Published by GlobeSt.com
February 9, 2010

By Katie Hinderer

CHICAGO, IL-Valspar Corp. has signed a long-term lease for 40,000 square feet of office space at the O'Hare Plaza I. The Minneapolis-based company will occupy space at 8725 W. Higgins Rd.

Roughly, 150 Valspar employees in the architectural division will utilize the space. The employees are relocating from a number of other locations, but the company is not closing other offices as a result of this move.

Valspar will occupy part of the ninth floor and all of floors 10 and 11 in the 11-story, 473,646-square-foot building. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.

David Burden, Jack Rosenberg, and Frederick Regnery with Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc. represented Valspar. Jones Lang LaSalle's John Clark and Rob Lundin represented building owner, Fulcrum.

Colliers B&K executives see this lease as a positive sign for the O'Hare market, which has been heavily hit during this economic downturn. At year-end the vacancy rate reached 26%, when the average suburban vacancy rate was 24.9%.

Unrelated to this deal, Colliers B&K has hired Brian Nagle as EVP of its Investment Services Group. Nagle has more than 30 years of experience, with a focus recently on investment sales in the Chicago and Midwest office markets. Prior to joining Colliers B&K, Nagle spent 20 years at Cushman & Wakefield. Most recently he was an executive director in the company's Capital Markets Group.