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Chicago — Nov. 10, 2015 — Investors are so bullish on Chicago they’ve shattered historical sales transaction volumes in the city’s Central Business District (CBD).
Two months before the close of 2015, sales of office product have soared to a record-breaking $6.4 billion, crushing the previous record of $5.3 billion set in 2006.
In one of the sales indicative of the new peak, JLL’s Capital Markets experts announced that the firm has closed the sale and financing of 333 W. Wacker Drive in the city’s West Loop.
PNC Realty Investors, as an advisor to the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, purchased the 36-story office tower from Houston-based Hines Interests L.P. for $320.5 million. JLL also secured $156 million in acquisition financing from Allianz on behalf of the new buyers.
International Director Bruce Miller and Senior Vice President Nooshin Felsenthal led the JLL team’s sales efforts while Managing Directors Keith Largay and David Hendrickson and Senior Vice President Brian Walsh led the financing.
“This year’s astonishing 26 CBD office tower sales and their record value speak to Chicago’s place on the world stage as a city on the rise,” Miller said. “Investor appetite continues to grow thanks to the city’s diversified economy, talented workforce, transportation infrastructure, and surging tech ecosystem. Combined with a shrinking competitive office supply, this creates significant landlord leverage.”
Located in the triangle between Franklin Street, Lake Street, and Wacker Drive, 333 W. Wacker features easy access to public transportation, a variety of convenient amenities, and incomparable views of the Chicago River and Wolf Point. Designed by Kohn Pederson Fox, the building boasts a green glass façade that bends with Wacker Drive as it turns along the river.
“This trophy asset at the intersection of the West Loop and River North, the city’s top-performing submarkets, offers investors an entry into the booming Chicago office market,” Felsenthal said. “Adjacent financial, creative, technology, entertainment, and residential districts continue to drive leasing velocity and rental rates, offering tremendous upside at this iconic property.”
JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers.
