Northbrook, Illinois-based Middleton Partners acquired Tallgrass Corporate Center, a Class A, 533,365-square-foot office complex in Bolingbrook, Illinois, totaling an excess of $65 million.
Tallgrass is the signature office property in Bolingbrook and the southwest suburbs, an area that with 30 million square feet of industrial space is more widely recognized as a distribution center mecca, at the crossroads of two major distribution routes in suburban Chicago.
The asset, which represents almost half of the 1.1 million square feet of Class A office space market in the area, is 100 percent leased. The overall Class A occupancy in Bolingbrook is approximately 85 percent.
Tallgrass Corporate Center was originally developed in 1993 as a corporate headquarters/research and development facility for Tellabs. In 2004, Equus acquired the then vacant property and transformed it from a corporate headquarters office, lab and light manufacturing facility into a state-of-the-art, multi-tenant office facility. During Equus’ hold period the firm invested approximately $18 million on the transformation and subsequent improvements.
“We acquired Tallgrass in 2004 and carefully executed a strategic repositioning and aggressive leasing strategy in order to build value for the firm and our investors,” said Joe Neverauskas, Senior Vice President, Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. “With an asset that is 100 percent leased, we’ve accomplished what we envisioned, making it appropriate to sell this asset as we focus on other opportunities.”
Tenants at Tallgrass include ULTA Beauty, 267,535 square feet; Presence Health, 103,825 square feet; Quad Graphics, 70,880 square feet; and AMITA Health, 69,804 square feet. In the last 30 days, ULTA completed a 57,667-square-foot expansion of its space. The weighted average remaining lease term of those tenants is 7.4 years.Converting the Tellabs corporate facility to a multi-tenant corporate office campus was no small undertaking. Among the greatest challenges included maximizing accessibility for the property that sits on 50 acres, and creating an amenity package to help attract a variety of office space users. The conversion process created two main lobbies and 12 secure entry points around the perimeter of the property. Additional elements of the conversion included transforming 130,000 square feet of former high-bay manufacturing space into Class A office space.
The state-of-the-art amenity package at Tallgrass includes a large, full-service cafeteria, a modern and expansive fitness center equipped with locker room and shower facilities. There also is a walking path and a five acre pond. In addition to the cafeteria area, there are a number of formal meeting and casual collision spaces to promote creativity and collaboration. These spaces include a modern, fully equipped 225-seat auditorium, a 25-seat conference room, numerous open seating areas throughout the building, and a series of outdoor patios. From an infrastructure perspective, the building includes three power feeds from two substations and redundancy of fiber optics.
Middleton Partners has retained Colliers International as the exclusive management and leasing firm for Tallgrass because of the firm’s intimate knowledge of and market success at the property. Colliers has been associated with Tallgrass prior to its conversion to a multi-tenant facility.
Tallgrass is located one mile north of I-55 and five miles from the I-55/I-355 intersection, and Burr Ridge Village Center, two retail properties containing almost 950,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment venues.
Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. was represented in the sale transaction by James Postweiler and Peter Harwood of the Capital Markets division of JLL.
