Law firm Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff expanded its space at 71 South Wacker Drive in Chicago, adding a floor with about 33,000 square feet with a new lease.
Benesch, which specializes in business law, will now occupy about 130,000 square feet in the trophy 48-story office tower, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. Newport Beach, California-based Irvine Company has owned the property since 2010.
The Benesch deal follows a lease Irvine inked with Mayer Brown, an international law firm and the building’s anchor tenant, which secured 272,000 square feet in an extension about a year ago.
Prior to Benesch’s expansion, the property was already 94 percent leased, according to data from CoStar Group, reflecting strong occupancy levels in a market where many office landlords face challenges. In the post-pandemic market, some law firms have been shrinking their space, while others are growing. For example, ArentFox Schiff recently vacated more than half of its space at Willis Tower with a long-term lease extension. But earlier this year, Rope & Gray expanded by 33 percent at a Wacker Drive skyscraper.
Irvine has positioned the tower at 71 South Wacker as a workplace designed with modern amenities and thoughtful layouts that foster collaboration, a good fit for legal tenants.
Cleveland-based Benesch, which planted its flag in Chicago in 2015, is growing its space “to keep pace with our sustained growth in attorney and staff headcount,” managing partner Gregg Eisenberg said in a statement to Crain’s. The firm originally moved into two floors at the 1.7 million-square-foot building, added a third floor during the pandemic, and now has a fourth floor. It had an attorney headcount of 145 in Chicago as of June, or 20 more than a year prior, according to Crain’s data.
Cushman & Wakefield brokers Ari Klein, Scott Shelbourne and Jeff Skender represented Benesch in the lease negotiations. For Irvine Company, CBRE’s Greg Tait and Maggie Brophy handle leasing at the 71 South Wacker property.
— Joel Russell