EnTrust Realty Advisors represented LEAP Innovations Inc. with its new 11,675-square-foot office lease in Chicago’s iconic Merchandise Mart. The lease allows the company, facing rapid growth and unique space programming needs, to establish a new headquarters identity after outgrowing its incubator space.
After evaluating 50 locations and touring 20 spaces in the Chicago CBD, EnTrust identified a solution that allowed LEAP to continue its presence at the Merchandise Mart’s 1871 incubator facility while expanding its operations to a creative plug-and-play space on a full-floor sublease including furniture in the Mart’s tower. As part of EnTrust’s holistic real estate approach, the firm contributed to LEAP’s visioning and space planning process, which ultimately qualified this new location as the perfect spot for its office and programming needs.
EnTrust locked-in a long-term lease at a 27 percent reduction in rent on a per-square-foot basis, compared to the incubator space, and further negotiated a gross free rent abatement period. In addition to office use, the new space can accommodate LEAP’s professional development sessions which host over 100 educators on a regular basis.
LEAP Innovations is a leading not-profit dedicated to inspiring, delivering and advancing the practice of equitable, personalized learning experiences, designed to enable every learner to reach their full potential. LEAP has received grants from some of the most prestigious foundations in the world including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and the Pritzker Foundation.
