Knickpoint Ventures lands $50M loan for NW Side mixed-use project

Knickpoint Ventures secured a $50.1 million mortgage for its massive mixed-use project on the Northwest Side.

The loan from TH Commercial Mortgage will finance New York-based Knickpoint’s stake in The Fields complex, a redevelopment of a former sprawling Marshall Fields warehouse at Diversey Avenue and Pulaski Road.

Knickpoint late last month closed on its deal for Chicago-based Merit Partners’ stake in the 1.5 million-square-foot project, which is being developed into apartments, retail, office and warehouse components on 21 acres.

Knickpoint founders Zain Koita and Matt Sprayregen declined to disclose the purchase price, but Cook County property records show they picked up two parts of the complex in separate transactions of $12.9 million and $11.5 million.

As part of the deal, Chicago-based Hubbard Street Group will retain a 50 percent interest in the 123-unit apartment portion of the project.

So far The Fields includes self-storage, warehouses, office space and retail, including a Cermak Fresh Market. Crate & Barrel recently moved into 117,000 square feet of office space in the complex, which will also feature 700 indoor parking spaces.

Some 500,000 square feet of vacant flex office/retail space is yet to be developed.

The deal marks the first acquisition in Chicago for Knickpoint, which owns properties in the New York and Miami areas.

The Fields is not far from where ComEd is building a $57.5 million office and warehouse complex in Avondale and where Coyote Logistics signed a 10-year lease extension on its 175,000-square-foot Chicago offices in Logan Square.