International Contractors is saying goodbye to Elmhurst and hello (for now) to Oak Brook.
The company has signed a short-term lease to temporarily relocate its headquarters in an 18,000-square-foot space at 1 Mid America Plaza, the Chicago Business Journal reported. The company will leave Elmhurst, where it occupies 15,000 square feet.
Daniel Crawley represented International Contractors in the lease and said the company is seeking more space to accommodate its growth projections.
Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
While many individuals fled to the suburbs during the pandemic, the same couldn’t be said for corporations. Chicago’s suburban office market has continued to struggle, even as more and more people return to the office.
According to data from JLL, the suburban office market vacancy rate hit 26.1 percent at the end of June, which is a record-high since it began tracking it 20 years ago.
In Deerfield, construction company Caterpillar hired Cushman & Wakefield to sublease the full 116,000 square feet of offices it leases across three floors at 510 Lake Cook Road.
Earlier this month, suburban telecommunications company ExteNet said it was vacating its space in the Lisle Executive Center at 3030 Warrenville Road in the village of Lisle.
Despite some of these big moves, Cawley said that, within the Chicago submarkets, Oak Brook is one that is still performing well.
“Vacancy rates are low and location demand is high,” he told the outlet. “Submarket availability allows growing companies to take advantage of corporate consolidation decisions.”
International Contractors new temporary space is in the 207,000-square-foot Mid America building, which is anchored by global professional services firm Crowe LLP.
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— Victoria Pruitt