CHICAGO—As reported in GlobeSt.com yesterday, GlenStar Properties LLC has been transforming the Chicago Board of Trade Building from a property dedicated to the trading firms that had clustered about the city's exchanges into a modern office tower with a diverse group of tenants. And later this year the company will unveil even more renovated space in the tower.
"We started off the year at about 70% occupied," Christian Domin, who oversees leasing at the building, tells GlobeSt.com, "and now we are at about 77% leased. Although trading firms still come to us for new leases, including ones that are not trading firms per se, but ones that are on the high-tech end of it, we have a much more diverse base."
GlenStar bought the 1.3 million square foot building at 141 W. Jackson Blvd. in 2012, after the occupancy had sunk to just 61%. It renewed a great number of the smaller, existing leases, launched a major renovation effort, and began bringing in new tenants such as the multifamily company AMLI Residential, and Data Stream LLC, a technology services company, among many others.
And 2016 should be another big year for the building. In April and May, GlenStar will deliver another 65,000 square feet of speculative office space, which has proven popular in the recent past. "We deliver these spec suites in waves and they get occupied very quickly," Domin says. The suites are full-gut rehabs that cater to the needs and wants of modern office users, and include exposed ceilings, lots of glass so light can flow through the offices, and a great deal of open, collaborative space. "We put in all the bells and whistles that new tenants want."
Renting out the spec suites will by next year help GlenStar get the CBOT building up to 85% leased, and perhaps as much as 90%, he adds. "We have already had a great year, and with the macro economic environment so strong, we think we will do just as well in 2016."
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
