KBS Lands Accenture As Anchor, And 500 West Madison Gets A New Name
Accenture, a global professional services company, has decided to vastly expand the amount of space it occupies at 500 West Madison in the West Loop, and owner KBS Real Estate Investment Trust III has agreed to rename the 40-story property Accenture Tower.
The company will expand by 152K SF to a total occupancy of 226K SF, making it the new anchor tenant in the 1.46M SF tower.
It is another boost for the West Loop, already the premier office submarket in the city, which has been attracting even more notice from users due to the rise of Fulton Market just to the west. Instead of being on the downtown's edge, office workers once drawn to Accenture Tower by its location above the Ogilvie Transportation Center, one of the main suburban train stations connecting downtown Chicago to the suburbs, are now surrounded by many restaurants, retail and new multifamily developments.
"The growth of Fulton Market has centralized our location," said Dan Park, senior vice president at KBS and asset manager for the property. "There are a lot of tech jobs now filtering into this side of the city."
Mayor Lori Lightfoot was on hand, along with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, to mark the occasion in a Wednesday morning press conference. She praised the company for doubling its local apprenticeship program, a commitment to train 180 apprentices who haven’t had the opportunity to work in the tech industry by 2022.
“The city of Chicago is committed to inclusive growth that ensures the success of a thriving downtown extends across all of our city’s neighborhoods and communities,” Lightfoot said. "We thank Accenture for their continued investment in the city of Chicago, and for their partnership with the City Colleges of Chicago to expand apprenticeships that will unlock new career opportunities for our city’s students.”
Built in 1987, Accenture Tower is a LEED Gold-certified building. Park said KBS has poured about $15M into creating new amenities, which now include a two-level, 14K SF fitness center, and a new tenant lounge with air hockey, shuffleboard and wine lockers. In addition, the property was recently named Building of the Year for the second time by the Building Owners and Managers Association.
“We packed Accenture Tower with a wealth of amenities because we want our tenants, their employees and visitors to have their best experience when they are in the building,” KBS Regional President of the Eastern U.S. Marc DeLuca said.
KBS will rebrand the lobby and amenity areas to highlight the firm’s new partnership with Accenture.
CBRE's Kyle Kamin, Todd Lippman and Michael Dash represented Accenture, and Cushman & Wakefield's Wendy Katz and Matt Lerner represented KBS.
