Going once: Auctioneer lists her Fulton Market office, testing demand

The last few months have been like a gut punch to the Chicago office market, whose vacancy rate climbed to 15.1 percent in the second quarter. Fulton Market, which has attracted a flurry of new office development from the likes of Sterling Bay and Shapack Partners, has not been immune. In the last couple of months, two companies have either downsized or abandoned their planned leases, citing the pandemic.

Now, auctioneer Leslie Hindman is putting her 36,000-square-foot Fulton Market office property on the market, according to Crain’s. The headquarters of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers could test whether demand is still strong for offices in what remains one of the most popular districts in the city.

The property could be rezoned for a development as big as nearly 200,000 square feet. SVN Chicago Commercial is marketing the two connected buildings, at 1332 and 1338 West Lake Street, according to the report. The buildings are on about half an acre of land, and could fetch $11 million, similar to what other properties sold for pre-Covid, Crain’s reported.

This marks the second time that Hindman has tried to sell the same buildings. She attempted four years ago, hoping to ride a wave of development activity in the area, Crain’s noted. But the buildings never sold. A year later Hindman sold her majority stake in the auction house, which she said now intends to exit the space.

The property at 1338 West Lake Street was purchased for $2.4 million in 2007 and 1332 West Lake Street was acquired for $1.5 million six years later. [Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman