An Indiana company known for water-soluble films used to make Tide Pods and other laundry and dishwashing packets plans to open an innovation center in Chicago’s Fulton Market district, further bolstering an area that has largely overcome a sluggish real estate market in the city and nationally.
MonoSol has leased 35,021 square feet in the Fulton Labs building at 1375 W. Fulton, the company and building developer Trammell Crow said Thursday.
The deal was announced just a few weeks after a team of developers led by Chicago-based Fulton St. held a groundbreaking ceremony for a national rarity, a 409,000-square-foot office building going up at 919 W. Fulton.
That project, anchored by Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, is the latest success in the former meatpacking district that in recent years has evolved to include corporate giants such as the global headquarters of McDonald’s and Mondelez International as well as the Midwest headquarters of Google.
The deal with MonoSol also continues a run of leases by Dallas-based Trammel Crow in two nearby buildings, both of which are branded as Fulton Labs. They are primarily focused on life science research tenants.
MonoSol’s headquarters is just over 40 miles away in Merrillville, Indiana. The company is a division of Tokyo-based Kuraray Group.
The company said it plans to move into the Chicago space in mid-2024. MonoSol said in a statement that it will house the company’s strategic innovation, research and design teams for its water-soluble film and material science technologies.
“The Fulton Labs campus offers MonoSol’s innovators and customers the advanced lab and collaboration space, modern amenities and accessibility we require to build on our track record of developing new materials that make everyday life safer, simpler and more sustainable,” MonoSol President Christian Herrmanns said in the statement. “The campus and surrounding neighborhood create the vibrant and creative atmosphere that mirrors our own passion, energy and forward-thinking spirit.”
With the MonoSol deal, the 13-story building at 1375 W. Fulton is now 98% leased. Other tenants include Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Celadyne Technologies, Vanqua Bio, Charles River Laboratories, Dimension Inx, Belay Diagnostics, Portal Innovations and Talis Biomedical.
A new Chicago biotech research hub backed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, initially signed a lease at 1375 W. Fulton earlier this year before ultimately seeking a larger space in the other Fulton Labs building at 400 N. Aberdeen St.
Trammell Crow also is building life science research facilities in Hyde Park on Chicago’s South Side and in Evanston, Illinois, just north of the city.
For the Record
The tenant was represented by Colliers brokers Andrew Urban and David Burden. The landlord was represented by CBRE brokers Dan Lyne and Kelsey Scheive.