North Wells Capital and Urban Innovations are pleased to announce that U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: USX) has signed a long-term lease for approximately 40,000 square feet encompassing three floors at 306 West Erie. The company is projected to occupy the space in the first quarter 2022 and will become the building’s anchor tenant. The building has now reached full occupancy.
U.S. Xpress is expanding and relocating its offices from within Chicago’s River North. The company is one of the nation’s largest asset-based truckload carriers, providing customers over-the-road, dedicated, and brokerage services throughout the U.S. and across North America. Xpress Technologies, its digitally enabled freight brokerage division, will occupy the bulk of this new space. The division has more than doubled the size of their workforce nationally since mid-2020.
According to Joel Gard, President of Xpress Technologies, this space allows the company to bring more of its skilled professionals together in the nation’s foremost transportation and logistics hub. “We’re actively hiring in Chicago now and will continue to expand our team here over the next couple of years – our new location gives us the space to house upwards of 150 employees, which will complement our existing hubs in Chattanooga, Scottsdale, and Boulder. We are looking for talented, passionate, optimistic professionals who are interested in technology, product, marketing, sales, and operations roles. We have amazing career opportunities for anyone who has grit and chooses to be part of a growing team that is building solutions for the $800 billion dollar transportation market.”
Gard continued, “306 W Erie is a great building that mixes both the history of Chicago in the original structure, yet boasts a host of modern features with the new addition. From a features perspective, the space has great natural light and provides the open floorplan necessary to design a modern workplace conducive to a hybrid style of individual work and onsite collaboration. Additionally, it’s located in a central neighborhood with easy access to public transit. While many of our competitors, new and incumbent, have begun to congregate in the budding technology hub of the West Loop / Fulton Market area of the city, we made an intentional decision to remain true to our roots and stake a flag in River North – it’s a classic Chicago neighborhood that continues to redefine itself, just like we’re doing at Xpress Technologies and our parent company, U.S. Xpress.”
“306 W Erie was built for a better tomorrow, and we believe that reaching this leasing milestone with U.S Xpress is a harbinger of the rejuvenation of Chicago’s office market,” said Tony Lindsay, Principal at North Wells Capital. “We are confident 306 W Erie will provide a safe and modern space that will allow them to offer employees a productive and vibrant work environment.”
306 West Erie is part of Verso, a three-building collection in River North – Chicago’s original creative office submarket and thriving downtown neighborhood. Initially purchased by North Wells in 2017, the firm has completed a renovation and expansion of the property that nearly doubled the building’s size, replaced all building systems – inclusive of dedicated and tenant controllable HVAC with advanced ventilation, and added amenities such as a 6th-floor tenant lounge and gaming area, an outdoor landscaped terrace equipped with a fire pit, and a walkable decorative communicating stair allowing for easy access to and between all floors. Verso’s other proposed buildings are nearby 311 W. Huron and 320 W. Huron. JLL is the leasing agent for 306 West Erie and the entire Verso portfolio. The JLL team of Melissa Rubenstein, Annie Nicolau and Anna Panici represented North Wells Capital in the lease and CBRE’s Dan Persa worked on behalf of the tenant.
