CBRE chairman, Furby creator teaming up on Fulton Market office project

CBRE Chicago chairman Robert Wislow and toy magnate Randy Rissman filed a foundation permit for a 12-story office building at 215 North Peoria Street in Fulton Market, joining a growing list of office mid-rises underway in the neighborhood.

Originally proposed by prolific Fulton Market developer Shapack Partners in 2015, the new building is set to rise on a parking lot behind the existing six-story WeWork building at 220 North Green Street. Shapack and co-owner Shorenstein Partners scored zoning approval for the project before selling the existing building and empty lot to Wislow and Rissman for a combined price of $43 million, according to Cook County property records.

The new building will include 85,000 square feet of office space, a rooftop amenity deck, a 54-space parking garage and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, according to a statement from Wislow and CBRE Vice Chairman Camille Julmy, who also is a partner in the development.

The building will offer “high-end, boutique office” space targeted toward “smaller users seeking new, high ceiling, light-filled space” that has smaller floor plates than most new office buildings taking shape nearby, the developers said.

Construction financing is “being finalized,” they added.

The building was designed by architecture firm Lamar Johnson Collaborative, Clayco is the contractor.

Next-door to the site, Shapack is wrapping up construction on the 182-key Hoxton Hotel at 200 North Green Street, which is set to open next month. Last year, Shapack sold the low-rise retail complex across the street at 217-219 North Green to New York-based Feil Organization. That property is also zoned to allow construction up to 12 stories.

Rissman founded Tiger Electronics, the company behind Furby and Giga Pets, before selling the company to Hasbro for $335 million in 1998. He later founded Northbrook-based Leo Capital Holdings.

In December, Rissman paid $32 million to buy a 127,000-square-foot office building in downtown Evanston.

The new complex would rise squarely between two larger office buildings already under construction on Green Street. Sterling Bay is scheduled to finish its 19-story GR333N building at 333 North Green Street later this year, and Shapack and Focus Development are awaiting final permits to begin building a 17-story tower at 167 North Green Street.

Construction is expected to get underway next month, Wislow and Julmy said.

Rissman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.