Bain & Co.’s move within the Loop business district was one of most complex office deals in Chicago in recent years.
The 15-year deal brought a new anchor tenant and identity to the financially challenged tower formerly known as the Citadel Center, a major property in the city whose namesake tenant moved its headquarters to Miami in 2022.
The Boston-based consulting firm struck a deal to lease 173,186 square feet of the tower at 131 S. Dearborn St. in a move from nearby LaSalle Street.
To complete the lease, Stream Realty Partners leasing brokers for the building had to gain consensus from the building’s owner and lenders.
The deal involved terminating the lease of the billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel, the longtime namesake tenant in the tower. The lease was set to run through 2033.
Negotiations were further complicated by the plunging value of the property, meaning that longtime owner TPG Angelo Gordon no longer had formal decision-making authority on new deals.
Real estate professionals voted the project a 2026 CoStar Impact Award winner for lease of the year in Chicago.
About the project: Stream brokers worked with building ownership, property manager Hines and a group of five lenders — including three in Germany — to finalize a termination agreement with Citadel to free up the space that Bain leased on the top five floors.
Citadel paid a termination fee to leave behind about 320,000 square feet, of which only about 60,000 square feet was still being used.
The landlord forfeited years of rent payments from Citadel in exchange for a substantial termination fee and a new, long-term commitment from Bain.
Citadel has since moved to a much smaller Chicago office in River North.
What the judges said: “After three years of trying to market space controlled by Citadel Securities, the team ultimately negotiated a surrender agreement and secured a 15-year lease with Bain & Company at 131 South Dearborn,” said Eric Turrin of North Park Ventures. “That meant aligning a complex lender group to walk away from tens of millions in future contractual rent (partially offset by a termination payment) in order to reset the building’s trajectory. In a lender-controlled asset facing real reputational and market headwinds, this wasn’t just filling space. It was a bold decision to rip the Band-Aid off, bring in a world-class anchor, and restore credibility to one of the Central Loop’s most visible towers.”
They made it happen: The landlord was led in the deal by Stream Realty Partners brokers Jack McKinney Jr., Patrick Russo and Katie Hull and TPG Angelo Gordon executive Scott Glassberg. The tenant was represented by CBRE broker Todd Lippman.