The stock exchange's 112,403-sf lease restructure was completed nine years prior to its lease expiration at the Central Loop building, says Studley, which represented the exchange. Studley was able to negotiate a deal with Jones Lang LaSalle, which leases and manages the property for Beacon Capital Partners, to reduce the exchange's lease by 10%, dropping 40,000 sf that had been subleased to several firms, including Merrill Lynch. The subleasing firms now have signed direct leases with Beacon, says Lisa Davidson, executive managing director with Studley.
"As the stock exchange gets more toward using technology, they have less of a need for real estate," Davidson tells GlobeSt.com. Her partner in the deal, Studley executive vice president Rick Schuham, put it more bluntly. "[The] excess space was causing an unnecessary financial burden," he says. The exchange left offices on the ninth and 32nd floors of the 39-story building, but will continue to occupy the fourth, fifth and eighth floors.
Also, Commonwealth Edison renewed for 26,163 sf and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency extended its lease of 36,526 sf. Joe Learner, executive vice president with Studley, worked on both deals with Schuham. Mark Gunderson, senior vice president and Michael Curran, vice president with JLL represented Beacon in the transactions. None of the participants would discuss the exact lease rates, but Davidson says the average building rates are in the mid- to upper-teens, net.
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