JMG, Empire Square asking $65M for big dorm complex near UIC

The price is a significant increase from what the joint venture paid in 2015 for the century-old converted factory

Automatic Lofts at 410 South Morgan Street and Empire Square Group's Guy Nesdale (Credit: JMG Realty and LinkedIn)
Automatic Lofts at 410 South Morgan Street and Empire Square Group's Guy Nesdale (Credit: JMG Realty and LinkedIn)

A JMG Realty-led venture is putting on the market its 482-bed student housing complex near the University of Illinois at Chicago, hoping for significantly more than it paid just three years ago.

Karlton Jackson CEO of JMG Realty

Atlanta-based JMG Realty and New York-based Empire Square Group wants $65 million for the six-story building at 410 South Morgan Street, called Automatic Lofts, according to Crain’s. It paid $41.5 million for the century-old converted electrical gear factory in 2015.

Studio apartments now go for $1,720 a month, and $900 per bed in four-bedroom units. A listing by broker Newmark Knight Frank said a buyer would be able to raise rents by as much as 6 percent.

The building stands over the Eisenhower Expressway next to the UIC-Halsted CTA Blue Line station, a short walk from the university’s main quad. It’s also about a half-mile south of Fulton Market neighborhood.

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Demand for student housing is expected to ramp up around the university, whose enrollment has ticked up by 15 percent since 2014.

A few blocks south of Automatic Lofts, Related Midwest is partnering with the city to build a public library with a 73-unit mixed-income apartment complex on top.

And on the other side of the University Village neighborhood, CityPads secured a permit for a 59-unit apartment building at 1407 West 15th Street.

The University of Chicago is also on a mission to expand its student housing. The school broke ground this year on a 1,309-bed dorm complex in Woodlawn. [Crain’s] — Alex Nitkin