Eversheds Sutherland locks in Central Loop lease

Global firm will take up 21,000 sf

Eversheds Sutherland' Marc Benjamin with The Franklin
Eversheds Sutherland' Marc Benjamin with The Franklin (Eversheds Sutherland, The Franklin)

Eversheds Sutherland will reach new heights in Chicago.

The firm inked a lease for the top floor of The Franklin in the Central Loop. It will occupy 21,000 square feet at the Tishman Speyer-owned 227 West Monroe Street tower.

Terms of the lease were not disclosed.

Eversheds has had an office in the city since 2019 at 900 North Michigan Avenue, where it occupies 18,500 square feet. The move will offer a little more elbow room for growth according to the firm and its broker, Savills’ Isabel Preskill.

“The new office will support our continued growth trajectory in the city in the years to come as we look to expand our Corporate, Litigation and Real Estate Groups, as well as bring new service offerings to our clients with interests in Chicago and the Midwest,” Eversheds Sutherland’s Marc Benjamin said in a statement.

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Preskill echoed a similar sentiment in the same statement.

Built in 1989, the two-tower high-rise at West Monroe Street and West Adams Street has been home to big-name tenants including Amazon, Morgan Stanley and Madison Capital Funding.

While Eversheds chose a building in the Central Loop, second-quarter reports from commercial brokers JLL, MBRE and Newmark showed that office buildings in the West Loop and in River North drew the most leasing. Class A and trophy offices made up 90 percent of new leases in the second quarter, according to JLL. The West Loop includes Fulton Market, one of the country’s fastest-growing office districts.

Still, JLL broker Todd Mintz predicted that demand for buildings in the Central Loop would increase as a low-cost alternative to the city’s newest developments achieve more rapid absorption.

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