Sterling Bay is buying 2.2 more acres in Fulton Market, and its plans for the property could include a new Metra station.
The prolific Fulton Market developer is paying $25 million for the property at 1300 West Carroll Avenue, home to an Archer Daniels Midland wheat mill, according to the Chicago Tribune. It is expected to tear down the mill and replace it with a project that includes the new train station, sources said.
Sterling Bay officials declined comment on the plan, other than to say they support the idea of bringing the station to the neighborhood.
The ADM property is along the south edge of Metra tracks, which carry 37,000 riders a day on four suburban commuter lines: Milwaukee West, Milwaukee North, North Central Service and Union Pacific West. Shuttle buses now carry workers from the West Loop train stations to Fulton Market.
Sterling Bay recently moved its headquarters into the Fulton West development across the street from the ADM property. Other tenants there include Glassdoor, Skender Construction and Dyson.
ADM is expected to move out of the property in the middle of next year.
Larry Goldwasser led the Cushman & Wakefield team that brokered the deal for ADM. When the property went up for sale last year, Cushman said it could accommodate a 457,000-square-foot building, according to the Tribune.
Sterling Bay has developed a number of properties in the neighborhood including the Google Midwest headquarters at 1K Fulton, the new McDonald’s corporate headquarters and the nearby “vendor village” office building at 210 North Carpenter Street.
It is working on a three-building project that will bring 1.7 million square feet of office space to the 300 block of North Green Street along with a new hotel development, its second in the neighborhood.
The developer also is behind the proposed Lincoln Yards mega-development along the North Branch of the Chicago River, and in the past year spent nearly $1.5 billion buying three trophy Downtown office buildings. [Chicago Tribune] — John O’Brien