Henry Crown Scores Chicago Lease Expansion From Fintech Firm

Henry Crown and Company brushed off the Loop’s bleak office leasing landscape with a tenant’s second expansion.

Fintech company NinjaTrader is adding 15,700 square feet at 222 North LaSalle for a second time, bucking the post-pandemic trend of office downsizing. The expansion brings the firm’s space up to nearly 42,000 square feet, spanning a full floor in the 1 million-square-foot building.

Avison Young’s Chris O’Leary and Jeff Lindenmeyer represented NinjaTrader; Tishman and Speyer represented the landlord.

Ninjatrader previously occupied 6,400 square feet at 363 West Erie Street in River North before relocating to a 19,500-square-foot space at 222 North LaSalle in 2021. The firm added 6,600 square feet in 2023.

The city’s average office lease size has increased for the first time since the pandemic, a promising sign of resilience, O’Leary said.

It’s likely too soon to tell if the broader office market in Chicago is headed for a noticeable turnaround. The downtown office vacancy rate hit 26.3 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 23.8 percent at the end of 2023 and more than double the 13.8 percent rate recorded at the start of the pandemic, according to CBRE.

Henry Crown and Co. bought the 27-story building at 222 North LaSalle for $112 million in 2006 with a $100 million loan from the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America.

The investment firm dates back to 1959 and is tied to one of Chicago’s wealthiest families. One of its scions, the businessman and philanthropist Jim Crown, died in 2023, and his Gold Coast condo at 65 Goethe Street, was listed the following year for $17.5 million.