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Chicago & Midwest  + Greater Chicagoland  + Office  | 
Skender has completed work on a capital improvement project at the former Sara Lee headquarters building in Downers Grove, IL

Skender Wraps Up Renovations at Former Sara Lee Headquarters

Skender has completed a landlord capital improvement project at 3500 Lacey, located at the convergence of Interstates 355 and 88 in Downers Grove, IL. The former Sara Lee headquarters was built in 1992 and was purchased by KORE Investments in 2019. In May 2022, Skender began renovating the 622,600-square-foot building’s lower lobby, main lobby and fitness center. 

Skender served as general contractor for this project, working with OKW Architects. The office building is also home to the Esplanade Lakes Ballroom, a wedding venue operated by DoubleTree.  

Adding to project complexity, the office building lobby was used on weekends as a cocktail area. Skender was able to coordinate construction to allow these events to go on as planned and without disruption. Skender used scissor lifts rather than scaffolding to allow for discreet construction and was able to keep the lobby aesthetically pleasing during weekends. 

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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