The deal is a big win for Houston-based Hines, which is developing the 1.2 million-square-foot Salesforce Tower and already has an anchor tenant in San Francisco-based Salesforce, which is leasing around 500,000 square feet in the building. Kirkland’s move also stands out as a massive new commitment to in-person office work after many companies have adjusted to life with remote workers—and re-evaluated their workspace needs as a result—during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are excited to make the move to what will be another iconic building in Chicago,” Kirkland Executive Committee Chairman Jon Ballis said in a statement.
Ballis praised Kirkland’s current building, 300 N. LaSalle St., in the statement but said the firm would have had to dramatically renovate its floors in the building “to create more collaborative workspaces” and that “the resulting multi-year construction disruption to our personnel made moving the clear choice for us.”
A Kirkland spokeswoman did not immediately provide details of when the law firm will move, but Salesforce Tower is not expected to be completed until 2023. Kirkland’s lease for about half of the 1.3 million-square-foot tower at 300 N. LaSalle runs through February 2029, but the firm has a termination option it can exercise in 2025 with at least two years’ notice, according to a Fitch report on building owner Irvine’s loan on the property, which was packaged with other mortgages and sold off to commercial mortgage-backed securities investors.
Kirkland’s new deal is the largest downtown office lease since the firm signed a deal for 650,000 square feet at its current LaSalle Street home, a building Hines also developed and opened in 2009.
Kirkland’s lease comes with downtown office vacancy at a record high and with the central business district awash in space available for sublease, pushing landlords to shell out big incentives to shore up their tenant rosters. Kirkland’s move will open up a big block of vacancy for Newport Beach, Calif.-based Irvine, which has owned 300 N. LaSalle since 2014. A spokesman for Irvine declined to comment.
Kirkland’s revenue rose to $4.8 billion in 2020, the most of any law firm worldwide. The firm has 2,900 lawyers—almost three times what it had 15 years ago—and more than 700 attorneys in Chicago, according to its website. The firm’s statement today said it has 1,700 employees in Chicago.
Newmark Group Vice Chairman Bob Chodos and Savills Vice Chairman Joe Learner represented Kirkland in negotiating the new lease.
