PR Firm Cision To Halve Space, Move Chicago HQ To West Loop

Another Chicago company is cutting its square footage in half as occupiers pull back on space requirements and flock to cheaper and increasingly plentiful sublease space.

Public relations firm Cision will slash its footprint 52% and move its headquarters to the West Loop, Crain’s Chicago Business reported Monday. The company will leave its 52K SF home base at One Prudential Plaza when its lease expires in late January and reopen at 300 South Riverside Plaza in a 24.9K SF space.

Cision will sublease its new HQ digs from healthcare consultants Evolent Health, sources told Crain’s, which pointed to the deal as emblematic of two trends: fewer people in the office leading to smaller space requirements amid growing acceptance hybrid and remote work is here for good and a plethora of available sublease space in the city.

Sublease inventory in downtown Chicago has hit more than 6M SF, nearly half of it in the West Loop. That record-setting amount of sublease availability has attracted bargain-hunting companies disinclined to shell out for building out new space as construction costs spike, Crain’s noted.

Logistics brokerage TransLoop and financial firm Twin Brook Capital Partners have also picked up sublease space in the past six weeks, though in both cases for expansions.

Cision, which employed 300 workers in Chicago as of early last year, declined to comment on the deal, which will have repercussions for both Evolent Health and Cision’s current landlord Sterling Bay, the owner of One Prudential Plaza at 130 East Randolph St., Crain's reported.

For Evolent, the sublease with Cision allows it, too, to pare back its footprint  just three years after doubling its space at 300 South Riverside to 130K SF. But it represents a headache for Sterling Bay, who will have to find a new tenant to fill Cision’s space, possibly handing out free rent and large improvement enticements to draw a new tenant. The 41-story building had been 98% leased.