The Federal Aviation Administration has landed a new Great Lakes regional office, signing the largest new office lease in Chicago’s suburbs after its search for new space was rerouted.
FAA employees are expected to move in 2026 to a 108,094-square-foot office in the O’Hare Gateway Office Center in Rosemont, Illinois, the FAA and the General Services Administration confirmed to CoStar News.
The federal agency is moving from a longtime space in Des Plaines, Illinois, that also is not far from O’Hare International Airport. The FAA currently leases 185,754 square feet at 2300 E. Devon Ave.
Its lease is the largest this year in the Chicago suburban office market as demand for office space remains at historically low levels throughout the country, with remote and hybrid work trends sticking since the onset of pandemic lockdowns.
Real estate deals of all kinds have been slowed by rising interest rates, falling property values and other challenges.
That shaky fiscal environment became a major factor in the FAA’s search for new space after it previously struck a deal to lease 115,937 square feet at the Atrium, a 485,000-square-foot office building at 3800 Golf Road in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.
After previous Atrium owner Spear Street Capital was hit with a $30 million foreclosure suit from its lender, an affiliate of Ares Management, the FAA terminated its lease in February and sought alternate space, the Real Deal Chicago previously reported.
Brennan Investment Group took ownership of the property earlier this year by buying the loan and then negotiating a deed in lieu of foreclosure with Spear Street. After taking ownership, Brennan told CoStar News that it plans to eventually demolish the office building and replace it with one or more warehouses.
Financial woes at the Rolling Meadows property required the GSA to conduct a new search that ended at the two-tower O’Hare Gateway complex, a GSA spokesperson said.
The complex at 9500 and 9600 W. Bryn Mawr was purchased by Coca-Cola bottling magnate Marvin Herb for $73.5 million in 2002. Herb sold Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Chicago for $1.4 billion in 2001.
The six-story building at 9600 W. Bryn Mawr is more than 95% leased, according to CoStar data.
The Herb family and leasing agents for the property did not respond to requests for comment from CoStar News.
The FAA’s Great Lakes office has 550 employees that support the regional administrator’s office and lines of business such as air traffic, flight safety, airports, legal and human resources, an FAA spokesperson said in an email.