Thor Equities’ Fulton Market Chicago Hotspot Lures Loop Tenant

Baker Tilly is finalizing a lease that would relocate its U.S. headquarters to Chicago’s Fulton Market District while shrinking its space.

The London-based accounting and advisory firm is close to signing a deal for over 25,000 square feet at 800 West Fulton Street, a 19-story building developed by Thor Equities and completed in 2021, Crain’s reported.

The lease would mark a major tenant exit for Michigan Plaza, at 205 North Michigan Avenue in the Loop, owned by a venture of Buffalo, New York-based investor Patrick Hotung. The firm occupies over 50,000 square feet across three floors in the 44-story building.

The move aligns with a post-pandemic shift toward smaller offices, particularly among professional services firms adapting to hybrid work. Downtown Chicago’s office market is underscored by 11 consecutive quarters of declining vacancy rates, driven in part by this vein of corporate downsizing.

A growing number of white-collar tenants are migrating to Fulton Market. Once dominated by creative and tech companies, the former meatpacking district has recently drawn firms like EY, Boston Consulting Group and Greenberg Traurig. Kroll was among the first major professional services tenants to test the area.

The move would be a win for Thor Equities, which has been seeking to fill one of the last office spaces left at 800 West Fulton. The 480,000-square-foot property is anchored by Aspen Group, a healthcare management provider.

It’s a blow for landlord Hotung. Michigan Plaza is 72 percent leased, on par with the downtown average the first quarter, according to CoStar. The building also recently lost the American Planning Association, which is upsizing to 21,000 square feet in 601W’s Aon Center.

Baker Tilly has a deal to merge with Seattle-based Moss Adams in a deal that would create the sixth-largest advisory and accounting firm in the U.S. The company has about 650 employees in Chicago.

— Judah Duke