Engineering consultant Thornton Tomasetti has reduced the footprint of its Chicago office by more than 40 percent and moved to the edge of the city’s hottest submarket.
The company is moving to nearly 19,000 square feet of space on the seventh floor of Parkside Realty’s 600 West Fulton Street, leaving behind a 32,000-square-foot space at 330 North Wabash Avenue in the North that it has occupied for more than a decade.
“As our workforce fully returns to the office, we need modern spaces that foster collaboration and creativity, not only among our employees but our clients, and attract top talent. 600 West Fulton selected All options,” Thornton Tomasetti’s Rachel Michelin said in a statement.
While the office market in Chicago’s central business district struggles with a glut of vacant space and a flood of sublease offerings, the Fulton Market area — just west of 600 West Fulton — has been attracting new tenants with its stylish and convenient amenities – fill the space.
The Fulton Market and River West area was one of two submarkets with 104,000 square feet of rental take-up last quarter, with tenants taking more space than they did in the entire market through similar initiatives to Thornton. Overall net absorption in downtown Chicago was negative 782,000 square feet, according to brokerage Transwestern.
Thornton Tomasetti was represented in negotiations by JLL’s Molly Carroll and Andy Strand. Barb Schenberg of Parkside Realty represented the landlord.
The nine-story, 214,000-square-foot 600 West Fulton Street is an adaptive reuse of a former Sears & Roebuck warehouse. It was converted into a loft-style office building in 1982 and will be fully renovated in 2021.
The move by Thornton Tomasetti has brought the building to a 76 per cent occupancy rate, the latest in a string of recent transactions for the property. Matthews Real Estate Investment Services opened an office for its debt and equity services unit in November, and Pittsburgh-based Elite Transit Solutions recently opened its first Chicago office there. Kindle Communications also moved to the building last year. Access Community Health Network and Epstein Global also lease space in the building.
