Office listings in a time of vacancy

Vornado Realty Trust’s Steve Roth lamented the dearth of distress investment deals in the market during the company’s quarterly earnings call Tuesday.

While those cut-rate prices may not exist, in Chicago’s battered office market, opportunity abounds.

Another two office buildings hit the market, both on North LaSalle Street, Crain’s reported. The listings come at a time when the office vacancy rate in the first quarter hit 16.1 percent, a level not seen in 15 years.

Fortress Investment Group and Hearn are selling the 700,000-square-foot 2 North LaSalle Street, and BentallGreenOak is listing its 160,000-square-foot 100 North LaSalle Street, the publication noted.

JLL is marketing the 26-story 2 North LaSalle, with the owners eyeing $200 million. Chicago-based Hearn partnered with New York-based Fortress in 2016 to recapitalize the Harbor Group-owned building with a $42 million investment. Three years later, the City of Chicago consolidated offices into 2 North LaSalle, where it took 222,000 square feet.

Cushman & Wakefield has been tapped to sell 100 North LaSalle, which BentallGreenOak acquired from Hearn in 2016 for $32 million. The listing price is in the range of $20 million, according to the report. The nearly century-old building is 60 percent leased.

Other office buildings have hit the market in recent weeks. Late last month, American Realty Advisors listed its 520,000-square-foot Fulton Market complex that serves as Google’s Midwest headquarters. It was asking around $360 million for the property, according to reports.

And Missner Group has nixed a planned West Loop warehouse conversion, choosing instead to list the 115,000-square-foot building.

[Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman