CHICAGO—Tech companies throughout the city have been expanding in recent years, but often landlords in traditional tech hubs such as West Loop and River North don't have enough space to accommodate their needs, opening up opportunities for owners in the Central Loop. Synthesis Technology, for example, just decided to move from the West Loop into the heart of downtown after it found a landlord willing to have a large spec office ready for occupancy at extremely short notice.

“They have been west of the river for over ten years,” Craig Nadborne, senior managing director, Bradford Allen Realty Services, tells GlobeSt.com, and employees appreciate the timbered ceilings and open feel of their current office at 820 W. Jackson Blvd. But the need for more than its 7,200 square feet has brought the company to the Bank of America building at 135 S. LaSalle St., where Nadborne recently helped it complete a long-term lease for 11,133 square feet of space on the 20th floor. Melissa Rubenstein and John Beason of JLL represented the building's ownership.

“This building has done what many Central Loop buildings have done,” Nadborne adds, namely, taken down drop ceilings, giving another foot-and-a-half of volume overhead, and remodeled the entire space to make it as aesthetically pleasing as comparable space in River North or West Loop.

Synthesis, which offers marketing operation solutions for investment management companies, had been prepared to move to 205 W. Wacker Dr., but that deal fell through, Nadborne says. “But the people at 135 LaSalle did all the right things and went after the client aggressively.” Instead of giving a tour of a raw spec space, they showed Synthesis a refurbished office with everything the company wanted. The deal was signed in just three weeks. “Landlords who have their spaces prepared ahead of time always benefit.”

Synthesis will move into its new Loop space this month. The 44-story, 1,258,205 square-foot building has a distinctive Art Deco lobby as well as modern amenities like a fitness center and conferencing facilities.

Nadborne points to 55 W. Monroe St. as another property where ownership has put in a special effort to provide the type of atmosphere which will attract firms accustomed to less-traditional office space. And Blue Star Properties has decided to reconfigure the former home of Chicago Public Schools at 125 S. Clark St. in the Central Loop into creative office space and could have the 507,920 square-foot building ready for new occupants later this year. “It will hit the market at just the right time,” Nadborne says. “A lot of landlords are jumping on the bandwagon.”