THE YEAR OF THE SMALL DEAL

Studley's Rick Schuham(not available for a picture because he's looking at mountain real estate with the family in Park City, Utah) tells us corporations reformed their strategies and took action with big deals this year after sitting on their hands for a bit. 2012, though, will be a year of midsize and small deals. (It will also be the year of oranges, according to the fashion blogosphere.) Rick isn't convinced all the jobs announced heading for Chicago will materialize and deliver lunch-eating shoppers. Recent announcements include SeatonCorp, EMC, Allscripts, Merge Healthcare, and Google. GE Capital has already committed to space for another 1,000 people and Sara Lee for the 500 it plans to bring. Class-A office vacancy in the CBD is 16.5%, including sublease availability, says Rick, who runs the Chicago office with Joe Learner and John Goodman.

The American Bar Association is among the Studley clients evaluating their real estate strategies. Studley helped the ABA negotiate a renewal and reduction of space at 321 North Clark St (above) in September. The tenant now leases 201k SF. And on Friday, the ABA (also repped by a Studley team led by John) announced it sold its 175k SF HQ in DCto the John Buck Co. The ABA occupies less than half of that building and is leasing it back short-term until it finds a new home. (Maybe it should check out the chalets in Park City.)

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