After agreeing to be the anchor tenant in Dearborn Center, Bank One has aggressively looked at several options, including buying the building and subleasing the space. But now the bank has a new strategy for the 618,000 square feet of space it leased in the Loop skyscraper: moving in.
After finding the alternatives unworkable, the Chicago-based bank is now planning to occupy most of the space, although the bank is still reviewing which operations will be moved to the 1.5 million-square-foot building under construction at 131 S. Dearborn St., a development by Prime Group Realty Trust and developer J. Paul Beitler.
Some workers will eventually be moved to the new building from Three First National Plaza, where the bank has bought out its lease for 187,000 square feet, a bank spokesman confirmed. Other employees will move to Bank One Plaza.
The bank spokesman would not comment, but sources said the bank isn’t likely to renew its leases at 1 N. Dearborn St., which total 196,000 square feet of space and expire in 2003 and 2005. Some employees there will also move to Dearborn Center, where the bank could still sublease some space.
BP nears deal: BP PLC is negotiating to buy a 165,000-square-foot office building under construction in Warrenville, part of the oil giant’s plan to consolidate operations in the 650-acre, mixed-use Cantera development.
The building is a speculative development by Duke Realty Corp., which hadn’t signed a lease for the five-story structure, to be completed in June.
The transaction would value the building at about $132 a square foot, with BP picking up the cost of the interior construction, sources said. In an unusual twist, Indianapolis-based Duke would get cash and another site in Cantera, a joint venture that includes BP and Chicago-based real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.
A BP spokeswoman confirmed that a letter of intent had been signed, but would not comment on the terms, saying that negotiations weren’t complete.
Citicorp Center retail: GE Asset Management Inc., which in November changed Citicorp Center’s manager in favor of real estate firm MB Real Estate, has hired a new retail leasing specialist for the 70,000 square feet of shops and restaurants in the massive building. Northern Realty Group Ltd. replaces Chicago-based retail real estate firm Landeau & Heyman.
Northern Realty’s president, Bruce Kaplan, said the space will be repositioned with a goal of becoming the “retail hub of the West Loop,” taking advantage of the large numbers of office workers and residents that have moved into the area since the 1.4 million-square-foot building at 500 W. Madison St. was constructed in 1987.
Opie moves to Insignia/ESG: Brett Opie joins the Chicago office of Insignia/ESG as a managing director in the tenant representation group. Opie, 35, had been with CSFB Realty Corp.
IBM, ComEd in deal: At a time when suburban office lease deals are scarce, IBM Corp. has agreed to sublease from ComEd about 132,000 square feet of space in the Lincoln Centre complex in Oakbrook Terrace, sources said.
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Representatives of CB Richard Ellis, which advised IBM, and Jones Lang LaSalle, which advised ComEd, would not comment
In one of the largest leases of 2000, ComEd agreed to take 430,000 square feet of space in the development, a joint venture of Lincoln Property Co. and Prudential Life Insurance Co. of America. But a few months later, the utility, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Exelon Corp., put about one quarter of the space on the market.
IBM will move offices currently located in the nearby Oak Brook International Office Center, sources said.