Crescent Real Estate selling Evanston apartment tower

Crescent Real Estate is selling a 17-story apartment building in Evanston for an undisclosed amount. The firm bought it two years ago for $46 million.

Crescent, a Dallas-based firm, hired HFF to sell the property, 415 Premier, a 221-unit building at 415 Howard Street on the border with Chicago, according to Crain’s.

The nine-year-old building has been sold three times since falling into foreclosure after the real estate crash. It is 97 percent occupied, with its average apartment renting for $1,711 a month, or $2.05 per square foot, according to an HFF marketing brochure.

Crescent upgraded a few units and was able to raise rents an average of $229 per month.

Median rents rose just 2.3 percent in Evanston in the two years that ended March 31, compared with 4.7 percent in the suburbs overall, according to real estate consulting firm Integra Realty Resources. A surge in supply could be one reason. Integra noted that 1,000 apartments are under construction or in planning in Evanston.

Among them is a 241-unit transit-oriented development from Chicago-based CA Ventures and Focus at 811 Emerson Street.

Overall, though, suburban rents were expected to rise significantly this year, according to a Marcus & Millichap report. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien