CHICAGO — Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) is under contract to sell two buildings in Chicago’s East Loop district, 111 E. Wacker Drive and 233 N. Michigan Ave., for a gross sales price of $376 million.
The pair of office towers are together known as Illinois Center. The buyer is New York-based AmTrust Realty, according to Crain’s Chicago.
As of March 31, 2015, the 2.1 million-square-foot campus was 73.5 percent leased. The office towers were constructed in 1970 and renovated in 2005.
Equity Commonwealth is in a disposition mode. Earlier this month, the company sold two portfolios comprising 51 properties and 8.3 million square feet for a combined $793 million. Not including the sale of Illinois Center, Equity Commonwealth has sold $817 million of assets year-to-date. The company also has three office properties under contract to sell for roughly $35 million.
Chicago-based Equity Commonwealth is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns roughly 100 office properties in the United States totaling 34 million square feet. In May 2014, when it was known as CommonWealth REIT, a new board of trustees and management team were appointed to lead Equity Commonwealth, including Sam Zell as board chairman.
The REIT’s stock price closed Wednesday, June 24, at $25.84 per share, down from $26.87 per share on Aug.1, 2014, when the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EQC. The company previously traded under the symbol CWH.
— John Nelson