Inland Real Estate Exchange Corp. typically has a 10-year hold on properties. Inland was interested in the building for a number of reasons including the quality of the building and the location in the Chicago suburb of Geneva, an area where Inland owns several properties including a nearby shopping center, Cosenza says. The building has “an average 22-foot ceiling height which would be very welcoming to companies,” he says. Additionally, the “rent is at or below market,” he says, as the asking lease rate for the area is between $3.25 per sf and $4.50 per sf, net. The building is also on a 25-acre parcel. If Houghton Mifflin decided to vacate the building, Inland could possibly redevelop the entire parcel, Cosenza says.

Houghton Mifflin is one of many companies that have doing sale-leasebacks with Inland, including AT&T, Atlas Cold Storage, Cost Plus World Market and Citizen's Bank, Cosenza says. “These are companies that do not want the real estate on their books because it does not do them any good,” he says. By selling and leasing back the property, “you have the cash to be able to put it into the parts of the business that make you the most amount of money as opposed to brick and mortar.” Cosenza says Inland expects to do 432 more sale-leasebacks in the next couple of months but said he could not give more details at this time.