After using a small property in Chicago’s booming Fulton Market district as a launching pad to larger office leases with companies including Uber, Glassdoor and Flexport, developer Sterling Bay wants to do it once more before tearing down the structure to make way for an apartment tower.

Energy CX, a Chicago-based energy broker, recently moved into about 9,000 square feet in the single-story building at 370 N. Carpenter St., with plans to move in the coming years to Sterling Bay’s $6 billion Lincoln Yards megadevelopment on the city’s North Side.

In an unusual deal structure, the tenant and landlord have given each other options to terminate the lease on short notice, either for Sterling Bay to build a planned 29-story apartment tower on the site or for Energy CX to move to a larger space as it anticipates rapid growth next year and beyond, the companies told CoStar News.

Previously, Sterling Bay has used the building as short-term space for well-known companies that were growing fast in Chicago, until they were ready to move into larger, long-term space in other buildings owned by the developer.

“We would love to carry on the tradition,” Energy CX Chief Operating Officer Miles Rice said.

In this case, Sterling Bay already does business with Energy CX, using the energy broker to help purchase electricity and gas contracts for its properties.

Energy CX previously leased 6,211 square feet at 445 N. Wells St. in River North, and the firm is unsure how much space it will need as it ramps up investments in people and technology as it looks to become one of its industry’s dominant players, Rice said.

“Sterling Bay is giving us the chance to growth within its portfolio,” Rice said. “We see them as a partner that will allow us to achieve our goals without our lease structure being an impediment to that.”

The flexible arrangement with Sterling Bay comes amid historically low demand for office space throughout the country as remote and hybrid work schedules persist more than three years since the onset of COVID-19. Sterling Bay’s hope is that it will be positioned to land a company that is expanding at a time when most are cutting back on space.

If Energy CX’s growth continues as planned, it could give Sterling Bay a much-needed office tenant for Lincoln Yards, a mixed-use development where construction has stalled after the construction of the first building — a yet-to-be-leased life science building at 1229 W. Concord Place — was completed along the Chicago River on a 55-acre formerly industrial site. It is one of the biggest real estate projects ever undertaken in Chicago.

Sterling Bay has zoning approval to build up to 14.5 million square feet of building including residential, office and research space, with towers as tall as 595 feet.

As Sterling Bay tries to line up new investors to kick-start new phases of the project, one of the most ambitious ever planned in Chicago, Rice said the firm views the location along Lincoln Park and Bucktown as a logical next destination for a company with 90% of its employees 31 or younger.

“Ultimately, we want to be in Lincoln Yards,” Rice said. “It’s a culture fit. We have a lot of young people who think big, and Sterling Bay is thinking big with Lincoln Yards.”

Previously known as Biofuels Technology and Energy Connection, the company was formed in 2005 by Miles Rice’s parents, Mark and Ellen.

The family-owned company has grown in recent years after focusing exclusively on clients that are big owners of real estate, including Chicago-based firms Sterling Bay and CA Ventures.

Energy CX manages energy for more than 20,000 properties in 14 states, Rice said.

The business expects to grow by about 80% in 2023, following 45% in 2021 and 39% last year, Rice said.

In a splintered industry where no broker controls more than 1.5% of the market, Energy CX aims to grow to a 30% market share, which would cause its employee count to soar along with its need for office space, Rice said.

Rice said he expects the headcount to increase from 50 now to 100 next year.

Sterling Bay has introduced plans to the Chicago City Council to put up a 390-unit apartment tower on the 33,721-square-foot site at 370 N. Carpenter, but the firm has not yet secured city approvals.

“The stars aligned that this was just a great short-term option for the building,” Austin Lusson, vice president of leasing at Sterling Bay, said of the Energy CX lease.

The energy broker occupies about 9,000 square feet, with residential brokerage Luxury Living using the other 1,000 square feet as a leasing center for The Dylan, Sterling Bay’s 282-unit apartment tower at 160 N. Morgan St. Sterling Bay also is building a 350-unit apartment tower at 225 N. Elizabeth St.

Sterling Bay has played a pivotal role in the redevelopment of the former meatpacking district, including bringing McDonald’s global headquarters and Google’s Midwest headquarters to the area. Fulton Market was the fastest-growing urban office market in the country over a recent five-year period, according to a CoStar analysis.

The tenant was represented by JLL brokers Clark Evans and Kevin Morgan. The landlord was represented by Sterling Bay’s Austin Lusson.