Payment services company Stripe is set to expand its River North office space by more than 130K SF, a sizable deal in a market with pockets of high vacancy.
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The tech company has reached a new agreement for more than 222K SF at 350 N. Orleans St., Crain's Chicago Business reported. Stripe will move into the space over the next couple of years in phases.
Stripe has expanded its space rapidly, first leasing close to 45K SF at the Orleans Street property in 2022 and inking a deal in early 2025 to roughly double that space to about 89K SF and extend its lease to 2031.
Stripe didn’t immediately respond to Bisnow's request for comment.
The expanded space will enable the company to hire a rash of new employees, Crain's reported. Stripe has about 80 open roles in its Chicago office listed on its website.
Stripe's expanded commitment to the space comes as a pair of investors is reportedly in talks to buy the building's 1.3M SF office portion. An affiliate of Blackstone Group took out a $310M loan on the property in 2015 but was hit with a foreclosure lawsuit over it last year.
Eastdil Secured brokers have marketed the building for sale in recent months, according to Crain's.
The lease is a welcome sign for the downtown office market, with total vacancy hitting 26.7% in Q1, a record high. The elevated vacancy rate was primarily driven by tenants downsizing and extended vacancies in older Loop office buildings, according to Newmark.
