Suburban Value-Add Office Now Getting Looks

2625 Butterfield in Oak Brook was formerly known as Butterfield Office Plaza.

CHICAGO—Buyers are setting their sights on value-add office properties in the Chicago suburbs, another sign that the area, at least in some key submarkets, has healed from the recession. Clear Height Properties, a local firm that has specialized in buying and renovating small industrial properties, has just acquired a four-property, $30 million, 522,000 square-foot Chicago suburban portfolio which includes a suburban, multi-story office property, the 201,800-square-foot building at 2625 Butterfield Rd. in Oak Brook, formerly known as Butterfield Office Plaza, and more than 320,000 square feet of flex properties in Elmhurst, Bensenville and Willowbrook.

The company has owned office property in the past, but this is its first multi-story building. And although it’s 81% occupied, the new owners feel it can do even better after a significant renovation, partly because they feel many Chicago residents, especially the young, are now more likely to move out of the city.