Ikea, which spurned the city of Chicago two months ago in its search for a location for a second area store, has now focused on a site along the north side of Boughton Road just west of I-355 in southwest suburban Bolingbrook, sources said.
Ikea’s interest in the site surfaced in December even as it was killing plans to anchor a Near South Side mixed-used development at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street by Chicago-based Rezmar Corp.
The Bolingbrook site, roughly 27 acres, is owned by Forest City Enterprise Inc., which would sell a portion of the land to Ikea for a 330,000-square-foot store. The Cleveland real estate company would develop the remaining land with an additional 300,000 square feet of retailing. Ikea could spur development on a larger site on the south side of Boughton that also is owned by Forest City.
The board of the Swedish home furnishings retailer is expected to consider the deal next month, sources said.
Ikea is a “mayor’s dream” because of its potential sales tax revenue, said Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar, who confirmed that he has discussed the site with Ikea executives, but declined to comment on the negotiations.
If a deal goes through, Janes Avenue along the west edge of the site would be widened, with a landscaped parkway to buffer the proposed retailing from an adjacent residential area, he said.
Patrick Smith, a real estate manager with Ikea’s North American subsidiary, based in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., said the site is one of several southwest suburban locations under consideration. It is uncertain whether any deal would be presented to the board as soon as next month, he added.
More room: Law firm McGuireWoods LLP is doubling its space to about 135,000 square feet, at 77 W. Wacker Dr., said Theodore Tetzlaff, managing partner of the firm’s Chicago office, which last year merged with Chicago-based Ross & Hardies. The new lease with landlord Prime Group Realty Trust runs until 2018, replacing a lease that would have expired in 2010.
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The former Ross & Hardies offices at 150 N. Michigan Ave. are being marketed for sublease, said Robert Chodos, a principal in the strategic advisory group of John Buck Co., which represents McGuireWoods. Those offices take up about 89,000 square feet under a lease that expires in 2008.
Suit filed: The landlord of 35 E. Wacker Drive has filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court to evict the Chicago office of architectural firm HLM Design Inc., which allegedly owes about $52,000 and hasn’t paid rent since Nov. 1.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based architectural and engineering firm was delisted last summer by the American Stock Exchange. The executive in charge of the local office could not be reached for comment.
Staffing space: Professional staffing firm Hudson Highland Group Inc. has leased 19,600 square feet of space at 10 S. Wacker Dr., part of the twin-tower complex co-owned by Equity Office Properties Trust. CB Richard Ellis Inc. represented New York-based Hudson Highland.
Bouncing back: The recovery of the Chicago office market will take at least two years longer than the average time for the largest 28 markets nationwide, according to a forecast by analyst Steve Sakwa with New York investment bank Merrill Lynch.
The Chicago downtown vacancy rate won’t fall to 10 percent, considered the benchmark of a stable market, for 6.3 years, compared with the national average of 3.8 years, the study says. The local suburban vacancy rate won’t fall to that level for 7.9 years, compared with the national average of 5.5 years.
The forecast assumes that demand for space will match the demand of 1996-98.
*Forecast Source: Merrill Lynch