CIM Group is buying a Michigan Avenue office tower for $138 million, giving it another property along the Magnificent Mile.
The Los Angeles-based developer is acquiring the 36-story tower at 444 North Michigan Avenue from Munich-based GLL Real Estate Partners, according to Crain’s.
GLL paid $114.8 million in 2006 for the 515,000-square-foot building, financing the purchase with a $71.5 million mortgage. It spent $13 million on renovations and refinanced the tower with a $82.2 million loan in 2014, records show.
A 2017 appraisal pegged the building’s value at $126.2 million, according to Crain’s.
HFF represent GLL in the sale.
The building is across the street from where CIM and Golub & Company are redeveloping the historic Tribune Tower property.
In addition to converting the landmark tower into 163 condos, the developers will divide the eastern portion of the site into several sections that would include erecting Chicago’s second-tallest building, a 1,422-foot-tall mixed-use skyscraper that would house a 200-key luxury hotel, 439 apartments and 125 condos. Below street level would be 10,700 square feet of retail space and 430 parking spaces accessible from lower-level streets.
The building at 444 North Michigan is next door to the Realtor Building, the headquarters of the National Association of Realtors. The association just won approval to expand the building at 430 North Michigan, including a new glass-walled conference room at the top of the building that will overlook the Mag Mile.
It is also neighbors to the historic Wrigley Building, bought earlier this year by billionaire Joe Mansueto for $255 million.
CIM Group, one of the most prolific condo developers in New York, meanwhile, has a number of active projects around Chicago, several in partnership with Golub. CIM is in the process of renovating the 39-story office tower at 425 South Financial Place, also known as 440 South LaSalle Street, which it bought two years ago for $189 million. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien