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Online lender Avant is in discussions to lease about 80,000 square feet at theMART

Allstate Doubles Footprint at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart

Northbrook, IL-based Allstate Corp. signed a 57,000-square-foot office expansion lease at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, bringing its total commitment to 102,000 square feet. A year ago, the insurance company opened an innovation center at Vornado Realty Trust’s more than four-million-square-foot Mart, that’s located on the north side of the Chicago River between Orleans and Wells streets.

Plans are unclear about how many workers are expected to be housed in the River North building, at 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza. Previously, the company said it eventually planned to have roughly 400 data scientists and “innovation specialists” at the facility.

Companies such as Motorola Mobility, Conagra Brands, Beam Suntory, Yelp, Braintree and Kellogg have shifted operations closer to downtown Chicago, where tech workers want to live.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Andrea Saewitz, Wendy Katz and Toni McIntosh handle leasing at the Mart.


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Read more at Chicago TribuneConnect With Vornado Realty Trust’s David GreenbaumConnect With Cushman & Wakefield’s Andrea Saewitz

About Dennis Kaiser

Dennis Kaiser is Vice President of Public Relations and Communications for Connect Creative. Dennis is a communications leader with more than 40 years of experience including as a journalist and in corporate and agency marketing communications roles. He is responsible for Connect Creative’s agency client services and is involved in a range of initiatives ranging from public relations and content strategy, communications and message development, copywriting, media relations, social media and content marketing services. Prior to joining Connect Media in 2015, his most recent corporate communications roles involved leading a regional public relations effort across Southern California for CBRE, playing a key marketing role on JLL’s national retail team, and directing the global public relations effort at ValleyCrest (BrightView), the nation’s largest commercial landscape services company. He has worked on marketing communications assignments for such CRE companies as Blackstone/Equity Office, Carlyle, Caruso, Disney Resorts, GE Capital, Irvine Company, Hines, Howard Hughes Corp., Jeffries, Lennar, MGM, Marcus & Millichap, Prologis, Raleigh Studios, Simon, Starwood, Trammell Crow Company, Transamerica, UBS and Wynn Resorts. Dennis has also worked on communications and launch strategies for a number of consumer electronic, media and tech brands including SlingMedia, Channel Master, Deluxe Media Entertainment, BeIn Sports, EchoStar and Sprint. Dennis’s agency background included firms such as Off Madison Ave., Idea Hall and Macy + Associates. He has earned an outstanding reputation with organization leaders as a trusted advisor, strategic program implementer, consensus builder and exceptional collaborator. Dennis has developed and managed national communications programs for Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, both public and private. He’s successfully worked with journalists across the globe representing clients involved in major-breaking news stories, product launches, media tours, and company news announcements. Dennis has been involved in a host of charitable and community organizations including the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, Boy Scouts, Chrysalis Foundation, Freedom For Life, HOLA, L.A.’s BEST, Reach Out and Read, Super Bowl Host Committee, and the Thunderbirds Charities.

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