After inking the biggest new downtown office lease Chicago has seen in three years, Sargent & Lundy decided it still isn’t enough.
The Chicago-based energy engineering firm leased three additional floors at the 51-story tower at 77 West Wacker Drive, expanding its commitment that it made a year ago by roughly 66,000 square feet, Crain’s reported. The move boosts Sargent & Lundy’s total space in the tower to nearly 448,000 square feet, about 60 percent more than it occupies currently at its longtime home at 55 East Monroe Street.
The expansion sweetens what was already one of the most consequential leasing wins for the Loop office market since the pandemic. When Sargent & Lundy signed its initial deal at 77 West Wacker late last year, it marked the largest new downtown office lease since Kirkland & Ellis’ 2021 commitment at Salesforce Tower.
Savills brokers Joe Learner and Robert Sevim represented Sargent & Lundy. CBRE’s Michael Kazmierczak, Kelsey Scheive and Aaron Schuster handle leasing at the tower.
Instead of following the prevailing post-pandemic trend of shrinking office space, Sargent & Lundy is going the other way. The company’s growing appetite for space cements its status as one of the largest tenants in Chicago’s urban core and adds momentum in the Loop, as the market looks ahead to Google opening its revamped Thompson Center campus next year.
The need for more space is tied directly to headcount. When Sargent & Lundy announced its initial Wacker Drive lease in December 2024, the firm said it planned to add 300 Chicago jobs. Those roles have since been filled, and the company now expects to hire another 200 local employees, spokeswoman Brenda Romero told the publication.
The biggest beneficiary of the firm’s growth is the building’s owner, the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio. STRS Ohio has owned the 960,000-square-foot tower since 2008, but occupancy slid sharply over the years as major law firms including Jones Day, Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Greenberg Traurig moved out.
Sargent & Lundy’s anchor lease reversed that erosion. The pension fund had already signaled confidence in the building by paying off a $150 million mortgage in 2023 and investing in a new amenity floor. With the latest expansion, the property is now nearly full, according to Costar.
— Eric Weilbacher