Boeing has sold its former headquarters along the Chicago River for $22 million, becoming a tenant in the 36-story tower more than three years after moving top executives to suburban Washington, D.C.
Late last month, the aerospace giant sold the tower at 100 N. Riverside Plaza to a venture of the Stahl Organization and Hines, according to property records and people familiar with the deal.
The relatively low price reflects that the property changing hands is a leasehold interest, with the ground beneath the tower owned separately. New York-based Stahl already owned the land.
CoStar News first reported that Hines was negotiating to buy the building in November. At the time, it was unclear whether Stahl was partnering with Hines on the leasehold purchase.
Houston-based Hines is a longtime developer of office towers along the river, including River Point and Salesforce Tower completed in recent years. The firm already has been on the hunt for large tenants to fill blocks of vacant space in the well-located tower.
Boeing, Stahl and Hines did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CoStar News.
The newly formed joint venture will owe ground-lease payments to the Stahl entity that controls the land with a 99-year agreement that runs until 2084.
With Stahl now part-owner of the building itself, the ground lease eventually could be eliminated to simplify the ownership structure.
Stahl refinanced its land ownership with a $40 million loan the matures in 2031, according to Cook County property records.
As part of its sale, Boeing will lease back 70,440 square feet on floors 27 through 29, property records show. The lease runs from September 2026 to August 2032, with options to extend the lease for as many as 10 additional years.
Although the tower is nearly three decades old and in need of renovations and extensive leasing, people familiar with the property have said a well-capitalized new owner could thrive amid a dearth of newer space along the river.
Completion of the sale cuts another tie that Boeing had to Chicago, where the company moved its headquarters from Seattle to fanfare in 2001.
Boeing initially signed a 15-year lease in the Riverside Plaza building before later buying it for $165.2 million in 2005.
It’s unclear how many Boeing workers remain in the Chicago office. The company said it had 400 employees in Chicago in 2022, when Boeing announced it was moving its corporate address to Arlington, Virginia.
Before Hines and Stahl struck a deal to buy the building from Boeing, Chicago-based Sterling Bay had a contract to buy it. Sterling Bay later confirmed the deal had fallen apart, saying that “due diligence did not support a transaction in the current market conditions.”
For the record
Boeing was represented by Cushman & Wakefield brokers Cody Hundertmark, Tom Sitz and Jeff Cole.