GlenStar Properties and Oaktree Capital Management are looking to sell the Chicago Board of Trade Building, reportedly seeking more than $330 million.
A sale at that price would be more than double the $152 million that Chicago-based GlenStar and its then-partner USAA Real Estate paid in 2012, according to Crain’s.
GlenStar spent $35 million upgrading the building, located at 141 West Jackson Boulevard. In 2014, Los Angeles-based Oaktree replaced USAA as partner in the property, and together with GlenStar took out a $160.8 million mortgage on it. The venture refinanced the debt in 2017 with a $177.7 million loan, according to Crain’s.
The 44-story building serves as the cornerstone of the Financial District, where office landlords are bracing for an uncertain future with the looming departures of Bank of America, BMO Harris and Northern Trust. The three banks’ plans to leave their Financial District offices for newer downtown buildings by 2022 would leave 1.85 million square feet of office space in the area vacant.
The older buildings in the Financial District will have to vie for tenants against new, amenity-rich towers in River North, the West Loop and elsewhere, and landlords likely will have to spend to upgrade and compete.
The Board of Trade building is 21 percent vacant, well above the Downtown average of 13 percent, but was more than half empty when GlenStar bought it, according to Crain’s.
HFF is marketing the building. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien