CHICAGO-Wrigley Co., a subsidiary of Mars Inc., has sold the 454,000-square-foot, iconic Wrigley Building downtown to an investment group led by locally based BDT Capital Partners. The sale price was not disclosed, but the building is reportedly worth about $40 million.
Wrigley will continue to lease space in the building through the end of 2012, while it relocates its global headquarters to the company’s campus on Goose Island in the city. The purchaser group includes Zeller Realty Group and Groupon/Lightbank founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. BDT is a merchant bank with a $2 billion investment fund.
A spokeswoman for the deal tells GlobeSt.com that neither Groupon nor any of the companies affiliated with Lightbank have immediate plans to relocate into the building. She refused to comment further.
Zeller, also based here, will spearhead a physical renovation of the office buildings as asset and development manager, according to a statement by Wrigley and BDT. As a part of the renovation plan, the purchase group intends to make improvements to the plaza between the two buildings and will optimize existing ground-floor retail in both buildings, according to the statement. The property is 60% occupied, and includes other tenants such as the consulate-generals of Austria and Ireland, and Proximity Chicago.
The complex at 400-410 Michigan Ave. was built in 1920 as the Wrigley headquarters, and was designed in the shape of the Giralda Tower of Seville’s Cathedral in Spain. The group will seek to gain a landmark designation for the property, the statement said, and will keep the building’s name in perpetuity. The sale includes both the building and 443 Wabash, an adjoining 1.5-acre lot. Jones Lang LaSalle and DLA Piper represented the parties in the deal.
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