Commercial real estate firm Cresa relocates to Chicago from DC

Commercial real estate firm Cresa relocated to Chicago’s Fulton Market from Washington, D.C., joining companies that have signed leases for new amenity-filled buildings in the former meatpacking district.

Cresa is leasing 21,000 square feet at 167 North Green Street, a 17-story building developed by Shapack Partners Focus, according to Bisnow. The new headquarters will serve as a model for the firm’s future offices, the firm said.

The building is designed as a clubhouse that resembles the nearby boutique hotels rather than the typical corporate environment of the Loop. Cresa plans to spend 50 percent more per square foot for it than it did for its previous offices.

“Who wants to go to a sterile central business district?” said Tod Lickerman, CEO of Cresa. “This is an office that will be a magnet which people want to use and where they can work together with their colleagues.”

While Cresa plans to expand the number of employees three-fold to about 150 over the next couple of years, its floor plate is one-third the space that it originally thought it needed, taking into account a hybrid work schedule. That’s a choice faced by many downtown firms when leases expire because most employees prefer to work remotely at least some days a week.

Fulton Market tenants are paying more to occupy office space at new buildings equipped with lounges, rooftops, gyms, and private meeting rooms.It’s the only part of town where availability dropped last year and demand pushed up the average sale price per square foot to $678 in 2021, compared with the central business district’s $431.

Other firms that have leased in Fulton Market include local restaurant operator Gibsons Restaurant Group, which plans to lease 15,000 square feet at a yet-to-be constructed property at 917 West Fulton, developed by developer Fulton Street Companies. Proptech firm VTS signed a deal to lease 36,000 square feet at 320 North Sangamon Street, relocating from the 2,600-square-foot office at 312 North May Street.

Cresa has about 80 offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. It plans to keep its Washington office, where it moved into a 14,500 square feet space in 2019 at 1800 M Street NW after relocating from Boston.

[Bisnow]