Morningstar has made major investments in office space over the past few months — and it is planning to stay in those spaces for a while.
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The investment research firm inked three leases totaling more than 350K SF in Chicago, London and Frankfurt in the third quarter with a combined $178M in future leasing obligations, according to a quarterly earnings filing released by the company Wednesday.
Between the three leases, the total term length is nearly four decades.
This includes a deal the company announced in September to relocate its global headquarters to co-anchor the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago with Google.
Morningstar's headquarters deal for more than 275K SF has an initial lease term of about 17 years, and the company expects to "obtain access to and take possession of the Chicago office space in the second quarter of 2027," according to the filing.
A 75K SF London lease signed in July carries an initial term of 12 years, while its roughly 29K SF Frankfurt lease has a 10-year term.
The lease commitments are significantly longer than standard U.S. leases. The average lease term length for U.S. office tenants in 2026 is about seven years, according to a report from Compstak.
Morningstar, headquartered in Chicago for more than 40 years, plans to move to the Thompson Center in late 2028. So far, it's the largest office lease in Chicago this year.
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