It has become a familiar story over the past year or two, as more companies have reassessed their office space needs with so many of their employees working remote or hybrid schedules since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That trend is one reason the downtown office vacancy rate has jumped to a record high, hitting 21.2% in the first quarter, up from 13.8% before the pandemic, according to CBRE. Tenants including law firm Levenfeld Pearlstein and health tracking platform Vitality Group recently reduced their office space in moves to a new building. Earlier this year, Motorola Solutions put nearly 54,000 square feet up of its West Loop headquarters up for sublease.

The Aon Center has also been on the losing side of the trend. Edelman, the public relations firm, leased about 170,000 square feet in the building but left in November, when it moved into a 92,000-square-foot space in the Gogo Building, at 111 N. Canal St. Then in May, Edelman put 28,000 square feet of its new space up for sublease.

BCBS will leave a big hole at 225 N. Michigan, with a lease that accounts for nearly a quarter of the space in the 25-story tower. The nonprofit’s members include Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois, the state’s largest health insurer, which is based at 300 E. Randolph St., just east of the 83-story Aon Center.

The Aon Center, which overlooks Millennium Park, is 84.5% leased, according to real estate data provider CoStar Group, with tenants including Aon, KPMG, Jones Lang LaSalle and Kraft Heinz.

“We are excited about a new space that represents our long-term investment in our employees’ workplace experience, with a particular focus on ‘we space’ versus ‘me space,’ ” Jennifer Vachon, executive vice president of business operations for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, said in a statement. “Our move to the Aon Center will provide employees with a flexible environment that meets our evolving needs.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

New York-based 601W has owned the Aon Center since 2015, when it paid $712 million for the 2.7 million-square-foot tower. 601W also owns the Old Post Office in the West Loop, the Sullivan Center in the Loop and the Civic Opera Building on North Wacker Drive.

Jamey Dix and Jeff Dowdell of Telos Group represented 601W in the lease. Lisa Konieczka at CBRE represented the tenant.

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