WeWork has agreed to a lease for 89,500 square feet of space at 1155 W. Fulton Street, representing all of the available office space in the building. Barnett Capital, Ltd. and Domus Special Situations Group acquired the building earlier this year and the joint venture is in the late stages of a comprehensive modernization and repositioning program.
WeWork will occupy the entire second, third and fourth floors of the property. With the addition of 1155 W. Fulton Street, the co-working and flex office company currently has 13 locations open and announced in Chicago across Fulton Market, West Loop, The Loop and River North.
“The overall excitement for and momentum in the Fulton Market District is moving west from Halsted Street,” said Elan Peretz, the managing director of Barnett Capital. “We acquired this property, and a series of others, in the belief that in a few short years Fulton and Racine will be the center of the Fulton Market district. With this lease to WeWork, we believe that we are helping to move things in that direction.”
As originally developed, 1133 and 1155 are separate, three-story buildings. Through the redevelopment and repositioning program, designed by Space Architects + Planners, the buildings have been combined to create larger floorplates and a fourth floor is being added. Around the perimeter of the fourth floor will be rooftop/deck amenity space providing dramatic views of the city in all directions. In total, the building features approximately 100,000 square feet of commercial space.
“Business and individuals continue to be drawn to the maturing and evolving live-work-play lifestyle that exists in Fulton Market,” said Phillip Ciaccio, principal at Domus. “That’s why we continue to move forward with and evaluate a variety of projects in the Fulton Market area.”
The Barnett Capital/Domus joint venture, as well as Barnett Capital individually, have a number of other interests in Fulton Market that could add a significant amount of office space along west Fulton Street. On adjacent parcels at 213 and 219 N. Racine Avenue, the joint venture has plans to develop a multi-story office building totaling 75,000 square feet of office space. That space could be delivered, as a corporate build-to-suit or a multi-tenant building, as soon as the fourth quarter of 2020.
“This is such an exciting market to be part of as it further develops and matures,” Peretz said. “The diverse nature of tenants drawn to Fulton Market creates the ability to draw tenants of all sizes that want the vibe and the energy that the overall lifestyle is creating, or tenants focused on being in close proximity to pioneering firms such as Google and McDonalds, and others, that are here now or will be relocating in the near term.”
