Corporate Makeover: Ulta Beauty expanding suburban headquarters

Ulta Beauty is expanding its Bolingbrook headquarters, a win for a suburban office market that has lost major corporate tenants to Downtown Chicago in recent years.

Ulta, which operates a chain of beauty supply stores, will add 70,000 square feet to its lease at Tallgrass Corporate Center, 1000 Remington Boulevard in Bolingbrook. The expansion brings its footprint in the office complex to about 379,000 square feet, according to a press release from Colliers International, which brokered the expansion.

The additional space will help Ulta attract and retain employees, Colliers Principal Frederick Regnery said in a statement. The deal comes as corporations continue to overhaul their offices and amenity offerings to help recruit workers.

Ulta has maintained its headquarters in the Tallgrass Corporate Center since 2008. Building owner Middleton Partners is working to build a new tenant lounge in the complex, according to a press release. Middleton bought the 533,000-square-foot complex in 2016 for $65 million, the Daily Herald reported at the time.

Ulta is choosing to stick in the suburbs even as other large corporations, including McDonald’s and GE Healthcare, have left for Downtown.

Despite some high-profile corporate relocations, the suburban office market held steady in 2018, with vacancy rates unchanged and rents actually creeping up. After losing major tenants like AT&T, some suburban office landlords have worked to redevelop their properties into mixed-use developments.

Colliers’ Regnery, Ryan Barr and Alain LeCoque represented Ulta in the lease expansion, and the brokerage’s Francis Prock, Dave Florent and Brent Jacobs represented Middleton Partners.