North Wells Capital inks anchor tenant for planned River North office building

Tech firm Spins will take up 48K sf, or 30 percent of the 150K sf building at 311 West Huron Street

311 W Huron Street (North Wells Capital, iStock/Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)
311 W Huron Street (North Wells Capital, iStock/Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)

North Wells Capital has locked in a Chicago tech company to a 48,000-square-foot lease at its planned River North office project, ending a more than two-year search for an anchor tenant at the 15-story building set to be completed next year.

Data technology company Spins will occupy the top three floors at the building planned at 311 West Huron Street, Crain’s reported. The company will take up over 30 percent of the 153,600-square-foot building. North Wells expects to break ground in April.

After landing an undisclosed investment last year from private equity firm Warburg Pincus, Spins started its search for a larger headquarters “that we could design to enhance our collaborative culture in a hybrid work environment,” said Spins CEO Tony Olson.

The company currently has just over 30,000 square feet of office space across multiple River North buildings, including North Wells’ 222 West Hubbard Street, according to Crain’s.

The new building will provide amenities including a fully equipped fitness center, a conference center with floor-to-ceiling windows and a lounge for group meetings.

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Spins’ expansion reflects a trend of tenants gravitating toward newer, amenity-heavy Class A office buildings.

The vacancy rate for Class A properties stood at 18.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, 9 percentage points lower than that of Class B buildings, according to Savills.

The building at 311 West Huron Street is part of a series of new and planned developments by North Wells totaling about 500,000 square feet along the CTA elevated tracks at Huron and Erie streets, which the developer has branded as Verso, according to Crain’s.

[Crain’s]