Morningstar to Lease Google’s Thompson Center

Google isn’t keeping the Loop’s most closely watched office redevelopment all to itself.

Investment research firm Morningstar is in advanced talks to lease roughly 300,000 square feet on the upper floors of the Thompson Center at 100 West Randolph Street, where the tech giant is currently executing a more than $300 million gut rehabilitation. If the deal crosses the finish line, it will be one of the largest office leases signed in Chicago in recent years and a major victory for the city’s central business district.

The negotiations, first reported by CoStar, mark a notable shift for Google, revealing that the Silicon Valley behemoth will act as a landlord rather than occupying the entirety of the 1.2 million-square-foot, Helmut Jahn-designed building. By bringing in a top-tier, rent-paying neighbor, Google can offset the costs of redeveloping the historic property while still preserving plenty of room for its own future growth. Google is scheduled to occupy its portion of the property sometime in 2027.

For the Central Loop, the prospective Morningstar lease would mark a slight increase from the size of its current office at the Block 37 complex on 22 West Washington Street. It gives landlords a break from the trend of major tenants shedding office space since the pandemic decimated demand for commercial real estate, according to brokerages.

The traditional downtown core has been battered by office defections as major corporations continually flock to shiny new trophy towers down the Chicago River and in the booming Fulton Market district. Keeping a homegrown heavyweight like Morningstar — founded by local billionaire Joe Mansueto — anchored within the neighborhood would mark a crucial retention.

Morningstar currently occupies about 263,000 square feet at Block 37. The firm considered a move into the Marshall Field building in 2022, before instead signing a lease extension at Block 37 that expires in 2029, which aligns with when it could move into the modernized Thompson Center.

The sprawling redevelopment is currently being shepherded by a joint venture of Mike Reschke’s Prime Group and Quintin Primo’s Capri Investment Group. The developers are overseeing the initial overhaul, which recently stripped the building’s quirky salmon-and-blue facade down to its skeleton to install a sleek glass exterior. Google is slated to eventually purchase the property outright to complete the final phases of construction.

Google in early 2025 advertised it would seek tenants for the Thompson Center’s upper floors, and its potential deal with Morningstar would represent one of the largest Chicago office leases in several years, though it’s smaller than engineering firm Sargent & Lundy’s nearly 450,000-square-foot deal at 77 West Wacker Drive.

CBRE brokers Jason Houze and Aaron Schuster will handle leasing at the Thompson Center, while a separate CBRE team consisting of Jon Milonas, Peter Livaditis and Kyle Kamin is representing Morningstar in the negotiations.

— Sam Lounsberry