Inland Signs HQ Lease in Chicago’s Western Suburbs
The company plans to sell its current building, a short distance away.
The Inland Real Estate Cos. LLC has signed a 16.5-year lease for about 140,000 square feet at 3050 Highland Parkway in Downers Grove, Ill., as the site of its new national headquarters.
The lease covers all of the fifth through seventh floors and part of the fourth floor, or in total more than half of the 260,852-rentable-square-foot, multi-tenant office building. Inland plans to occupy the space later this year.
As part of this transaction, Inland has also been awarded the right to manage the building for the landlord.
The Class A building’s owner was a private investor, according to information provided by Yardi Matrix. He made the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans in the 2000s, on the basis of soft drink bottling initially and later, real estate.
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JLL represented the landlord in the transaction, led by Jeff Shay, executive vice president, while Allyson Birchmeier, vice president; Larry Sajdak, executive vice president; and Sean Steuart, vice president of leasing, represented Inland.
Inland is currently headquartered at 2901 Butterfield Road in Oak Brook, Ill., also in Chicago’s western suburbs and barely a five-minute drive from the new location, on the other side of I-88. More on that below.
3050 Highland Parkway will undergo a comprehensive renovation of its common areas and shared amenities. Planned upgrades include a refreshed lobby, a grand staircase to the lower level, and new tenant amenities such as a fitness center, tenant lounge, library-style workspace, deli/café, conference center and game room. These improvements will be delivered in tandem with Inland’s interior buildout.
The second part of the transaction
Asked what will happen to Inland’s current, owned building, a company spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive: “We are currently under contract with GTZ to sell our Oak Brook campus.”
GTZ is a retail-focused developer based in Highland Park, Ill.
The Chicago-area Pioneer Press reported in early February that under a proposal submitted to Oak Brook officials, the seven-building, 22-acre site that includes Inland’s current headquarters will be cleared and redeveloped for a massive 225,000-square-foot Amazon retail store, as well as a 150,000-square-foot Ashley Furniture location. Pioneer Press reported that demolition could start later this year.
Of note, the Village of Oak Brook, with a median household income of about $141,000, has no municipal property tax and is able to subsist on ample sales tax revenues.
The Oak Brook office submarket is the place to be in the Chicago suburbs, according to a fourth-quarter report from Colliers, which states that this submarket “outperformed the rest of the suburbs, closing the fourth quarter with the lowest vacancy level of 23.1 percent.”
Across the Chicago suburbs generally, Colliers says, asset price recalibration is well underway, with current owners motivated to dispose of properties. In parallel with that, redevelopments have helped to reduce the supply of space.
One trend the report notes is the increasing number of small to midsized suburban satellite offices being established by companies that are primarily based in Chicago’s downtown. Colliers remarked that “these suburban outposts are primarily geared toward executives who want to be closer to home and employees looking to shorten commute times.”
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