Cushman & Wakefield has quietly put its global headquarters tower on the sales block, testing how much investors are willing to pay for one of the Loop’s better occupied office buildings. The firm’s riverfront home base at 225 W. Wacker Drive, a 31-story tower along the Chicago River, is being marketed by none other than Cushman’s own brokerage team on behalf of owner Spear Street Capital.
What’s on the market
The property is a roughly 650,812-square-foot, 31-story office tower completed in 1989 that sits directly on the Chicago River. Marketing materials peg the building at about 86 percent leased, with a weighted average lease term of nearly 6.5 years and 233 parking spaces. Cushman & Wakefield itself is the largest tenant, holding just over 83,000 square feet, according to CoStar News.
Owner history and price
Spear Street Capital bought the tower in May 2020 in a deal arranged by Cushman & Wakefield, paying about $210 million for the building. That timing effectively made 225 W. Wacker a pandemic-era wager on a downtown rebound and now gives would-be buyers a clear benchmark to measure current pricing against, according to Business Wire.
Financing and seller pressure
After the acquisition, Spear Street put roughly $158.1 million of debt on the building and later reworked that loan, trimming the balance to about $143.1 million in 2023, according to property records cited in the listing. The owner has also been contending with stress on other Chicago holdings, including a reported default on a separate $270 million loan tied to 500 W. Monroe, a backdrop prospective buyers are likely to factor in, as reported by CoStar News.
What buyers will get
Marketing materials spotlight recent upgrades to the lobby, common areas and building systems, along with the riverfront address and on-site restaurant and café options, plus direct transit access. The official property website lays out the building’s amenities, along with leasing and management contacts, underscoring that the tower is being actively pitched to institutional investors, per the 225 West Wacker site.
Where this fits in Chicago’s market
Downtown office sales have whipsawed in recent years, with investors paying steep discounts for riverfront towers. One nearby Wacker Drive building, for example, traded for $125 million in 2024, a sign that buyers are laser focused on cash flow while still wrestling with long-term uncertainty. The 225 W. Wacker listing will show whether a well-leased, amenitized Loop tower can still pull a premium price at a time when capital is tight, a dynamic highlighted in recent coverage from The Real Deal.
Next steps
Cushman brokers are now formally marketing the tower, and the property site lists leasing and management contacts for would-be buyers and tenants to call. Over the coming months, bids, tours and inspections will start to show how investors are pricing top-tier Loop offices in the current environment and could help set the tone for other downtown deals to follow.
