Quote:
Originally Posted by skysoar
Perhaps you are right, but I would think that a corporation that wants to occupy a large space, and have its own namesake on a tall office building downtown would still find 130 N Franklin quite attractive. I guess that begs the question though, why has it not happened up to this point. Could it be location, cost, timing, etc.
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The answer is likely not location, cost, timing - any of that.
Answer is more likely found in the competence/efforts/local experience, etc, etc of the development - and importantly - leasing teams. Tishman Speyer is a large owner in Chicago but has not been a significant developer locally. Who is doing their leasing here? Are those the right individuals to land an anchor tenant?? If not, has a change been made after a few years of having anchor tenant after anchor tenant slip through their fingers and lost to other projects. If not, why in the world not? Tishman Speyer has no one to blame but themselves for their lack of success to-date over the last few years with 130 North Franklin.
There is a lot of variation in the experience and competence of specific developers and leasing teams - non-market factors that are crucially important to keep front of mind when assessing, handicapping etc various specific developments’ prospects. A great example is how I was so confident in laughing off that developer’s ‘proposal’ for that South Loop assisted living tower. All one had to do was spend 3 mins. looking into the developer and relevant experience to assess it as nothing more than a fantasy (nothing to do with market factors, business models in the abstract, pent-up demand, etc).