Highdive Doubles Office Space with Merchandise Mart Sublease

Highdive Advertising is bucking the trend of shrinking office footprints by moving into a larger subleased space in the Merchandise Mart.

The agency, known for its Super Bowl ads featuring stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Brady, secured 26,000 square feet on the 17th floor of Vornado Realty Trust’s 222 West Merchandise Mart Plaza, Crain’s reported.

The move will double Highdive’s Chicago footprint, and it will exit its space at 320 West Ohio Street, where it occupies 12,000 square feet until the end of December. That building is 59 percent occupied, the outlet reported, citing CoStar. It is owned by a Chicago-based land trust whose principals weren’t identified.

Highdive’s sublease from Seismic offered the right mix of convenience, modern amenities and collaborative space that aligned with the company’s hybrid work model, said CEO Megan Lally.

The firm’s employees work in the office every Tuesday, with the remainder of the week following what Lally calls a “choose your own adventure” structure.

“We didn’t have our sights set on the Merchandise Mart, but when we saw it, it was great,” she said.

Seismic exited the space earlier this year as part of a routine portfolio review. Although specific terms of the sublease were not disclosed, Seismic stated that the closure did not affect its Chicago-based employees.

Highdive’s relocation comes amid unprecedented growth for the agency. Its headcount has increased by 50 percent over the past two years, reaching 122 employees. Revenue has also jumped, surging over 700 percent in five years due to high-profile campaigns for Jeep, KFC and the National Hockey League.

Highdive’s sublease is the latest in a series of similar deals at the Merchandise Mart, where GrubHub subleased 90,000 square feet in March, and Kin Insurance took a 20,000 sublease in January.

—Andrew Terrell