Sears Tower gets 2 new tenants
(Crain’s) — Sears Tower has signed new leases with a law firm and marketing firm that total 47,000 square feet.
Both tenants will be on the 44th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, according to a news release issued Tuesday by U.S. Equities Realty, which manages the tower at 233 S. Wacker Drive.
A new law firm, Kopon Airdo LLC, has already moved into its space. The firm, which focuses on defending complex cases such as product liability cases, currently has 10 lawyers, according to Lawyers.com.
The other tenant, business-to business marketing firm Centiv Services Inc., is currently at 525 W. Monroe St.
But Sears Tower’s owners — Skokie-based American Landmark Properties Ltd. and New York investors Joseph Chetrit and Joseph Moinian — face a major challenge retaining the building’s largest tenant, Ernst & Young U.S. LLP, which currently leases about 352,000 square feet.
The accounting giant is in advanced negations with Chicago-based John Buck Co. to move to the Chicago developer’s skyscraper under construction at 155 N. Wacker Drive. If a deal is reached, 155 N. Wacker, with more than 1.1 million square feet, would be more than 75% leased.
For Sears Tower, the departure of E&Y would mean the loss of 19% of its annual rental revenue when the accounting firm’s lease expires in 2012.
A spokesman for Sears Tower declined to comment.
Sears Tower recently won a reprieve from its fifth-largest tenant, which opted against an early termination of its lease for 181,000 square feet.
Related story: Sears Tower keeps B of A through 2015
And the building’s fourth-largest tenant, law firm Schiff Hardin LLP, has waived an option for an early termination of its lease for 205,000 square feet. The firm decided to expand its space to more than 217,000 square feet and extend its lease three years to 2024.
