Crown family, Tishman Speyer ink Origami Risk to office lease

The insurance tech company will more than double its footprint in the move to 222 North LaSalle

Lester Crown, Jerry Speyer, and 222 North LaSalle Street (Credit: Getty Images and Tishman Speyer)
Lester Crown, Jerry Speyer, and 222 North LaSalle Street (Credit: Getty Images and Tishman Speyer)

A joint venture of the Crown family and Tishman Speyer signed the technology platform Origami Risk to a 24,500-square-foot office lease at 222 North LaSalle Street.

Origami, a risk and insurance technology platform, is moving from 11,600 square feet in Vornado Realty Trust’s Merchandise Mart to the Downtown location later this year.

Origami said it had outgrown its space in the Merchandise Mart. Its new digs in the 26-story building, with average 39,000-square-foot floor plates, will allow it to house its employees on a single floor. The new location, known as the Builders Building for its former life as a construction materials showroom, has similar views of the Chicago River, similar to what Origami had at its existing space, the company said.

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Colliers International Chicago’s Dougal Jeppe represented the firm in the lease.

The Crown family is led by billionaire patriarch Lester Crown. It teamed up with Tishman Speyer in 2000 to buy the iconic 30 Rockefeller Plaza tower in New York.

Leasing in Chicago declined and rent growth slowed in the first quarter, raising questions for the Downtown office market, especially as millions more square feet of space are expected to deliver soon, according to an office market study from Savills Studley.