Bentall Kennedy is seeking $140M for its suburban office building

The massive complex is part of a 100-acre campus in Downers Grove

3500 Lacey Rd and Bentall Kennedy CEO Gary Whitelaw (Credit: LoopNet and We Need Both)
3500 Lacey Rd and Bentall Kennedy CEO Gary Whitelaw (Credit: LoopNet and We Need Both)

Bentall Kennedy is looking to sell its massive Downers Grove office building for $140 million, entering a suburban market that has seen rising rents despite some large corporate defections.

Toronto-based Bentall listed the 583,000-square-foot Esplanade II building at 3500 Lacey Road with HFF, according to sources familiar with the property.

Sara Lee Corp. once leased 80 percent of the building but left for the West Loop in 2012. Sports nutrition company Glanbia Performance Nutrition Inc. in 2014 took over 70,000 square feet of Sara Lee’s former space, Crain’s reported at the time.

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The building is part of Hamilton Partners’ 100-acre Esplanade at Locust Point development at the intersection of Interstates 355 and 88. In addition to the Bentall building, the complex includes 3 million square feet of offices, a DoubleTree Suite Hotel, a fitness center and daycare center and more, according to Hamilton.

The suburban office market has been hurt in recent years by corporations leaving for the city, but suburban rents have held, growing 7 percent year over year to post a record high of $23.01 in the third quarter, according to a report from Newmark Knight Frank.

Earlier this year, Group RMC bought the three-building Executive Towers West in Downers Grove from Blackstone Group for $84 million.