A historic Chicago office building where the largest WeWork space in the Loop business district shut down earlier this year has landed a new coworking tenant and expanded the lease of an existing tenant, continuing a run of leasing activity in the more than century-old property.
Chicago-based coworking firm Workbox has leased 29,033 square feet in The National, taking part of WeWork’s former space in the 20-story tower at 125 S. Clark St. It will be the company’s fifth and largest space in Chicago, a spokesman told CoStar News.
An existing tenant, Chicago-based video game developer Iron Galaxy Studios, has expanded to 48,156 square feet, up from a previous 32,865, according to Transwestern, the leasing agency for Germany-based property owner Commerz Real.
Those leases follow Total Quality Logistics’ new lease and SpotHero’s relocation and expansion of its headquarters within the building in recent months. Those deals came after WeWork shut down its approximately 112,000-square-foot space, its largest in the Loop, several months before its recent bankruptcy filing.
Workbox’s lease is for the 17th floor, one of four that WeWork vacated.
New leases and expansion stand out at a time of historically low office demand throughout the country because of remote and hybrid work trends.
The National is almost 86% leased after signing 117,287 square feet of new leases this year, according to Transwestern.
Commerz Real has owned the building since 2018, when it paid almost $197 million. Designed by Daniel Burnham and completed in 1907, the building is a Chicago landmark.
“Stable and debt-free ownership in Commerz Real helps instill confidence in prospective tenants,” one of the Transwestern leasing brokers, John Nelson, said in the statement.
Workbox, which mostly works with early and growth-stage companies, is among the providers of flexible workspaces that are expanding amid WeWork’s attempt to restructure, in some cases by taking over former WeWork spaces.
Switzerland-based giant IWG is expanding locally and throughout the world. Founder and CEO Mark Dixon said the company, known for brands such as Regus and Spaces, also will look to continue grabbing abandoned WeWork spaces as part of its growth strategy.
Workbox has single spaces in Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio, and the company is in talks to add more locations in Chicago and other markets, spokesman Austin Taylor said in an email to CoStar News.
“We have seen continued success and strong demand in our hometown market of Chicago,” Taylor said. “As we near full occupancy at our current locations, we look forward to expanding our footprint and bringing our differentiated solutions to another Chicago neighborhood, the Loop.”
Known for its work on combat games such as Rumbleverse and Killer Instinct, Iron Galaxy also has studios in Orlando, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee. The company was founded in 2008.
For the Record
Workbox was represented by Avison Young broker Michael Kloppenburg. Iron Galaxy was represented by JLL brokers Corey Siegrist and Jim Rose. The landlord was represented by Transwestern brokers John Nelson, Kathleen Bertrand and Eric Myers.