The new lease comes as Stripe looks to be going on a Chicago hiring spree. The company did not respond to requests for comment on the move or plans for growth, but its website lists more than 240 Chicago -based open jobs, including more than 50 engineering roles.
Stripe adds to a long list of Bay Area-based tech companies looking for the bulk of the number of people in Chicago, where tech-savvy talent is generally more affordable and easier to maintain than the coasts. . Google, Facebook, Salesforce and ServiceNow are among the major West Coast companies that have added significantly to their Chicago workers in recent years, a trend that raised the fortunes of many downtown office landlords before the pandemic. of COVID-19. Beneficiaries include New York-based private equity giant Blackstone Group, which owns the Orleans Street building, formerly known as Apparel Mart. The company signed a large lease before the pandemic with San Francisco-based online consumer-lending company Affirm.
Stripe’s deal poses a more ugly backdrop for office building owners, with the emergence of remote employment driving companies to rethink their workspace needs and increase vacancy. in the downtown office on the highest record. Stripe’s re -commitment to personal work is a good example for landlords with large blocks of space to fill.
With Affirm and other new tenants, Blackstone has had some success in backfilling parts of its vacant space in the 1.3 million-square-foot building after advertising firm WPP left the building for a new office in the Fulton Market District. The property was 75% leased prior to the Stripe deal, according to real estate information company CoStar Group, which is less than the 80% average in downtown office buildings by the end of 2021.
Blackstone spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment.
The Orleans Street building has new development happening around it, most notably the Salesforce Tower that rises next to Wolf Point. Salesforce and law firm Kirkland & Ellis will move into the 60-story skyscraper, which is scheduled for completion next year.
The upper floors of the Blackstone office building are also undergoing a major renovation. Chicago developer John Murphy is undergoing a $ 40 million-plus renovation to the old, 522-room Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza that is on pace to be completed in the next few months.
Stripe technology is used by companies to process payments for online purchases, and the company said in 2019 it plans to tap into Chicago’s deep pool of engineering and other tech-smart talent that knows in the industry. Chicago has been home to several tech companies related to mobile payments and e-commerce, including Braintree and Groupon.
Founded in 2009, Stripe has seen a sharp growth in customer demand recently as the pandemic forced more people to shop online. The company’s revenue grew 70% in 2020 to $ 7.4 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
CBRE’s Brad Serot negotiated the lease on Stripe’s behalf. Mike Kazmierczak of CBRE represents Blackstone.