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UBS shedding 100K sf at Downtown office building in latest cutback
The Swiss banking giant has reduced its space several times in the Irvine-owned tower at 1 North Wacker Drive
UBS is shedding 100,000 square feet in a Downtown office building, the latest big company to cut back on the amount of space it leases.
The Swiss banking giant now leases about 275,000 square feet in the 50-story tower at 1 North Wacker Drive under a 10-year deal that began in 2012, according to Crain’s.
UBS was one of the original anchor tenants when the building opened in 2001, cutting back to about 393,000 square feet in 2012 and shedding another roughly 80,000 square feet since then. The tower is now owned by Newport Beach, California-based Irvine Company Office Properties.
A number of big firms in recent years have reduced the amount of space they lease Downtown, led by large law firms that have compressed by 23 percent on average, according to Crain’s.
Other firms have joined the trend: Bank of America is shrinking its Downtown space when it takes 500,000 square feet at the new tower under construction at 110 North Wacker Drive and BMO Harris is looking to consolidate its Chicago footprint into Riverside Investment & Development’s planned Union Station office tower, leaving behind 356,900 square feet at 111 West Monroe Street and 417,000 square feet at 115 South LaSalle Street, according to MBRE.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is the largest tenant at 1 North Wacker, with 317,000 square feet. The building is almost 90 percent leased, better than the 87 percent average for Downtown office buildings.
Downtown office rents and vacancy rates have remained steady despite the lease reductions, thanks in part to the overall surge in Downtown job growth. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien