Blackstone and 233 South Wacker LLC Announce Definitive Agreement for Sale of Chicago’s Willis Tower
March 16 2015 - 8:33AM
Business Wire
Blackstone (NYSE:BX) and 233 South Wacker LLC today announced
that they had signed a definitive agreement for Blackstone Real
Estate Partners VII to acquire Chicago’s Willis Tower. The Willis
Tower is a 3.8 million square-foot office building in downtown
Chicago and, at 110 stories, is the second-tallest office building
in the United States and the fifth-tallest office building in the
world. The building also features a top Chicago tourist attraction
in the Skydeck on the 103rd floor, which provides 1.6 million
visitors per year with unmatched views of Chicago and the
surrounding area including from the “Ledge”, glass cubes which
extend from the building.
Jacob Werner, a Managing Director in Blackstone’s real estate
group, said, “We are delighted to be acquiring this iconic building
on behalf of our limited partners. We are bullish on Chicago as
companies expand within and move into the city and look for
first-class office space. Moreover, we see great potential in
further improving both the building’s retail operations and the
tourist experience for one of the most popular destinations for
visitors to Chicago.”
A representative of 233 South Wacker LLC said in a
statement, “This is simply a unique asset in real estate in the
United States and has been an excellent investment for us. We are
very happy that Blackstone is buying it and know that they will
continue to be an excellent steward of this world-famous
building.”
Special thanks from the seller to Douglas Harmon of Eastdil
Secured, who was the exclusive representative on the
transaction.
Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing.
Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has
approximately $81 billion in investor capital under management.
Blackstone’s real estate portfolio includes hotel, office, retail,
industrial and residential properties in the US, Europe, Asia and
Latin America. Major holdings include Hilton Worldwide, Invitation
Homes (single family homes), Logicor (pan-European logistics), SCP
(Chinese shopping malls), and prime office buildings in the world’s
major cities. Blackstone real estate also operates one of the
leading real estate finance platforms, including management of the
publicly traded Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT).
BlackstonePeter Rose, 212-583-5871peter.rose@blackstone.com
Blackstone (NYSE:BX)
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