Noah Properties lands $87M loan for Noble Square condo buildings

Noah Properties took out a $87 million mortgage on a vacant block in Noble Square where it plans to build a row of walk-up condo buildings.

The prolific Northwest Side home builder paid $5 million in 2017 to buy the parking lot behind the Polish Museum of America, which overlooks the Kennedy Expressway at the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Augusta Boulevard, from the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America, according to Cook County property records.

Since June 2018, Noah has received permits to build eight separate six-unit buildings between 1334 and 1370 West Walton Street, each with its own detached six-car garage, according to city buildings department records.

One building already has been completed at 1370 West Walton, and Noah has begun pre-sales for a second building under construction at 1366 West Walton, according to company co-founder and spokeswoman Anita Lisek. All eight buildings are scheduled to be completed by September.

A Redfin listing advertises a three-bedroom, 3,100-square-foot condo at 1370 West Walton for $829,900.

“This is a very special project to us because we believe that Noble Square is the next upcoming neighborhood,” Lisek wrote in an email. “We see this neighborhood becoming the next ‘hot neighborhood to be in.’”

The $87 million mortgage from LoanCorp Capital is nearly seven times the nearly $13 million in total estimated construction costs registered in buildings department records for the eight properties. Lisek did not comment on what the loan proceeds will be used for.

The site is one block from the Augusta Avenue exit off the expressway. It sits about a half-mile each from the Division CTA Blue Line station in Wicker Park and the Chicago station in River West.

The new condos will face competition from Stas Development, which is converting the St. Boniface Catholic Church into condos one block south at 1358 West Chestnut Street.

Noah lists a portfolio of nearly 100 single-family homes and 50 multifamily properties scattered across the city’s Northwest Side, especially in the Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village neighborhoods. Last week it filed for permits to expand its Galewood Flats gated apartment community on the city’s Far Northwest Side.