Sidley Austin set to Become Largest Tenant for West Loop Tower

Law firm Sidley Austin is in the process of making a deal to occupy over half of a 45-story office planned for completion in 2030 at 725 West Randolph Street.

Sidley Austin currently has a lease at 1 South Dearborn Street through 2030, according to Crain’s. While the deal for the new tower’s office space isn’t complete, the project’s developer, Related Midwest, feels confident that it will get done. Related Midwest is also in the process of securing financing for the building, slated to span 968,000 square feet at 725 West Randolph Street near Fulton Market.

Should the law firm go through with the lease, it would immediately become the largest tenant in the building. Sidley executive committee chair Brian Fahrney declined to comment on the exact square footage they’d occupy, but told the outlet that “the idea of investing in a state-of-the-art, brand new building as the lead tenant was certainly interesting to us.”

Sidley is the largest tenant at 1 South Dearborn Street, occupying around 544,000 square feet in the 40-story building.

A metric ton of ink has been spilled about the pandemic’s effect on the office space market as hybrid schedules and work-from-home became necessary, then employee-enticing tools. Related Midwest zigged where everyone else zagged. In 2023, when offices were rapidly declining, they nixed mixed-use apartment and hotel plans to roll the dice on making 725 West Randolph Street an office tower. The Chicago City Council initially approved the mixed-use development in 2020, but the updated proposal has yet to be approved. Related is expected to secure financing soon, according to the outlet.

At the time Related wanted to pivot, office space availability across Chicago was at an all time high. Fulton Market, near 725 West Randolph Street, was able to weather the storm, and continued to attract office and retail tenants into new buildings, including the only new office-focused building in the Chicago area that year.

— Hunter Cooke