Shidler Group refinances land beneath Triangle Plaza with $76M loan

The Shidler Group refinanced the Triangle Plaza office park near O’Hare with a $76 million loan from Wells Fargo, about two months after the Hawaii-based company bought the property from Sam Zell’s Equity Commonwealth for $112.8 million.

The investment firm bought the 9-acre property Sept. 19 through its REIT, Pacific Office Properties, according to Cook County property records.

Shidler then signed Alliance HSP, a Pennsylvania-based real estate investment firm, to a 99-year ground lease on the complex. Alliance HSP acquired the title to the buildings and took out a $77.7 million loan from Minneapolis-based Värde Partners.

Jay Shidler, the founder of Shidler Group, is also a founder and managing partner of Alliance HSP.

Shidler’s national strategy entails “investing in the land underlying significant commercial buildings” and issuing long-term ground leases for the rights to the buildings, according to its website. It announced an effort in October to sell the 22-story Borg-Warner building in the Loop for $35 million, while keeping its claim to the underlying land.

Zell completed his exit from Chicago-area office market when he sold Triangle Plaza, his last property in the city.

Triangle Plaza was one of several office parks that have changed hands this year in the hot O’Hare submarket. Firms including Saban Capital, Berger Asset Management, Bridge Investment Group and Rubenstein Partners have spent a combined $212 million since July to acquire commercial buildings near the airport.

Suburban office landlords have had a mixed year in 2018, with vacancies nudging upward in some areas even while rents continue to climb across the board.  Glenstar staked out a strategy of shelling out for major suburban office renovations, in the hopes that more young workers will look for jobs outside the city.

A Shidler Group representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.