Kathleen Bertrand

Kathleen is a Senior Vice President with Transwestern’s Downtown Chicago Agency Leasing team. She has extensive experience and proven success with large, multi-faceted assets that include office, retail, train stations, pedways, and transportation plazas. Kathleen is agile and uses data to uncover solutions for maximizing value and quickly leasing buildings. She has a talent for breaking down complex projects and transactions, with a reputation as a fierce advocate for her clients.

As a 20-year industry veteran, Kathleen has exclusively represented third-party building owners on downtown Class A and B properties. Since joining Transwestern in 2018, Kathleen has consistently delivered strategic real estate solutions to both institutional and private clients, including CommerzReal, Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, PIMCO, and Manulife Investment Management. In 2024 alone, Kathleen successfully closed over 300,000 square feet in Chicago’s challenging Central Loop market. Notable transactions include a 150,000-square-foot direct renewal with Capital One and an 80,000-square-foot headquarters lease for Lessen. Kathleen plays a key role in designing and executing building amenity centers and speculative suites, helping ownership achieve optimal results through thoughtful planning and market insight.

Prior to joining Transwestern, Kathleen served as Senior Vice President of the leasing services team at MB Real Estate, where she represented commercial office and retail properties. During her tenure at MBRE, she represented Michigan Plaza, a two-million-square-foot office complex in Chicago’s East Loop. On behalf of ownership, she brokered over 250 transactions totaling 2.9 million square feet, including deals with Omnicom (275,000 SF), Blue Cross Blue Shield (214,000 SF), Alzheimer’s Association (80,000 SF), Cramer-Krasselt (75,000 SF), EXP US Services (67,000 SF), InTouch Solutions (55,000 SF), Baker Tilly (54,000 SF), and Conference Center Concepts (33,000 SF). Additionally, Kathleen facilitated 180,000 square feet of spec suites at Michigan Plaza, which led to a 95% occupancy rate. Her previous office assignments include 550 W. Washington, 125 S. Clark, 247 S. State, and 20 W. Kinzie.

Notable clients include STRS Ohio, The John Buck Company, Loeb Partners Realty, MetLife, iStar Financial, Beacon Capital Partners, Callahan Capital Partners, The Alter Group, Chetrit Group, Shopoff Realty Investments, and Aegis.

Kathleen received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and an MS from Aurora University. She is a licensed real estate broker in the State of Illinois.