Financial firm in deal to buy 29 N. Wacker

(Crain’s) — A financial services company that has tried to raise its profile with KC and the Sunshine Band is getting into the downtown office market with the purchase of a boutique building on Wacker Drive.
Toronto-based Sun Life Financial Inc., which has featured the ’70s disco band in television ads, has agreed to buy 29 N. Wacker Drive from Boston-based investment firm Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., according to people familiar with the transaction.

The price is about $130 a square foot, or $16.9 million, for the 129,792-square-foot building, those sources say. That’s 7% less than the $18.2 million Intercontinental paid for the 10-story structure in 2001, a sign of how property values have fallen as vacancy rates have risen since the recession.

A spokeswoman for the Wellesley Hills, Mass.-based U.S. subsidiary of Sun Life declines to comment.

Oakbrook Terrace-based real estate firm NAI Hiffman has been advising Sun Life on the purchase of the building and is expected to take over management once the sale is completed. Hiffman already manages for Sun Life the Oakmont Corporate Center I and II in west suburban Westmont, which total 192,120 square feet, and a small flex manufacturing building in Schaumburg. (Read the full story on ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com)