Headquarters Move Within Chicago’s Northern Suburbs Is Largest New Area Office Lease in 2023

The world’s largest nitrogen fertilizer company is moving its global headquarters within Chicago’s northern suburbs after signing the largest new office lease in the market in the early going of 2023.

CF Industries signed for 77,863 square feet at 1 Astellas Way in Northbrook, Illinois. The deal is the largest new office lease in the market so far this year, according to CoStar data, though a pair of renewals represent the largest office leases year to date.

The CF Industries lease was announced this week in a statement from brokers at Transwestern Real Estate Services, which represents the building’s owner, Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma.

CF Industries’ 400 headquarters workers will relocate by the end of the year from nearby Deerfield, Illinois, a company spokesman said in an email to CoStar News.

CF Industries is moving from a much larger space in Deerfield, where it now leases an entire five-story, 176,187-square-foot building at 4 Parkway North.

It’s the latest example of tenants upgrading with new space but cutting their footprint since the onset of COVID-19, with remote-work trends helping to push the amount of available space in the Chicago area to record levels.

There is a combined 100 million square feet of office space available in the Chicago market, according to CoStar data, or 19.6% of the total inventory.

“Coming out of the pandemic, there has been a flight to quality,” Transwestern's Kyle Robbins, one of the building’s leasing brokers, said in the statement. “A tenant signing a long-term lease in such a notable building is a testament to the fact that businesses care about the office, especially high-quality environments that will attract employees back to in-person work and encourage collaboration.”

The two-building complex along Interstate 294 was completed in 2012 as the U.S. headquarters for Astellas. Starting in April, the complex will be renamed 2375 Waterview Drive, according to Transwestern.

That change comes as Astellas looks to lease out the entire 217,232-square-foot south building while remaining the lone user of the 214,560-square-foot north building. The two buildings are connected by a shared lobby.

CF Industries is a global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products for farming, clean energy and other uses.

Source: www.CoStar.com