Beacon Capital closing in on $182M deal for One Illinois Center

Franklin Street Properties put 303 East Wacker on the market earlier this year

Beacon Capital Partners CEO Alan Leventhal and One Illinois Center at 303 East Wacker Drive (Credit: Boston University, Wikipedia, and Hines)
Beacon Capital Partners CEO Alan Leventhal and One Illinois Center at 303 East Wacker Drive (Credit: Boston University, Wikipedia, and Hines)

Beacon Capital Partners is nearing a deal to purchase the 28-story One Illinois Center tower for $182 million.

The Boston-based company is betting it can attract new tenants to the Loop office building, now less than 70 percent leased, Crain’s reported Tuesday.

Franklin Street Properties put the property at 303 East Wacker Drive on the market for $185 million in April. The Wakefield, Massachusetts-based company bought the site in 2007 for $167 million, and has an equity investment of $82.8 million in the property, according to a 2016 letter to investors from CEO George Carter.

Bruce Miller and Nooshin Felsenthal of JLL are brokering the deal on the owner’s behalf.

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Beacon is also hunting for tenants to fill nearly 400,000 square feet of vacant space in the 29-story office tower at 515 North State Street, which it owns with Callahan Capital Properties and Ivanhoe Cambridge.

The firm has expanded its stake in Chicago office buildings in the past few years, most recently paying $163 million for the 20-story tower at 231 South Lasalle Street in one of Chicago’s top investment sales of 2017. [Crain’s] — Alex Nitkin