Glassdoor, Waystar giving up Fulton Market offices with subleases

Even Chicago’s swanky Fulton Market isn’t immune to pullbacks on offices spurred by the hybrid and remote work policies decimating many commercial landlords.

The latest cuts in the trendy neighborhood come via new sublease offerings totaling 63,000 square feet by two different tenants at 1330 and 1375 West Fulton Street.

Glassdoor, a company that allows employees to share anonymous reviews of their workplaces, is offering up a total of 44,000 square feet it rents across both those buildings, while Waystar, a provider of healthcare payment software, put space in 1330 West Fulton on the secondhand market.

Even though Fulton Market has mostly withstood the challenges to the office scene brought by the pandemic, there are still a fair share of firms “rightsizing” in the neighborhood and making additions to the record 8.3 million square feet currently listed on Chicago’s secondhand inventory.

Many tenants that want to make long-term cutbacks to their office size and rent costs try to bring in a subtenant to take over space if still in the middle of a lease term.

For companies on the hunt for offices in a hot location such as Fulton Market, the Glassdoor and Waystar listings may be a timely opportunity. Ready-to-lease space from landlords in the neighborhood is in short enough supply that developers Fulton Street Cos., Shanna Khan and JDL — sensing the area’s demand — made it the site of the only new major office project in Chicago to break ground last year.

Glassdoor previously occupied the sixth floor and still occupies part of the seventh floor at 1330 West Fulton as well as the 11th floor in the Trammell Crow-owned 1375 West Fulton, and it is seeking a new tenant to move into some of the space. It previously subleased some of its sixth floor space to another tenant.

CBRE Marketing materials show that the company wants to sublease 26,000 square feet of its 11th-floor space at 1375 West Fulton, and 18,000 square feet of its 7th-floor office space at 1330 West Fulton. The listings make up about half of the overall space the San Francisco-based firm leased in 1375 West Fulton and about a third of its lease at 1330 West Fulton.

The lease term for its 1330 West Fulton Street offices ends in October 2030, while the lease term for 1375 West Fulon was listed as negotiable. Rental rates weren’t included in the marketing materials, but sublease rents are usually a little less than leasing directly from a landlord. Kyle Kamin and Dan Persa of CBRE are representing the listing.

Meanwhile, on the third floor of 1330 West Fulton, Waystar is working with JLL to sublease its entire 19,000-square-foot space. JLL’s Scott Becker is handling the sublease. The current lease ends December 2030. The rent is listed as negotiable.

Glassdoor confirmed it’s subleasing the spaces but company representatives weren’t immediately available for further comment. Waystar and brokers for both the companies offering the subleases didn’t return requests for comment.

Fulton Market has staved off much of the financial troubles facing the Loop’s office market, where distressed buildings are more rampant. A growing retail and restaurant scene in Fulton Market promoted a live, work, play environment that drew in tenants such as Tik Tok, Kimberly Clark and Calamos Investments. But in recent months, a series of sublease offerings have tested the limit of that growth.

In December, food packaging company Hazel Technologies listed its 57,000 square foot office space at Tishman Speyer’s 320 North Sangamon for sublease.

A month prior, New York-based global advisory firm Kroll listed 47,000 square feet of office space for sublease at Jeff Shapack’s 167 North Green Street.

When that listing hit the market, at least three other companies were already marketing chunks of their offices in the trendy neighborhood, including British public relations firm WPP, upscale convenience store company Foxtrot and networking services firm Hologram.

The nine-story, 290,000-square foot 1330 West Fulton was developed by Sterling Bay and opened in 2017. In 2019, Sterling Bay sold the building to its current owner, Commerz Real, for $175 million, nabbing one of the priciest commercial transactions in Chicago that year. Trammell Crow built the 14-story, 301,000-square-foot 1375 West Fulton with a $94 million construction loan issued in 2019, and it was 98 percent leased last month when MonoSol, the company behind tech used in products such as Tide Pods, leased a 35,000-square-foot space in the building.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the firm offering the third floor space at 1330 West Fulton Street for sublease.

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