CHICAGO—Sterling Bay has made itself into one of the city's most important developers. It will soon open the new global headquarters for McDonald's in the West Loop, one of several company projects transforming the office landscape and helping create new submarkets. And its latest move, the $510 million acquisition of the mammoth riverfront headquarters of Groupon at 600 W. Chicago Ave., will also bring changes to the city.
“This is the type of asset we can see ourselves holding long term,” Keating Crown, a Sterling Bay principal, tells GlobeSt.com. The large floor plates of the approximately 1.65-million-square-foot former warehouse are highly sought after by tenants that want to locate all of their employees on only one or two floors. The property is already 94% leased. In addition to Groupon, tenants include Echo Global Logistics, Uptake Technologies, Jump Trading, Big Ten Network and venture capital firm Lightbank.
But Sterling Bay wants to do more than just collect the rent. In addition to renovating the lobby and other common areas, it will transform how neighborhood residents and passersby interact with the building, located on the east side of the Chicago River's North Branch.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
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.
