"The JF McKinney firm did an outstanding job for us and the former owners," says Loeb Partners chairman and president Joseph S. Lesser. "We strongly believe in hands-on management. We will manage Michigan Place locally and it will prosper locally. Our years of experience have proved that you can't manage a property on an absentee basis."

MB Partners was looking to expand its 17-million-sf leasing and management portfolio into the East Loop. "We feel that with the development of Millennium Park and recent residential structures, the East Loop is poised for revival and we plan to make Michigan Plaza a part of that revitalization," says MB Real Estate chairman and chief executive officer Peter Ricker.

Among the tenants in the 44-story buildings are Channel 32, the local Fox Network affiliate, as well as Blue Cross Blue Shield, MCI, Midas and Unilever. Part of the Illinois Center development, the buildings were constructed in the early 1980s by Metropolitan Structures.