Chicago Salesforce Tower Sublease Lures Private Equity Firm

The lure of a Salesforce tower sublease is blowing Wind Point Partners away from its longtime Magnificent Mile office for a shiny perch along the river.

The Chicago-based private equity firm is in advanced talks to sublease about 24,000 square feet at Salesforce Tower, the 60-story building at 333 West Wolf Point Plaza, Crain’s reported. If completed, Wind Point would leave its offices at 676 North Michigan Avenue, continuing the broader trend of firms abandoning the corridor for modern spaces clustered near transit and the city’s central business hub.

San Francisco-based Salesforce has been marketing roughly 120,000 square feet it leased two-and-a-half years ago but never occupied in the 1.2 million-square-foot Wolf Point Plaza tower. Newmark grabbed a portion of that space this summer, making Wind Point the latest tenant to buy into the appeal of Chicago’s newest office skyscraper.

The tower was developed by Hines and Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises and delivered in 2023.

In the Loop submarket, even as overall office vacancy hovers near record highs, demand for premium buildings has pushed rents at trophy towers up 26 percent since 2020, according to Colliers. In contrast, average asking rents across downtown have barely budged.

Mag Mile landlords, meanwhile, are losing ground. A generation ago, ad agencies and creative shops filled its towers, but much of that demand has been replaced by health care institutions looking for clinics and admin space in Streeterville. Some traditional office landlords have been forced to pivot entirely: Connecticut-based Marc Realty recently bought the mostly vacant 500 North Michigan Avenue to convert its offices into 320 apartments.

Wind Point would not be the first private equity firm to bail on 676 North Michigan. Flexpoint Ford decamped for Wacker Drive late last year. The tower, which also houses the Omni Chicago Hotel, has struggled to hold onto tenants as firms gravitate toward newer glass-and-steel high-rises. TRT Holdings, the Dallas-based owner, did not return a request for comment.

Founded in 1984, Wind Point manages about $6 billion in assets and raised its largest fund ever — $2.3 billion — last year. Savills brokers Brandon Nasatir and John Goodman are representing the firm in lease negotiations, while CBRE is marketing Salesforce’s sublease space.

— Eric Weilbacher