USG Renews Chicago HQ Lease, Shrinks Footprint

November 24, 2025

Brokerage Chicago Midwest News More Office

Cushman & Wakefield represented the company in the transaction.

Building materials powerhouse USG Corp. has renewed its headquarters lease for 165,000 square feet at 550 W. Adams, in Chicago’s West Loop submarket. Manova Partners, the building’s owner, announced the transaction. Cushman & Wakefield represented USG in the deal.

The transaction reportedly marks an approximately 25 percent reduction from the roughly 221,000 square feet USG had leased in the building before.

The 550 W. Adams office building in Chicago’s West Loop submarket — Building materials powerhouse USG Corp. has renewed its lease at 550 W. Adams in Chicago’s West Loop submarket. *Image courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield*

The lease’s term was not disclosed, but it was described as “long-term” and as maintaining USG as the building’s anchor tenant well into the next decade.

The 22-story, 467,477-square-foot, LEED Gold, Class A building was completed in 2006. Cushman & Wakefield’s relationship with USG dates back further, to a 2004 global headquarters lease that resulted in the development of 550 W. Adams.

Cushman & Wakefield will also provide project management services to USG as part of a renovation of the headquarters.

USG’s downtown headquarters is highly appropriate, because the company is a Chicago native, having been founded there in 1902 as United States Gypsum Corp.

With more than 50 manufacturing facilities across North America, USG is the nation’s largest producer of wallboard, a top maker of ceilings products, and the largest manufacturer of gypsum products overall in North America.

USG was represented by Vice Chair Chris Wood and Executive Director David Stefancic of Cushman & Wakefield; Managing Director Mark Bâby and Senior Associate Katie Hull of Stream Realty Partners represented Manova.

550 W. Adams provides exceptional transportation access with its location between Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center, as well as proximity to the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94).

Last year, Manova completed a major renovation of the building’s second-floor amenity space, adding a 50-seat conference facility, upgrading the tenant lounge, and installing a golf simulator and a fitness center with showers and locker facilities. This is consistent with current office building trends, focused on hospitality-driven features.

With the collaboration of Stream’s Bâby and Hull, Manova has completed almost 200,000 square feet of leasing at 550 W. Adams this year. This included new tenants Lyra Technology Group, 66degrees, Renovo Financial and Hirewell.

Some of these firms moved to the building to take advantage of Manova’s spec suite program, launched earlier this year. A second phase of spec suites, totaling 27,500 square feet, will be offered at the building later this year.

Trying to hold steady

In October, as part of a lease extension through 2037, Texas-based Arrive Logistics added 20,600 square feet to its footprint at Tishman Speyer’s CME Center, for a total of 77,666 square feet. The company will reconfigure its Chicago offices across the full 23rd and 24th floors, as well as a portion of the 25th floor at CME Center’s 30 S. Wacker Drive tower.

Although the downtown Chicago office market is in more of a stable mode than growth mode right now, the West Loop has been the CBD’s star, totaling 50.9 percent of recent new leasing, according to a third-quarter report from Cushman & Wakefield. That amounted to 770,000 square feet, including Interactive Brokers’ relocation of 67,000 square feet to 10 S. Riverside and Rewards Network’s 41,000-square-foot lease at 525 W. Monroe.