October – Briefs/Leasing & Management

United Airlines Expands Chicago HQ Space to More Than 800 KSF

Willis Tower

In what is reportedly one of the largest office lease transactions in Chicago’s history, United Airlines will take an additional 205,000 square feet in the city’s iconic Willis Tower, the asset formerly known as Sears Tower. The tower is already home to United’s network operations center and will become home to the airline’s corporate headquarters as part of the deal. Once the move-in is complete, the company will occupy 25 percent of the 110-story, 4.5 million-square-foot building. The transaction also serves to extend United’s lease through 2028.

Molly Carroll, David Matthews and Steve Stratton of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. represented United Airlines. Mike Kaz and Derek Rolison represented U.S. Equities Realty, the tower’s leasing and management company. United increased its space commitments in 2011 to a total of 625,000 square feet. The latest lease brings the total to 830,000 square feet on 16 floors.

Once the move is complete, United will have more than 4,000 employees working in downtown Chicago (reportedly all in Willis Tower) and more than 14,000 total in the city, including its operations and reservations center at O’Hare International Airport.

DCT Industrial Trust Inks 625 KSF Pre-Lease

DCT Industrial Trust Inc. has signed a long-term lease with Distribution Alternatives Inc. for 652,000 square feet in its development project, Slover Logistics Center. DCT will begin building the asset, which is located in the Inland Empire West in Southern California, in the fourth quarter of 2012. The company expects the project to be complete in the third quarter of 2013. Lee & Associates-Ontario represented DCT in the transaction. Distribution Alternatives Inc. was represented by the Davidson Cos. -Minnesota.

JLL Completes 96,350-SF Deal for Perry Ellis in Manhattan

Perry Ellis International is consolidating two office locations in Midtown Manhattan and leasing more than 96,000 square feet of Class A space at 1120 Avenue of the Americas for its menswear operations in a long-term deal arranged by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Nearly 60,000 square feet of the space will be subleased from Huron Consulting Group, which will eventually become a direct lease. The remainder of the space at the site, also known as the Hippodrome Building, is a long-term direct lease with the building owner, Edison Properties L.L.C.

Cervalis to Lease BTS Data Center in Connecticut

Cervalis L.L.C. has inked a long-term lease to occupy a 167,000-square-foot new-construction data center and disaster recovery center in Norwalk, Conn. The lease means that FPG Norden, a subsidiary of Fortis Property Group, can now proceed with the development of the property, on a five-acre site. According to the parties involved in the deal, it is the largest lease in Fairfield County to date in 2012, and the largest build-to-suit in the country in more than a decade. Construction is slated to begin during the first half of 2013.

Cassidy Turley Picks Up 14 MSF Outsourcing Assignment

Cassidy Turley has been tapped by SunTrust Banks Inc. to take charge of the financial institution’s 14 million-square-foot corporate real estate portfolio. The assignment calls for Cassidy Turley to provide a range of corporate real estate services, including transaction management, project management, lease administration and portfolio planning. The group of SunTrust assets includes a collection of office properties and in excess of 1,600 bank branches spanning the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

Avison Young Buys Las Vegas Property Management Firm

Avison Young has acquired Las Vegas-based commercial property management firm Landry & Associates Inc. The purchase adds 2.6 million square feet to Avison Young’s existing Las Vegas portfolio of 500,000 square feet, making the Toronto-based company among the city’s top commercial property management firms. The business transition will bring 32 office, retail, industrial and commercial properties into the firm’s management portfolio.

Piedmont Signs 300 KSF Full-Building Lease

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. has completed a 12-year lease with Catamaran Corp., a pharmacy benefits management company, for the entire 300,686-square-foot Windy Point II property located at 1600 McConnor Parkway in Schaumburg, Ill. Catamaran Corp. is relocating from its corporate headquarters in Lisle, Ill., and will consolidate its nearby Bannockburn, Ill., operation into Piedmont’s 11-story property in the spring of 2013. Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. represented both the tenant and owner in the lease.

Easton-Bell Sports Secures 813 KSF Build-to-Suit Lease

Avison Young has secured Easton-Bell Sports Inc. a new state-of-the-art 813,126-square-foot distribution, assembly and shared-services center in Rantoul, Ill. The facility is being constructed as a build-to-suit property by developer The Janko Group and general contractor Peak Construction. The long-term lease agreement completed a year-long site-selection and facility-planning process that culminated with a groundbreaking ceremony in mid-August. The facility will include 33,000 square feet of office space and approximately 780,000 square feet of light-assembly and distribution center space.