Chicago’s top construction loans of Q2

More than $517M was lent for projects that include nearly 1K new apartments

333 N Green Street, 2500 N Milwaukee Ave, 1600 E 53rd St, Cook County Hospital redevelopment groundbreaking
333 N Green Street, 2500 N Milwaukee Ave, 1600 E 53rd St, Cook County Hospital redevelopment groundbreaking

Apartment construction dominates the list of 10 Chicago projects that locked down the most financing during the second quarter of 2018, combining for almost 1,000 total rental units.

But the top loan went to Sterling Bay’s 19-story office tower at 333 North Green Street, the only project on the list that’s strictly offices. At more than $181 million, Wells Fargo’s loan for the Fulton Market development was nearly triple the city’s next-largest construction loan recorded between April and June.

Just one of the loans, for LG Development’s adaptation of the Insurance Center Building, supports Downtown construction. The rest went to neighborhoods including Logan Square, Uptown, Archer Heights and the city’s Lower West Side.

Together, the loans add up to more than $517 million. The list was compiled using information from Cook County records.

1. 333 North Green Street | $181,570,000

Wells Fargo floated the city’s largest construction loan recorded between April and June, for Sterling Bay’s 19-story office project set to rise in Fulton Market amid a busy 2018 for the mega-developer. Sterling Bay envisions another two comparably-sized office buildings next door, adding up to about 1.7 million square feet of new office space planned near the corner of Halsted and Kinzie Streets.

2. 2500 North Milwaukee Avenue | $67,500,000

Fifield Companies secured a loan from Fifth Third Bank last month on the 220-unit mixed-use development Fifield has begun building at the former site of Logan Square’s Discount Mega Mall. At the same time, Fifield paid partners Terraco and Marc Realty a combined $13.6 million in a deal that left Fifield holding the property deed. Terraco remains a minority stakeholder.

3. 1835 West Harrison Street | $66,436,340

Close behind the Logan Square financing was CIBC’s loan to lead developer Civic Health Development for the long-awaited redevelopment of the Cook County Hospital in the Illinois Medical District, which is set to include 210 Hyatt hotel rooms and 75,000 square feet of medical offices.

4. 1600 East 53rd Street | $59,550,000

The New Jersey-based Antheus Capital landed a nearly $60 million loan from BMO Harris for the 246-unit residential tower set to loom over a growing retail district at the corner of 53rd Street and Lake Park Avenue in Hyde Park. Antheus bought the site, then a parking lot next to a Metra station, in 2011 for $3.9 million.

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5. 3535 North Ashland Avenue | $40,600,000

Construction has been underway for more than a year on Virginia-based Artis Senior Living’s 136-unit senior residential facility at the corner of Addison and Ashland avenues. The loan from MB Financial puts the facility on pace to start accepting residents early next year.

6. 330 South Wells Street | $27,000,000

It may not be for new construction, but LG Development’s $27 million financing speaks to the scale of the office conversion it’s undertaking in the Loop. The loan from Regions Bank supports the Chicago-based developer’s bid to transform the 16-story Insurance Center Building into 132 apartments and three floors of office space above ground-floor retail.

7. 4555 North Sheridan Road | $22,500,000

CRG, the development arm of Clayco, secured its full building permit Tuesday for a 149-unit apartment building, which broke ground at the corner of Sheridan Road and Wilson Avenue last month. On June 26, Principal Life Insurance Company granted a $22.5 million loan for the project, which joins a boomlet of luxury residential development materializing in Uptown.

8. 1346 West Taylor Street | $21,700,000

Related Midwest got financing from BMO Harris to build a 17,000-square-foot public library topped with 73-unit mixed-income apartment complex in University Village. The Roosevelt Square Public Library will join similar library-apartment hybrids being built in the city’s West Ridge and Independence Park neighborhoods.

9. 3526 West 51st Street | $15,616,000

Wintrust Bank financed Amigos Foods’ 110,000-square-foot processing and warehouse facility, which landed its first construction permit in May.  The Southwest Side complex is projected to include nearly 30,000 square feet of e-commerce distribution space, plus an accessory office.

10. 1938 West Augusta Boulevard | $14,512,000

Orange Properties landed a loan last month from Heartland Bank and Trust for five-story, 16-unit residential development in West Town. The Northbrook-based developer was cleared to start construction in January.