Podolsky Northstar Brings Two More Dot.coms to Chicago Market

Podolsky Northstar Realty Partners has represented two dot.com companies in office lease transactions totaling 60,100 sf in Chicago and Bannockburn, a far north suburb of Chicago.

Cupertino, CA-based Telocity Inc. signed a long-term lease for 51,670 sf of office space at the e•port building, 600 W. Chicago Ave., just northwest of Chicago’s Loop. The tenant, founded in 1997, is a nationwide provider of integrated high-speed broadband services through digital subscriber line technology to the residential market. This will be the firm’s first facility outside of Silicon Valley and it will house the firm’s sales solution division.

Telocity was referred to Podolsky Northstar by Telocity’s California broker, San Jose-based CPS Inc., through its international brokerage network, Corfac International.

The three million sf e•port building, formerly owned by Montgomery Ward and used as a catalog warehouse, was acquired by e•port 600 LLC. The buyer renovated and upgraded 1.5 million sf of the building for high-tech telecommunications tenants. Three levels of parking and residential units are planned for the eight-story mixed-use complex as well.

John R. Homsher, principal and sales manager, and Richard G. Levy, principal, and Thomas J. Callahan Jr., vice president/office properties division, Podolsky Northstar, represented Telocity. The e•port joint venture was represented by in-house broker Brad Despot of Amerimar Enterprises.

GroupWorks.com, an Internet-based employee-benefits management and brokerage company for small and midsize companies, subleased 8,445 sf of office space at Bannockburn Lakes Office Plaza, Bannockburn. The tenant relocated from Dayton, OH, in order to attract a more computer literate work force.

The space is subleased from Lake Forest-based IMC Global, a firm that is consolidating its two offices into one in Lake Forest. GroupWorks occupies its new space on a turnkey basis, utilizing all of the existing build-out and furnishings.Homsher and Randy D. Podolsky, managing principal, represented GroupWorks in the transaction. IMC was represented by the Chicago office of Julien J. Studley Inc., which included Michael Burns; Joseph Learner, executive vice president and co-branch manager; and John J. Goodman, executive vice president and branch manager.