Pacific Life Insurance Company is buying a West Loop apartment complex for less than what the seller acquired it for three years ago, which one industry analyst attributed to a sign of the times.
Pacific Life will pay $63 million for Circa 922, the 149-unit development on West Washington Street, according to Cook County records.
In 2015, New York-based Clarion Partners bought the complex for $74.5 million, according to Crain’s. Consultant Ron DeVries of Integra Realty Resources told Crain’s the deal reflected uncertainty in the market, fueled by political change at the city, county and state levels, along with rising property taxes.
Multifamily investors are also facing a flood of new competition on the horizon, with some 8,000 new apartments set to come online in Chicago in the next two years.
So far, rents and occupancy rates have withstood the new inventory, thanks to demand fueled by companies moving offices Downtown. The Circa 922 building was 97 percent occupied, higher than the Downtown apartment building average. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien