Chicago Cheat Sheet: Mesirow exec talks plans for investing latest CRE fund … & more

Also, Pritzker’s nonunion labor embarrassment, former Bears tight end selling Long Grove home

Martellus Bennett, Alasdair Cripps and J.B. Pritzker (Credit: Getty Images)
Martellus Bennett, Alasdair Cripps and J.B. Pritzker (Credit: Getty Images)

Mesirow exec talks plans for latest multifamily fund

Mesirow Financial recently closed its Real Estate Value Fund III at $567 million, attracting commitments from institutional investors across the U.S., Europe and Australia. In a Q&A, Alasdair Cripps, who heads direct real estate investments, discussed the firm’s plans for investing the money, which will be used to buy multifamily and student housing properties. [Crain’s]

Pritzker used nonunion labor on renovation of mansion

Billionaire Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker, who’s received substantial support from organized labor, used nonunion workers to remodel his Gold Coast mansion. Nonunion labor from three trades was hired to work on the yearslong, $25 million renovation of Pritzker’s 20,000-square-foot residence. [Chicago Tribune]

Former Bear Martellus Bennett selling Long Grove home

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Former Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett is selling his Long Grove home filled with colorful accents like polka dots and popsicle murals. Bennett and his wife, Siggi Walker-Bennett, are asking $1.25 million for the four-bedroom, 5,900-square-foot home on Monitor Lane, only slightly more than they paid for the house in 2013. [Crain’s]

Logan Square apartments planned at historic former silk factory site

Developer Stanislaw Pluta plans a four-story apartment building at 2701 West Armitage Avenue in Logan Square on the site of the former Oscar Heinemann silk factory. Plans call for 59 apartments over ground-floor retail, 73 underground parking spaces and a rooftop deck. [Block Club]

Evanston affordable housing project draws community ire

Chicago-based nonprofit Housing Opportunities for Women, which provides affordable housing for women, children and families, plans a 16-unit complex in Evanston. But neighbors have protested the project, which they say doesn’t match the bungalows and small, two-story apartment dwellings on the streets across from and behind it. [Evanston Review]