Mettawa Building Becomes Biggest Suburban Office Sale In 2 Years

METTAWA, IL — Drugmaker AbbVie last month closed the biggest suburban office space purchase in almost two years last month, spending $154 million on the 13-story, X-shaped interconnected towers at 26525 N. Riverwoods Blvd., Crain's Chicago Business reported. AbbVie, spun off in 2013 from the North Chicago-based pharmaceutical juggernaut Abbot Laboratories, has been subleasing the space since early 2014.

The last time an office property in the Chicago suburbs sold for more was November 2016, when the private equity firm Blackstone Group sold the Riverway complex in Des Plaines, according to Crain's.

Built in 2008, the 558,859-square-foot property's original tenant was the bank HSBC, but after its credit card business was acquired by Capital One Financial in 2012, the entire building was listed for lease, Crain's reported. AbbVie's headquarters was originally developed by Hamilton Partners and later sold to a venture of UBS Realty Investors. AbbVie began expanding into the Mettawa towers in 2014, the Chicago Tribune reported.

With nearly 26 percent of office space vacant, North Lake County is second only to the Northwest suburban submarket's for the weakest of Chicago's six suburban regions, according to second-quarter data from commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle. Despite the high rates of vacancies, north suburban office space has filled up faster so far this year than in any other submarket.