Three Expand to 55,000 SF at Executive Towers

Infrastructure management firm Column Technologies Inc. expanded its corporate headquarters space to 10,608 sf at Executive Towers III; Maxim Mortgage Corp. kept its space at Executive Towers I and moved into more offices at Executive Towers II for 14,307 sf; and the engineering firm Burns & McDonnell expanded its space at Executive Towers I to 30,172 sf.

According to Steve Schnur, senior vice president with Duke, the average lease rate in the complex is $14 net. He tells GlobeSt.com that the suburban office market in the Chicago area has made some huge gains in occupancy. "We started 2006 at 84% leased, and ended with 96%. Of course, I'll say that it was due to the efforts of our team, but I think it shows the suburban market has made a comeback."

Schnur says the office construction activity also shows the strength of the suburban market. He says his firm is working on four projects in the suburban Chicago area. Duke recently completed a build-to-suit for GSA near O'Hare International Airport, is under construction with a 140,000-sf build-to-suit for Hospira in Lake Forest, is also about to start construction on a 100,000-sf office building in Lake Forest (one-third of the building is leased, Schnur says) and has a 40,000-sf speculative building under construction in Warrenville.

Scott Marshall, senior leasing representative from Duke, says the companies involved in the Executive Towers deals are on their second and third expansions at the complex, located at the northeast corner of Interstate 355 and Interstate 88, off of Finley and Butterfield Roads. Rebecca Klein with Commercial Realty Advisors represented Burns & McDonnell.