The first sign of real trouble for the once thriving Chicago office market came last May, when Groupon decided to sublease 150,000 square feet of space at its headquarters in River North. It was half the company’s total space there.
Nearly a year later, with 5.4 million square feet of vacant office space having piled up across the city, Groupon has decided to sublease the remaining half of its offices at the Sterling Bay-owned building.
The digital coupon company has put its remaining 144,000 square feet of office space on the market at 600 West Chicago Avenue, according to Crain’s. Scores of firms have done the same over the last year across the city, including most recently Uber, which said it would look to sublease 150,000 square feet at 601W Companies’ Old Post Office; and rail car provider TTX, which put up 100,000 square feet of space at its West Loop headquarters.
Groupon has hired CBRE to market all of the approximately 300,000 square feet at its HQ, in which the company’s name is emblazoned on the building. Its lease lasts at least through January 2024, according to the report. The company, which also subleases some space to a tech firm led by Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell, said it intended to “maintain an office on whichever floor isn’t subleased,” a spokesperson said.
That follows a similar move last month in New York by Yelp and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The firms separately put up two offices each for sublease, but indicated they would consolidate into the one not chosen.
[Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman