Hines lands $425M refinancing on River Point office tower

Hines has secured a $425 million refinancing on the River Point office tower at the confluence of the three branches of the Chicago River.

Houston-based Hines and partners Larry Levy and Ivanhoe Cambridge took a big risk in 2012 when they launched the building on spec, the first such project in Chicago since 1998, Crain’s reported at the time.

The 52-story, 1.1 million-square-foot building at 444 West Lake Street was completed in 2016 and is now anchored by law firm McDermott Will & Emery. Other tenants include DLA Piper, Mead Johnson Nutrition and Morton Salt.

A Hines spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the refinancing, which was provided by AIG, MetLife and a subsidiary of TIAA, according to Cook County records.

Hines bought the vacant riverfront property in 2012 for $25.4 million, and the building cost some $500 million to complete, the Chicago Tribune reported in 2016. Montreal-based Ivanhoe Cambridge kicked in $300 million toward the project, with the city pledging $29 million in tax-increment financing money for the development of a 1.5-acre public park on the site.

The developers first proposed the project in 2009, but shelved it during the recession when they couldn’t secure financing.

Together with Riverside Investment & Development’s office tower across Lake Street at 150 North Riverside Plaza, River Point helped launch a transformation of the area where the branches of the river meet.

Hines is building on that across the river at Wolf Point, where it is erecting three soaring towers in a mixed-use project with the Kennedy family.

Just south, Riverside and Howard Hughes Corporation are building a 54-story office tower at 110 North Wacker Drive, the former site of GGP’s headquarters.