CHICAGO and PHILADELPHIA — Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) has agreed to sell a two-property office portfolio for $670 million. The properties feature a total of 2.4 million square feet and are located in Chicago and Philadelphia.
One of the properties included in the transaction is a 1.5 million-square-foot office building located at 600 W. Chicago Ave. in Chicago. Sterling Bay acquired the property for $510 million. The space serves as the headquarters for Groupon. It formerly served as a Montgomery Ward catalog warehouse. The sale marks a full departure from the Chicago office market for Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Commonwealth.
Equity Commonwealth also sold an 826,000-square-foot property at 1600 Market St. in Philadelphia for $160 million. The 40-story building was built in 1983 just a block away from City Hall. The asset is 84 percent leased. The buyer was not disclosed.
Equity Commonwealth sold off a bundle of assets in the last quarter of 2017. This included a two-property, 15-building office portfolio in Moon Township and Pittsburgh, Pa., for $71 million; a 131,000-square-foot office building at 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway in Ann Arbor, Mich., for $24.9 million; a 175,000-square-foot industrial property in North Haven, Conn., for $10.5 million; and a land parcel in Aurora, Ill., and mineral rights in Ft. Worth, Texas, for a combined $500,000.
Chicago-based Equity Commonwealth is an internally managed and self-advised REIT with commercial office properties throughout the United States. The company’s portfolio contained 16 properties and 8.7 million square feet as of Dec. 31, 2017. The company’s stock closed at $30.37 on Tuesday, Jan. 24, down slightly from $31.47 just one year ago.
— Nellie Day