Sterling Bay is moving its headquarters as part of a shuffle of tenants within Fulton Market, the former meatpacking district that the Chicago developer has been instrumental in reshaping over the past decade.
The real estate firm has a deal to move to a little more than 25,000 square feet at 939 W. Fulton in a sublease with Vital Proteins, while Utah-based revenue cycle management servicing company R1 RCM will increase its space in the neighborhood by taking over the more than 31,000 square feet that Sterling Bay now occupies at 333 N. Green St., according to people familiar with the deals.
The shuffle of tenants also includes Chinese office furniture manufacturer Sunon planning to enter Chicago by subleasing Utah-based R1 RCM’s approximately 13,000 square feet at 800 W. Fulton, those people said. That deal has not been completed and still could fall apart.
A flurry of new deals is a positive sign for Fulton Market, which in recent years emerged as the fastest-growing urban office market in the country. The area has continued to outperform other pockets of Chicago’s office market, including the Loop business district.
Sterling Bay's reduction in space comes as one of the city’s best-known developers tries to regain its footing and overcome a stall in its massive Lincoln Yards mixed-use development on the city’s North Side.
Sterling Bay has been looking to bring in new investors to kickstart Lincoln Yards, one of the largest developments ever undertaken in the city, while also seeking to sell off some development sites near Lincoln Yards and in Fulton Market.
“Sterling Bay has agreed to lease its Chicago headquarters at 333 N. Green to make space for a new tenant in the building,” a Sterling Bay spokesperson said in a statement to CoStar News. “We are excited to transition to our new space in Fulton Market, surrounded by our bold projects in the most dynamic neighborhood in Chicago.”
Sterling Bay was a major part of Fulton Market’s transformation to what now includes a mix of office, residential, hotel and retail space along the Kennedy Expressway.
That included landing Google’s Midwest headquarters to a redeveloped Fulton Market Cold Storage building and signing McDonald’s to lease a new office building on the site where Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios once stood.
Sterling Bay and JPMorgan Chase developed the 553,442-square-foot building at 333 N. Green, completing it in 2019 ahead of COVID-19. As part of the development, Sterling Bay signed a long-term lease with the joint venture to have its offices in the building.
The 19-story building is fully leased after Dutch financial technology firm Adyen late last year leased almost 97,000 square feet there.
Sterling Bay is moving into the top two floors of a three-story building owned by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Asana Partners. The building is leased to Vital Proteins, the collagen company that Nestle Health Science acquired in 2022.
It’s unclear whether Nestle plans to find a new space for Vital Proteins, which is not using ground-floor retail space that it also leases in the building.
Representatives of Sterling Bay, R1 RCM, Nestle and Sunon did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CoStar News.
R1 RCM had been in the market seeking space for a large expansion after outgrowing its space in the 19-story building at 800 W. Fulton, which was developed by New York-based Thor Equities.
Sunon plans a showroom, similar to those of other furniture sellers in the neighborhood, in the ninth-floor space at 800 W. Fulton.
The furniture company is based in Hangzhou, China, with a U.S. headquarters in Irvine, California.
For the record
R1 RCM is represented by JLL broker Andy Strand. Vital Proteins is represented by Colliers International broker Dougal Jeppe. Sunon is represented by JLL brokers Sarah Silva and Nicole Becker.