Savills Studley Secures Long-Term Lease Extension for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, has finalized a long-term lease extension for its headquarters at the CDW Plaza, 120 South Riverside Plaza. Savills Studley, the leading commercial real estate service firm specializing in tenant representation, represented the Academy in this transaction.

“It was important for us to secure a lease extension that allows the Academy to retain our identity, reduce our occupancy costs and modernize our workplace,” said Patricia Babjak, Chief Executive Officer of the Academy. “This transaction accomplishes those goals and was executed in a timely fashion well before the current lease expiration.”

Representing more than 100,000 food and nutrition practitioners across the United States and throughout the world, the Academy will begin the new lease in December—shortly before the organization’s centennial in 2017. The Academy has been based at the building owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge and Callaghan Capital Properties since 2003.

In order to create the future of the organization, the Academy desired to change its physical layout to become more efficient and reflect the way it will operate in the years to come. A client since 2002, the organization engaged Richard Plonsker of Savills Studley as its real estate advisor.

“We undertook a very strategic approach to achieving the Academy’s objectives in this assignment, including space programming and conceptual design of its new space as part of the effort to change the way it uses space, to become more efficient in its workplace, and to reduce its occupancy costs”, said Savills Studley Senior Managing Director Richard Plonsker, who led the tenant representation team for this transaction.

120 South Riverside Plaza immediately borders the Chicago River to its east; with West Monroe, West Adams and South Canal streets surrounding the plaza. Chicago’s Union Station is across the street from the office building, and a wide variety of hotels, restaurants and additional transportation outlets are within blocks. Sara Spicklemire of CBRE represented the landlord in this transaction.