Sears Tower wins new leases
By Eddie Baer - Chicago Business
August 8, 2008

(Crain’s) — A former software subsidiary of Hewitt Associates Inc. is moving to the Sears Tower, the biggest among several new leases signed at North America’s tallest building.

In total, the four deals amount to 42,583 square feet, which is a significant win for Sears Tower given the high vacancy in the building and the struggles ownership has had with attracting and retaining tenants.

“We’re seeing momentum in leasing,” says a Sears Tower spokesman.

“And I do think we’ll have more to announce soon.”

Accero Inc., the former Hewitt unit that had been known as Cyborg, has leased 18,521 square feet on the 36th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, sources say.

Two other existing tenants that subleased space from with Merrill Lynch & Co. on the 54th floor signed direct deals for their space with Sears Tower. Meanwhile, a second software firm, Soverain Software LLC, recently moved into Sears Tower.

Accero, which provides payroll and human resources software and service, is to move this fall from 120 S. Riverside Plaza, where Hewitt leases about 36,000 square feet on the 18th floor.

Executives with Accero and a spokesman with the venture capital firm that acquired the company earlier this year didn’t return calls seeking comment. Studley Inc. represented Accero in the lease transaction. A Studley spokeswoman declines to comment.

The company had been known as Cyborg until February, when its name was changed to Accero.

Lincolnshire-based Hewitt bought Cyborg in 2003 and sold the company for an undisclosed sum to San Francisco-based Vista Equity Partners in a deal first announced in January. Vista, which was founded in 2000 by several former Goldman Sachs & Co. investment bankers, has invested more than $2 billion in technology and software companies, according to the company’s Web site.

In the second-largest of the deals at Sears Tower, two firms with overlapping ownership together leased 13,601 square feet on the 54th floor for about 2½ years. The two firms, which had subleased the space Merrill Lynch, are Andes Capital LLC, a small investment banking and trading firm, and Unicous Marketing Inc., a consumer coupon company.

“To have a presence in an internationally known building is like telling somebody you live in the Trump building in New York — everybody knows where that is,” says Imran Mukati, a partner with Andes.

In the two smaller deals, law firm Rockey Depke & Lyons LLC is leasing 8,599 square feet from Sears Tower on the 54th floor that the firm had subleased from Merrill Lynch, and Soverain Software LLC leased 1,862 square feet on the 94th floor in a five-year deal, and moved from 120 S. Riverside. Soverain was represented by Anthony Karmin, an executive vice-president with Transwestern Commercial Services.

Sears Tower ownership, Skokie-based American Landmark Properties Ltd. and New York investors Joseph Chetrit and Joseph Moinian, was represented by U.S. Equities Realty LLC. Chicago-based U.S. Equities took over leasing and management last spring.

The deals are welcome news for the tower’s owners, who bought the iconic building in 2004. Four of the tower’s five largest tenants, accounting for 40% of the building's rents, are considering moving out when their leases come due. The five biggest leases expire from 2009 and into 2014.

For Soverain, which owns patents on several online commerce applications and is a descendant of one-time local tech star Divine Inc., Sears Tower won out because of its location and low taxes and operating costs, says company president Katharine Wolanyk.