Aon Corp. and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Top the Year in Office Lease Transactions for Chicago

November 16, 2011

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor Two of the largest office lease transactions in Chicago this year were reported this week by ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com. The insurance brokerage company Aon Corp. tops the charts this year after renewing a lease for about 400,000 square [...]

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Two of the largest office lease transactions in Chicago this year were reported this week by ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com. The insurance brokerage company Aon Corp. tops the charts this year after renewing a lease for about 400,000 square feet in the Aon Center. The company will occupy 12 stories in the 80-story office tower located at 200 E. Randolph St. with options to increase the space if required. Aon will lease the office space directly from Johns Creek, Ga.-based Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc., the owner of the tower. The company currently subleases space from BP PLC, but the lease will expire in December 2013.

The 2.7-million-square-foot high-rise was built in 1972 and was 85.4 percent leased before the new Aon agreement. Tenants in the office tower include public relations firm Edelman, which renewed a 178,437-square-foot lease and Integrys Energy Group Inc., which moved in after leasing 150,000 square feet—both deals sealed earlier this year.

Aon was advised by Meredith O’Connor, a managing director with Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., and Gregory Gerber, a principal with John Buck Co. The owner was represented by managing director Stephen Smith of Jones Lang LaSalle.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has also renewed its lease at the UBS Tower on 1 N. Wacker Drive. The transaction ranks third behind the Aon Corp. lease at Aon Center and Wells Fargo & Co.’s new lease for 293,000 square feet at 30 S. Wacker Drive.

PricewaterhouseCoopers signed a 15-year deal to keep approximately 279,000 square feet, on eight stories, at the UBS Tower. The firm was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. and CB Richard Ellis Inc.

The 1.4-million-square-foot tower is owned by Hines Interests LP, and according to Thomas D’Arcy, senior vice-president for leasing, is 93 percent leased.

Irvince Co., a Newport Beach, Calif.-based investment firm that earlier this year bought the Hyatt Center, is in a deal to buy a 50 percent stake in the building from Hines.