A law firm leaving the Loop for Fulton Market was unthinkable among many of Chicago’s commercial real estate players a decade ago.
Yet one of the biggest, Greenberg Traurig, confirmed its move to the city’s hottest office neighborhood with a 90,000-square-foot lease at Sterling Bay’s 360 North Green, a transaction The Real Deal was first to report was in the works in May.
The deal advances the transition of the area’s perceived image as a tech hub into a home for some of corporate America’s biggest traditional commercial real estate tenants, as it will soon feature a mix of Googlers, McDonald’s office workers and professional service employees from Boston Consulting Group and the law firm.
“We were ready for a change that fosters fresh collaboration and a sense of community,” Greenberg’s Rita M. Powers said in a statement.
Greenberg is departing its home for more than 20 years at 77 West Wacker Drive to make the move, expected to be complete in 2025, and handing a big hole to fill for Its current landlord, the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System.
The retirement system bought a stake in the Wacker Drive tower at a $280 million valuation in 1999, and still owns the property.
Sterling Bay targeted professional services firms as tenants for 360 North Green, where it has its 500,000-square-foot office project still under construction. It landed one of the city’s biggest as its anchor, when Boston Consulting Group opted to take about 250,000 square feet in the building and depart its longtime home at 300 North LaSalle Street.
With the Greenberg deal, 360 N. Green is 70 percent pre-leased while still in development.
While Greenberg will become Fulton Market’s biggest legal services tenant, barring any larger leases being struck before its move-in, a smaller deal last year set in motion the neighborhood’s embrace from attorneys. Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright last year struck a lease to open a small outpost for a team of 11 attorneys at Fulton Street Cos. 1045 West Fulton Market Street.
Bob Chodos, Steve Levitas, and Julie Grauer of Newmark represented Greenberg in leasing negotiations, while Jessica Brown and Russell Cora represented Sterling Bay.
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