CHICAGO-A number of office tenants in the downtown have recently announced expansion plans, somewhat of a turnaround from the past two-to-three years of consolidations due to the economic downturn. However, brokers, while hopeful, are not willing to yet characterize this as a trend.

The law firm Pierce and Associates recently expanded from 50,000 square feet to almost 78,000 square feet at One N. Dearborn, a historic office building designed by Holabird & Roche in 1905. The company moved to the 249,000-square-foot building from 18 S. Michigan in 2003.

Steve Schneider with UGL Services Chicago says he has an easy excuse for the company’s success -- the firm mostly handles residential foreclosures for major institutions. “As the economy goes one way, their business goes the other,” he says. “They’ve had a pretty good run.” New attorneys and staff have been hired to grow the firm.

However, Schneider, who represented the tenant, says he still sees client use as unpredictable. “It depends on the niche that they’re in,” he tells GlobeSt.com. Gary Denenberg with MB Real Estate represented the building owner, the Chetrit Group LLC, in the lease transaction. Details were not disclosed.

Thomson Reuters (Healthcare) Inc., a division of Thomson Reuters, also signed a new lease for 40,695 square feet on the 14th floor. The healthcare data provider will be relocating from Evanston, IL.

AlphaMetrix Group LLC just announced that it has expanded to about 40,000 square feet at 181 W. Madison St. The firm had been in just the 34th floor of the building, and will now also occupy a portion of the 33rd floor at the 50-story building.

J. Frank Franzese and Steve Bauer with Cushman & Wakefield of Illinois Inc. represented the tenant in the move to the 85%-occupied building. Franzese tells GlobeSt.com he’s also not seeing enough expansion to be a trend. “We’re seeing confidence by companies, they’re not looking to lose space as much as they were in the past 18 months,You’re still seeing concessions out there,” he says. Denenberg also participated on this deal, representing owner GE Asset Management. Details of the lease at this one-million-square-foot tower were also not released.

Finally, in a move from 33 N. LaSalle St., insurance firm Binder & Binder is tripling its space to 12,143 square feet at 209 W. Jackson. The company is taking the entire fifth floor at the building for 11 years.