The CTA is also looking to sell several properties along its L tracks and lease concession space inside the stations. The CTA decided to outsource its real estate services for the first time in its history, engaging JLL as an advisor last summer through a formal RFP process.

"Like any private or public entity, people are looking for ways to leverage their underutilized real estate in a way to generate revenue they can put back into their operations," Kurt Little, managing director with JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. "CTA is not immune to the economy today. We were brought on to look at their real estate, with the goal of maximizing the assets to the full extent possible and help reduce the budget shortfall."

The CTA is offering floors 10 through 12 of its West Loop headquarter, marketing the 35,000-square-foot floors for sale or lease toward government agencies or others. The space is divisible to 17,500 square feet. The CTA will continue to occupy the ground through ninth floors. Asking lease rates in the West Loop submarket are around $39 per square foot gross, and occupancy rates are near 88%, according to Cushman & Wakefield's year-end office market report.

Properties available also include several buildings along the CTA's brown line and others, some of which were purchased to allow for L expansions. Many of the buildings, including some near the L station on Armitage Avenue near Sheffield Avenue, offer a combination of ground level retail and apartments above. Land assets are also available for vertical or transit-oriented development.

Other opportunities exist to lease concession space in some of the CTA's stations to cater to the 160 million riders the public transit services each year. About two dozen such spaces are available for lease, many of which have been vacant for years. Little says other automated vendors, like ATMs and Redbox, have expressed interest in locating in the stations.

The Web site can be accessed at www.ctarealestate.com. Proceeds from all of the sales and leases will be reinvested into CTA expansion or capital improvements, Little says.