CHICAGO-In its effort to move 400 employees downtown, Motorola Solutions Inc. has signed a letter of intent for 24,000 square feet at the Santa Fe building at 224 S. Michigan Ave. The company will lease space on the seventh floor of the 388,000-square-foot building in a 10-year deal, a Motorola Solutions spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com.

Motorola Inc. split into two companies in January 2011. Motorola Mobility, the cell phone arm of the company, stayed in its headquarters in Libertyville, IL, while Motorola Solutions has its headquarters in Schaumburg, IL.

The latter firm said in June that it will bring 400 jobs to Chicago by the end of 2012. The spokeswoman says the company will have 100 employees at the Santa Fe office, added to the 100 employees already at 233 N. Michigan Ave.

She says that the move was made to accommodate the recent trend of younger employees wanting to live downtown. “While we have a large employee presence at our global headquarters in Schaumburg, we have chosen to keep and expand our downtown offices to continue to attract and retain employees who live in the city,” she says. “Even employees who live in the suburbs use the city offices from time to time. We also value the space for hosting meetings with customers and community organizations.”

The spokeswoman says she can’t comment on the efforts to bring the rest of the 400 to the city. Hamilton Partners represented the building owner, the University of Notre Dame, which has its Mendoza College of Business in the 18-story tower. Other tenants include architect firms such as VOA Associates, Goettsch Partners and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Instant Insights /

Motorola Solutions Takes 24,000 SF at Santa Fe

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