The Fulton Market office market notched a pair of wins over the last several days with a new office tower proposal in the works and a sizable lease signing.
Onni Group is pivoting plans for a Fulton Market apartment tower back to an office building, and law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett signed a lease for about 94K SF at 167 N. Green St. in the buzzy Chicago submarket.
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Onni Group tapped brokers from Stream Realty Partners to lease a proposed 900K SF, 30-story office tower at 357 N. Green St., Stream said in a release. The developer had pitched the project as an office tower in 2022, shifted gears to a possible apartment play in 2024, and is now seeking to build an office once more, Crain's Chicago Business reported.
The building will have average floor plates of about 300K SF, Stream said. Stream's Jack McKinney, Ben Cleveland and Mark Gunderson will lead leasing efforts on behalf of Onni.
"357 Green is poised to become a landmark office building that not only reinforces Fulton Market’s reputation as one of Chicago’s premier live-work-play destinations, but also serves as a striking symbol of the city’s continued growth and evolution," Gunderson said in a statement.
The move comes just months after law firm Sidley Austin agreed to a deal as the anchor tenant for Related Midwest's 45-story, 1M SF office tower in Fulton Market, with plans to take "more than half" of the building. The project still depends on Related securing construction financing, according to Crain's.
Although Simpson Thacher's deal is far smaller than the Sidley Austin transaction, the law firm plans to take two floors at 167 N. Green St., according to Crain's. The company will take over space previously leased to MoLo Solutions, a third-party logistics provider.
Simpson Thacher didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fulton Market has by far the lowest vacancy rate of any downtown submarket, at 17.8%, according to a third-quarter office report from NAI Hiffman. That is well below the overall central business district rate of 25.5% and the next lowest submarket, the West Loop, at 22.3%.
Market rent in Fulton Market is just under $55 per SF, about $16 per SF above downtown totals, according to NAI Hiffman data.
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