Tishman Speyer Inks 2 Lease Extensions at Chicago Office Tower

525 W. Monroe St. Image courtesy of Tishman Speyer

Insurance giant Chubb and law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman have extended the leases of their offices at 525 W. Monroe St., a 25-story, 900,000-square-foot Class A office tower in Chicago’s West Loop. Crain’s Chicago Business was the first to report the news.

Tishman Speyer owns and operates the building, which is undergoing a series of major redevelopments. As part of the lease extensions, both tenants have gained extensions and additions to their spaces.

CBRE acted on behalf of both tenants in their agreements, and the owner was represented in-house.

The evolution of 525 West Monroe

Built four decades ago, 525 West Monroe underwent a full cosmetic renovation in 2004, according to CommercialEdge information. In 2016, the building earned a LEED-Gold certification award, which was followed up by another one in 2021. Prior to its renovations, the building included 41,000 square feet of retail space, the same source shows.

At present, the Chicago office tower is 83 percent leased to a variety of Chicago-based and international-level tenants including LinkedIn, Associated Bank, Hochfelder & Weber and Exponent, with numerous basing their headquarters there, the same data provider shows. Both Katten and Chubb have had offices in the building for more than two decades, with the former being one of the building’s first tenants. Katten’s 204,000-square-foot headquarters renewal includes the construction of two private outdoor terraces. Chubb’s extension will see a 92,032-square foot expansion of its office, and the company plans to consolidate all its Downtown Chicago operations within it.

Rendering of the renovated lobby at 525 West Monroe. Image courtesy of Tishman Speyer

Tishman Speyer’s renovations are being designed by Michaelis Boyd Associates and MdeAS Architects. At full build-out, the renovations will include a new lobby and outdoor plaza with green space and seating areas, in addition to a new café and a clubhouse on the 23rd floor.

The CBRE team acting on behalf of Katten was led by Vice Chairmen Todd Lippman and Kyle Kamin, as well as Executive Vice President James Whalen. Lippman, alongside Senior Vice President Jon Milonas and Vice President Maura Flanagan also represented Chubb. Tishman Speyer Managing Director Ellen May, as well as Senior Associate Olivia Parker negotiated on part of the owner.

Incentivized redevelopments

As the office sector struggles with economic headwinds and tenants shrinking their occupancy footprints, developers and operators in the nation’s largest markets have taken to redevelopments of their space, prioritizing open green space and modern, centralized amenity offerings. Recent high-profile examples of this trend include the renovations of Anderson Towers, a 905,942-square-foot office tower in Los Angeles and EQ Office’s redevelopment of 800 Fifth, a Class A tower in Seattle’s central business district.