Intercom messaging platform inks lease expansion in tech-friendly Fulton Market

Messaging platform service Intercom is tripling its footprint in Fulton Market, the booming district that has become a popular tech hub.

The San Francisco-based software firm that allows businesses to communicate with customers inked a
Lease expansion for 53,700 square feet in Sterling Bay’s former headquarters at 1330 West Fulton Street. Intercom has leased 17,700 square feet since 2017.

CBRE represented Intercom and announced the lease expansion. Crain’s first reported on the deal.

The new lease will allow Intercom to take over the current space, after Sterling Bay moves into its new headquarters, a 19-story building it developed, at 333 North Green Street.

Intercom initially opened a 4,800-square-foot office space in Fulton Market in 2016, then expanded into its current space a year later. The company employs more than 600 people in San Francisco, Chicago, along with Dublin, London and Sydney.

Sterling Bay, which developed 1330 West Fulton, sold the 300,000-square-foot building in August to German real estate investment firm Commerz Real for $175 million.

Office space in the West Loop — which includes Fulton Market — continues to outperform those in other parts of Chicago’s central business district. The West Loop accounted for nearly all of the more than 2 million square feet of new office space that was absorbed into the Downtown market last tear, according to MB Real Estate.

A handful of other tech companies have also recently announced big moves into Fulton Market area.

San Francisco-based freight tech firm Flexport plans to double its Chicago workforce when it joins Sterling Bay in a 40,000-square-foot space at 333 North Green.

Google is set to double its office presence with its move into two Sterling Bay buildings: 45 North Morgan Street and 1000 West Carroll Avenue, where it will occupy all 800,000 square feet comprising both office towers.