Chicago Illinois Real Estate Blog

With two deals totaling about 85,000 square feet, developer Hines Interests L.P. is close to making 300 N. LaSalle St. more than 90% leased eight months before the scheduled completion of the riverfront skyscraper.

In the larger of the two transactions, London-based insurance giant Aviva PLC plans to open a new North American headquarters in the 60-story, 1.35-million-square-foot tower, sources familiar with the transaction say. Aviva is close to signing a lease for about 50,000 square feet, those sources say, moving from a temporary office at 77 W. Wacker Drive.

Meanwhile, AlixPartners LLP has signed a lease for nearly 34,000 square feet, moving its Chicago office from 181 W. Madison St., according to real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Inc., which represented the New York-based turnaround consultant. The company’s local workforce has grown to 82 employees, from 51 when the office opened in 2003, Bruce Denuyl, a managing director in Chicago, says in a press release.

The rapidly growing firm, which has annual revenue of $500 million, signed a 10-year lease, according to real estate research firm CoStar Group Inc.

Todd Lippman, an executive vice-president with CB Richard Ellis, represented AlixPartners.

Aviva bills itself as the world’s fifth-largest insurance group, with annual sales of $98.4 billion and assets under management of $724.6 billion as of Dec. 31. Aviva also has offices in Des Moines, Iowa, and in Toronto.
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Eric Kunkle, a principal in the Chicago office of Staubach Co., which represented Aviva, declined to comment.

Anchored by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, 300 N. LaSalle is expected to be completed March 1. The law firm originally signed a lease for 625,000 square feet, but has since added two more floors, totaling about 50,000 additional square feet, CoStar says.

Once the Aviva lease is signed, the building will be 91.5% leased, based on calculations from CoStar.

Executives in the Chicago office of Hines and with Chicago real estate firm J. F. McKinney & Associates Ltd., which handles leasing for 300 N. LaSalle, decline to comment.
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