Futures broker expands, bank regulator renews in South Loop
(Crain's) — MF Global Ltd., one of the world's biggest futures brokers, is expanding at One Financial Place.
The firm, now headed by former Chicago Board of Trade CEO Bernard Dan, added 12,000 square feet at One Financial, bringing its offices there to 76,905 square feet. MF Global's lease also was extended a couple years and now runs into December 2016.
Calls to MF Global for comment weren't returned. The company, which is based in Bermuda, hired Mr. Dan as chief operating officer in September and promoted him to CEO the next month. MF Global was represented in the expansion by Lois Durkin and Holly Duran of Holly Duran Real Estate Partners LLC.
One Financial, the 40-story tower at 440 S. LaSalle St., also recently leased 87,400 square feet to a new tenant, proprietary trading firm Chicago Trading Co. The company, also known as CTC LLC, will take the trading floors and other space being given up as part of a contraction by the Chicago Stock Exchange.
Related story: Trading firm moving to One Financial Place
The deals bring the 1-million-square-foot office tower to 95% leased, says Mark Gunderson, a senior vice-president with Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. who handles leasing at One Financial Place along with Jones Lang's Michael Curran.
"We still have demand for high-quality space," Mr. Gunderson says. "Trading firms are one of the few industries we see today that continues to expand."
A recent extension deal at One Financial involved another growth sector these days: the federal government.
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates and supervises national banks, signed a five-year renewal, pushing its lease of 40,000 square feet through 2014. Joe Learner and Richard Schuham of Studley Inc. represented the comptroller's office.
One Financial is owned by Behringer Harvard, a real estate investment firm based outside Dallas that bought the tower and three other downtown office buildings in November 2007 for $832.5 million from Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners Inc.
