River Point Gets First Global Corporate Hdqs.

CHICAGO—One of the CBD's most anticipated office developments just scored its first global corporate headquarters. Mead Johnson, one of the world's largest manufacturers of infant formula, will relocate from suburban Glenview to River Point, at the corner of Lake and Canal Streets in Chicago's West Loop area, according to officials from Ivanhoe Cambridge and co-investor and developer Hines. The company has leased three floors, or about 75,000 square feet of office space, and will move in mid-2017.

Attracting a global headquarters, especially one coming from the suburbs, “makes a statement about the building and how tenants feel about it,” Hines senior managing director Greg Van Schaack tells GlobeSt.com. The 52-story, 1.05 million square-foot building is now 55% leased, and the developers expect to reach 95% by the time it opens in late 2016. Tenants looking to occupy a full floor or two floors are starting to ramp up their decision-making process “so we expect to have more things to announce in the coming weeks and months.”

Other major tenants include the law firms DLA Piper and McDermott, Will & Emery.

Mead Johnson was represented in the transaction by J. Frank Franzese, Steven C. Bauer and Aaron N. Schuster from Cushman & Wakefield. The owners were represented by Van Schaack, Tom D'Arcy, Jim Walsh and Laura Hines from Hines.

“The rents are the highest in the city,” Van Schaack adds, since it is substantially more expensive to build product now than during the last building boom. Although Van Schaack can't give details on the Mead Johnson lease, he did say that the net rental rates are between $33 and $40 and about $55 to $60 gross. However, River Point will provide column-free floor plates that will help new tenants consolidate operations and shrink their footprint. “That's really the key,” since the more efficient use of spaces will offset the higher costs. "That's what these firms want."

And for those prices, tenants will also get access to a set of distinctive amenities. Perhaps most important, in addition to a club-quality fitness center, restaurants and a conference center, River Point will include a 1.5-acre public park and a 600' landscaped river walk. “We call it an urban campus, or almost an urban oasis,” Van Schaack says, which recreates some of the better aspects of suburban office parks. And the river site ensures that the sweeping views will never get blocked by a new tower. “It's clearly a unique environment.”

"River Point Tower offers the right combination of quality location, infrastructure, services and amenities for the global headquarters of a fast-moving, fast-growing, high performance company like Mead Johnson," says Jeff Jobe, Mead Johnson's senior vice president, technical operations.

“We're very confident it will be full by the time we open,” says Van Schaack.