Amancio Ortega, founder of global fast fashion brand Zara, has acquired 1 North Wacker Drive in Chicago in the city’s largest office building sale since the Aon Center changed hands more than a decade ago. A spokesperson told Bloomberg that his family investment firm, Pontegadea Inversiones SL, acquired the 51-story building in a $550 million deal. The offices are leased to companies including PwC, UBS Group AG and Fitch Ratings.
Pontegadea already owns a 492-unit residential tower acquired in 2023, the former Esquire Theatre building, a hotel and other properties in Chicago. Ortega, the world’s 15th-richest person, has built one of Europe’s largest private real estate portfolios, spanning hotels, logistics warehouses, residential buildings and shopping centers around the world.
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The building was sold by Irvine Co., which was represented by Eastdil Secured in the transaction.
“After significant market interest, we are pleased that Ponte Gadea has purchased One North Wacker, one of Chicago’s most iconic towers and a fixture of the city’s famous skyline,” Bryan Rosenberg of Eastdil said in a statement.
Irvine had been marketing the office tower since January, and reports linked Ortega to a potential purchase as recently as June. According to CoStar, the sale marks the first time Irvine has divested a Chicago-area office property. The company retains ownership of 71 South Wacker Drive and 300 North LaSalle Street in the city.
For years, Ortega has funneled dividend income from Inditex, the parent company of Zara and several other fashion brands, into investments through Pontegadea, giving his family investment firm a substantial and steady pool of capital to deploy. He is also set to receive a record €3.2 billion ($3.6 billion) in dividends from the company in 2026 alone.
Earlier this year, Pontegadea acquired the Capital 8 office complex in Paris for about €850 million ($954 million). The deal was its largest property acquisition in Europe and the largest office transaction in continental Europe since 2022.
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Ortega’s real estate portfolio was valued at more than €19 billion ($21 billion) in 2024. His investments extend beyond real estate. In 2025, Pontegadea agreed to acquire a 49% stake in U.K. port operator PD Ports and later joined a consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management to acquire Australian logistics group Qube Holdings Ltd. in a deal valued at about $8.1 billion.
The sale of 1 North Wacker is the third-largest U.S. office property deal of the year. The $730 million sale of Park Avenue Tower in New York City and the $691 million sale of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco rank higher.