R2 Completes Discounted Purchase of Fulton Office Building

R2 recently snagged the nine-story office building at 600 West Fulton Street for a near 50 percent discount.

The property was picked up by a venture of the firm and traded for 44 percent less of its price 20 years ago. Chicago-based R2 paid $17.6 million for the property, and Glencoe-based Randy Rissman paid $31.7 million in 2006, according to Crain’s. When 600 West Fulton went up for sale around a year ago the property was 58 percent leased.

Originally built in 1895 and renovated in 2021, according to LoopNet, R2 plans to renovate the lobby and make other improvements to the building’s amenities, including a new coffee shop. R2 CEO Matt Garrison told Crain’s that they expect to fill the property “quickly,” and that the lack of occupancy was due to a low amount of leasing capital, not demand for the property’s 214,769 square feet of space. R2’s purchase comes out to around $82 per square foot.

R2 gained pole position on the deal for the building after a potential sale to Italian consumer goods company Bolton Group fell apart, according to the outlet. Rissman was staring down the barrel of a $27 million mortgage coming due in November 2026, and it’s unclear how much is still left on the loan. When the property went up for sale last summer, it had eight tenants with a weighted average lease term of around four years.

As buildings in the area continue to get hammered by hybrid work schedules and high interest rates, R2 has been on a spending spree. They bought the 20 condo units at 127 Maple Street for $4.7 million following four years of negotiations in June 2026. They bought 225 West Illinois Street for $4.65 million, around $100 per square foot in January of this year.

R2 has also teamed up with Cubed Real Estate to snag 225 West Ohio Street’s six stories and 52,500 square feet for a smidge under $5 million.

— Hunter Cooke