Buth and Kathleen Bertran, also with MB Real Estate, represented the building ownership. Ned Franke with Cushman & Wakefield represented the university. The lease included a tenant improvement allowance and some free rent, Buth says. The university is relocating its Chicago campus from the Apparel Building, 350 N. Orleans St., and is relocating its administrative offices from 20 S. Clark St. The university currently shares space with the Illinois Institute of Art.
"They are both under space constraints in the existing location. One of them needed to move," Buth says. "It made more sense to relocate Argosy and give [the university] its own identity." Argosy has 18 campuses in 12 states and also has a Chicagoland campus in Schaumburg.
The space on the 13th floors of the two buildings will be connected to allow people to move from one tower to another, Buth says. Classrooms, professors offices and the library will be in about 39,000 sf at 225 N. Michigan Ave. and administrative offices will be in about 21,000 sf at 205 N. Michigan Ave. Argosy will have about 10,000 sf on the upper concourse for admissions and information. The university will also have signs in the windows of the lobby space providing visibility to pedestrians on Michigan Avenue as well as people who take any of the 12 bus routes which pass the building, Buth says.
The two-building complex, which has a total of 1.9 million sf, is owned by Loeb Partners Realty LLC, based in New York City, which acquired the property in December 2004 for approximately $273 million, sources say. The complex is 81% leased. The largest tenant in the complex is Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) which occupies all of the second through the sixth floors at 225 N. Michigan in addition to parts of the eighth and ninth floors. BCBSA renewed its lease for 214,400 sf this fall, as previously reported by GlobeSt.com. Other major tenants in the complex are Unilever at 205 N. Michigan Ave. and advertising firm Cramer-Krasselt at 225 N. Michigan Ave.
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