in August and September for 659 and 655 W. Diversey refer to a Gap store, but Gap’s locator does not list either address yet. The city also issued interior alteration permits in July and September for the existing Gap store on Southport Avenue, covering fitting rooms, the checkout area and the second floor.

State Street’s retail picture

The filing comes as State Street’s vacancy numbers improve but stay high. The Loop’s retail vacancy rate fell from 29.8% in 2024 to 28.5% in 2025, according to Stone Real Estate figures cited by the Sun-Times in April, and vacancies along State Street dropped from about 35% to 28.8% over the same stretch. At the same April summit, Vance named Barnes & Noble and Gap as major retailers with plans to open on State Street this year. The Sun-Times account did not give an address for a new Gap store.

The Chicago Loop Alliance’s quarterly reports track the same slow climb. The alliance’s fourth-quarter 2025 report said the number of vacant storefronts on State Street fell 13.7% from the third quarter, and the third-quarter 2025 report singled out the new Gap Factory store among recent openings. In a July 21, 2026, release on the second quarter, the alliance said daily pedestrian counts on State Street averaged about 82% of 2019 levels, with weekends at 105%.

These are some of the larger State Street retail moves of the past few years.

• Old Navy closed the State Street flagship on January 24, 2023, after opening there in 2012, CBS News Chicago reported.
• Gap Factory opened at 17 N. State St. in August 2025, according to Axios Chicago.
• Target’s store at 1 S. State St. received a $3.4 million alteration permit on December 3, 2025, for layout changes, refrigerated grocery cases and a coffee area, city records show.
• A vacant retail building at 213-227 S. State St. was sold to a longtime Loop occupant that plans a community center there, according to Chicago Loop Alliance reports.
• Barnes & Noble opened a two-floor store at 150 N. State St., in the former Old Navy space, on August 19, 2026, Retail Dive reported.

Getting there

Transit is the simplest way to reach the block, since the Red Line runs directly under State Street.

• The CTA lists the Monroe Red Line station at 26 S. State St., on the same block as the storefront.
• The Washington/Wabash station at 29 N. Wabash Ave. serves the Brown, Green, Orange, Pink and Purple lines.
• The Blue Line’s Monroe station is at 114 S. Dearborn St., a block west of State Street.
• CTA bus routes J14, 20, 56, 60, 148 and 157, plus northbound 151 buses, connect at the Monroe Red Line station.

What happens next

If the city issues a building permit for the space, the record will appear in the same public dataset, with the applicant, the contractors and the reported cost. What Now said the outlet would update the story if more details about the store come out.

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