Sterling lands $13M refi for retail space at Near North Side tower

The Thorofare Capital loan will help Sterling renovate and lease the former Bar Toma space

Sterling Organization's Brian Kosoy and Mission Capital's Jonathan More with 110 E. Pearson Street (Credit: Google Maps)
Sterling Organization's Brian Kosoy and Mission Capital's Jonathan More with 110 E. Pearson Street (Credit: Google Maps)

The Sterling Organization landed a $13 million refinancing on the retail space in a tower just off Michigan Avenue on the Near North Side.

The Palm Beach-based equity fund earlier this year bought the 9,000-square-foot retail portion at the base of the 57-story tower at 110 East Pearson Street for $15.2 million. The space is best known as the former home of Bar Toma, a restaurant that opened in 2011 and shuttered in January 2017.

Thorofare Capital supplied the non-recourse, floating-rate loan, which was arranged by Mission Capital Advisors’ Jonathan More, Alex Draganiuk, Lexington Henn, and Justin Hunt. Part of the proceeds will be used to find tenants and make “significant” capital improvements.

Now vacant, the property consists of 7,300 square feet on the ground floor and 1,800 square feet on the mezzanine level.

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Sterling paid $1,616 per square foot for the space at the base of the tower, which was built in the 1970s.

It was the company’s second Downtown retail deal in a few months, following April’s $8.1 million purchase of the 87,100-square-foot office building at 219 South State Street, which also includes street retail currently occupied by three Foot Locker-brand shoe stores. It took out an $18.3 million loan from Los Angeles-based Karlin Real Estate to finance that purchase and planned renovations of the building.

In September, Sterling paid $20 million to acquire Hillside Town Center, a nearly 165,000-square-foot retail park in west suburban Hillside. It also bought the 101,000-square-foot Prairie Market shopping center in far west suburban Oswego, but would not disclose the purchase price.