On the surface, the $225 per sf price paid to a private partnership is rich compared to other recent suburban office sales. US Equities Realty also pegs direct vacancy at 21.6% in the submarket. However, the two buildings are 100% leased to the BB+-rated Acxiom Corp., the world's largest processor of consumer data. The 10-story, 206,500-sf building at 3333 Finley Rd. is five years old while the four-story 1501 Opus Pl. building was completed in 1989. They originally served as headquarters for May & Speh, which Acxiom acquired in 1998 for $625 million.

"These buildings have the advantage of having a solid, very long-term credit tenant in place in one of the best suburban locations in Chicago," says Wells Real Estate Funds chief investment officer David Steinwedell.

The eastern edge of the East-West Corridor is faring better than the western end, which includes Naperville and Lisle. Acxiom's buildings are located on 13.5 acres just north of the intersection of I-355 and I-88, among offices that includes the Illinois Tollway Authority headquarters, which Gov. Rod Blagojevich put on the market earlier this year.

New York-based Real Capital Analytics says Wells Real Estate Funds was the No. 1 buyer of class-A office and industrial real estate in 2002 and 2003. Locally, Wells' biggest purchase was the $462.5-million acquisition of Aon Center in 2003, as well as the Leo Burnett building in a deal worth $280 million.