Seven-Office, $280M Deal Includes 200 N. LaSalle

The 30-story LaSalle building, at the northwest corner of West Lake and North LaSalle streets, is 92% leased, and includes tenants such as St. Paul Travelers, AMA Insurance Inc., Broadwing Financial Services and Interpark Holdings. Younan says his firm is bullish on Chicago, and plans to invest $2 billion more in the city in the next six to 12 months.

"We've identified Chicago as a recovering market," Younan tells GlobeSt.com. "It's a primary office market. It was hit by the recession, but we feel the market bottomed in early 2005. There's been positive absorption in the past three quarters, and we see significant growth in office employment and the manufacturing base." For further acquisition, Younan says he's going to look at every major asset being sold in the Chicago area for more than $100 million. "Well be the buyer waiting in line to get a crack at it. We're looking at properties such as 2 N. LaSalle and the John Hancock Building."

The 2.1-million-sf portfolio was purchased from Transwestern Investment Co. The Transwestern portfolio includes three office towers in Dallas and four buildings in Chicago, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.

The purchase boosted the total of its office holdings to eight million sf. Younan will now own 12 office properties totaling 4.7 million sf in Dallas and eight Chicago assets totaling nearly two million sf. The Dallas assets that Younan bought from Transwestern total approximately one million sf. They include three buildings called Energy Square I, II and III at 4925 and 4849 Greenville Ave. and 6688 N. Central Expressway.

The Chicago assets are 1600 Corporate Center at 1600 E. Golf Rd. in Rolling Meadows, Bannockburn Corporate Center at 3000 Lakeside Dr. in Bannockburn, Kensington Corporate Center at 1160 Feehanville Dr. in Mount Prospect and 200 N. La Salle in the Loop.

Younan represented itself in the acquisitions. Steve Livaditis and Blake Johnson of Eastdil Secured represented Transwestern.