Blackstone sells O’Hare office complex amid strong submarket

Blackstone Group sold an office complex near O’Hare International Airport for $64 million, the latest in a string of suburban properties it has sold in recent years. It comes at a time when the vacancy rate has been among the lowest of all suburban submarkets.

Salt Lake City-based Bridge Investment Group acquired the O’Hare International Center, according to Crain’s. It marks the seventh Chicago suburban office property Blackstone sold in two years. HFF’s Bryan Rosenberg and Pat Shields represented Blackstone in the deal.

The selloff has brought in $750 million for Blackstone, which is in the middle of a $668 million overhaul of its signature Chicago property, the Willis Tower.

The two-building, 518,000-square-foot O’Hare International Center at 10255 and 10275 West Higgins Road was part of a $1 billion portfolio Blackstone bought in 2011 from Indianapolis-based Duke Realty.

Earlier this year, the O’Hare office submarket had the lowest vacancy rates of all area suburbs.

Still, Blackstone isn’t the only firm shedding office properties in the area: Sam Zell’s Equity Commonwealth agreed to sell its last Chicago office property, the Triangle Plaza, to Hawaii-based Shidler Group for about $143 million.

Bridge, meanwhile, is buying a historic Loop office tower for $113 million. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien