By: Dees Stribling, Midwest Correspondent
Blustery economic winds haven’t been enough to stop the closings on two of the largest office space transactions in Chicago
history, namely the downtown and suburban pieces of the former Equity Office
Properties Trust holdings in the Windy City and its environs.The combined sales price for the two deals was $2.7 billion. GE Real Estate took the suburban part, which includes nine suburban Chicago properties totaling in excess of 4.6 million square feet. The properties include Commerce Plaza and 111 West 22nd Street in Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace Tower and One Lincoln Center in Oakbrook Terrace, Westbrook Corporate Center in Westchester, Pointe O'Hare in Rosemont, One Parkway North in Deerfield, and Bannockburn Lake I, II and IV in Bannockburn.
Tishman Speyer Properties Inc. walked away from the table with the Chicago CBD properties, which total in excess of 6.6 million square feet of office space. The downtown assets include 30 North LaSalle, 10 & 30 South Wacker, 100 North Wacker, 161 North Clark, One North Franklin and the Civic Opera Building at 20 North Wacker (pictured).
The Chicago and New York offices of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. represented the seller in the deals, the Blackstone Group, which bought the entirety of Equity’s 543 office properties--totaling 103.1 million square feet--in February. Since then, Blackstone has sold about half of the former Equity portfolio.