Walgreen Co. has started to move part of its e-commerce team to an office in downtown Chicago from the company’s suburban headquarters, in hopes the new location will be more appealing to city-loving web professionals, the drugstore retailer said today.

“Downtown is where a lot of e-commerce and technology people would like to be,” a spokesman says. “This is a way to attract and retain the top talent in the e-commerce space.” The move, he adds, could help attract graduates from the state university system who otherwise might move to the West Coast or other areas.

Walgreens, No.68 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, has signed a long-term lease for 20,000 square feet in an office building in Chicago’s Loop, a company spokesman says. He declines to detail the length of the lease but press reports said it would run 10 years. The first e-commerce team members moved in late last month, with 65 expected to work from the new location. The office has space for 85 employees, the spokesman says.

Most of the e-commerce team will remain in the company’s Deerfield, IL, headquarters, the spokesman says. He was unable to say how many employees worked for the e-commerce team.

Since hiring former Dell Inc. executive Sona Chawla as vice president of e-commerce in 2008, the company has been boosting its online retailing presence, including adding Health Shops that offer information about various ailments and launching mobile commerce services.