(Bloomberg) -- Options powerhouse Cboe Global Markets Inc. has sold its former headquarters in the heart of Chicago’s financial center for about half of its pre-pandemic value.
The property on the LaSalle Street corridor changed hands for $12 million, 43% below its value at the end of 2019, when it first hit the market, according to county property records. The Prime Group, the developer behind Google’s new office in Chicago, was the buyer.
Chicago has been struggling to recover from the pandemic, which hollowed out downtowns across the US. Vacancy rates in the central business district have been setting records quarter after quarter, reaching 23.1% in the three months ended in June, according to data from real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.
Cboe, owner of the the financial market’s most prominent measure of fear, first put the 300,000-square-feet 400 S LaSalle building for sale in 2019, when it moved to new headquarters. Back then, the asset was valued at $21.1 million, the exchange disclosed in a regulatory filing. A spokesman for Cboe confirmed the sale, but declined to provide details.
For decades, the property was home to Cboe’s trading floor, where options dealers screamed orders at each other. It will now be turned into a data center to serve downtown Chicago in a joint venture with Capri Investment Group, said Prime’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Reschke.
“Chicago has steadfastly become a center of technology and innovation, from expansion in search-engine and AI related employment to quantum computing,” said Quintin Primo, founder of Capri Investment. “While there is a trend in large 100-plus megawatt data centers in suburban locations, there is a role for smaller centers in urban markets.”
Distressed properties in the US’s third-largest city have started to lure bargain-hunting buyers, with Prime betting big on a downtown recovery. Reschke and Primo are also partnering on the redevelopment of the James R. Thompson center on LaSalle Street into a new office for Google.
“The acquisition is consistent with our continued commitment to support and continue to invest in downtown Chicago, a city that we love and view as the best city in the US,” Reschke said.
Cboe’s headquarters are currently in the renovated Old Post Office building on Van Buren Street. The exchange also opened a new trading floor within the Chicago Board of Trade Building at 141 W Jackson in 2022.
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