Cushman & Wakefield’s global headquarters overlooking the Chicago River is for sale in a deal that could be a test of investor demand for high-quality office towers in the Loop business district.
Spear Street Capital has hired Cushman & Wakefield brokers to seek a buyer for the 31-story building at 225 W. Wacker Drive, according to a brochure.
The well-located tower with relatively low vacancy could be a gauge of pricing in 2026 and beyond after recent years filled with mostly distressed, high-vacancy properties at steep discounts to previous valuations.
San Francisco-based Spear Street bought the Wacker Drive tower for $210 million in May 2020, soon after the arrival of COVID-19 devastated major office markets throughout the country.
Spear Street took out a $158.1 million loan from RBC Real Estate Corp. about two months after the purchase. The balance was paid down to $143.1 million in a 2023 modification, according to Cook County property records. A person familiar with the property estimated it could sell for close to the value of the remaining debt.
Spear Street did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CoStar News.
Built in 1989, the 650,812-square-foot tower is 86% leased with a weighted average lease term of 6.5 years, according to the marketing materials.
People familiar with the building say it is likely to attract high interest from investors despite broader struggles in the local and national office markets in recent years.
Spear Street has experienced the effects of the nationwide office downtown in recent years, including defaulting on its $270 million loan on the 46-story Chicago tower at 500 W. Monroe St. The lender for that building, JPMorgan Chase, put the debt on the tower on the market for sale in November.
The largest tenant in the Wacker Drive tower is Cushman & Wakefield. The world's third-largest commercial real estate brokerage leases just over 83,000 square feet, according to CoStar data.
The property recently has undergone extensive upgrades to the lobby, amenities, common areas and building systems since 2020, according to the brochure, which says the average tenant size is 18,050 square feet.
The property includes 233 parking spaces.
For the record
The seller is represented by Cushman & Wakefield brokers Tom Sitz, Cody Hundertmark, Jeremiah Olsen and Kelsey Berry.