CHICAGO-Tishman Speyer has completed the acquisition of 353 N.Clark for $385 million, about $35 million less than it cost sellerMesirow Financial to build the tower that was finished in October2009. Mesirow had owed roughly $374 million from construction loansthat were coming due.

The 1.2-million-square-foot tower in the city’s River Northsubmarket was pre-leased to tenants that include anchors Jenner& Block and Mesirow itself. However, the property never gotfurther than its current occupancy of 79%. Bruce Miller, managingdirector with Jones Lang LaSalle, tells GlobeSt.com that it wasjust the perfect storm for the developer.

“The building was delivered in a tough leasing market, it wasreally one of the worst times we’ve seen in more than 10 years,”Miller says. “We took it from 65% to 79%, but just getting thatextra bit wasn’t possible in the market that we’re in.” Miller, JimPostweiler and Jascint Vukelich from JLL represented Mesirow in thesale, while Dave Hendrickson, Mike Melody and Jimmy Board arrangedacquisition financing. JLL had also managed and leased theproperty.