Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega executed the most valuable commercial property sale in the Chicago area last month when his investment firm, Ponte Gadea, paid more than $72 million for the 216-key Dana Hotel. The deal was more than four times the size of the next biggest commercial sale in the region.
Apartment developer Cedar Street Companies made the list twice, both as a buyer and a seller, for two buildings within a half mile of each other in Uptown.
Serta’s offices in Hoffman Estates and the struggling Ford City Mall on the city’s Southwest Side also secured spots on the list.
In all, the deals added up to more than $125 million in combined sales, beating out the roughly $80 million totaled by the top five commercial sales of March.
The following figures were compiled from Cook County property records.
Dana Hotel | 660 North State Street | $72.5 million
Neighborhood Development Corporation, later rebranded as Rebel Hospitality, completed this 26-story hotel in 2008. Company founders Anthony Klok and Gene Kornota manage the entity that sold the building to Ortega’s Ponte Gadea last month.
The hotel, which was renamed “Eurostars Magnificent Mile,” will be managed by the Spanish firm Eurostars Hotel Company.
2. Bridgeview Bank Building | 4717 North Clifton Avenue | $18.7 million
Prolific Uptown developer Cedar Street Companies laid claim to one of the most recognizable buildings in the North Side neighborhood last month when it bought this 12-story flatiron-shaped building at Broadway and Lawrence Avenue. The nearly century-old terra cotta building was sold by Bridgeview Bank, which operates a branch on the ground floor.
The buyer has not yet finalized plans for the building, but Cedar Street CEO Alex Samoylovich said Friday he’s exploring opening his company’s “Flats” brand of micro-apartments inside.
3. Ford City Mall | 7609 South Cicero Avenue | $16.6 million
Long Island-based Namdar Realty Group acquired this Southwest Side shopping center from iStar Financial, which seized it from Sam Zell in a 2012 deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure deal.
In recent years the mall lost Sears, Montgomery Ward and Carson’s anchor stores, leaving it just 70 percent occupied with some 300,000 square feet of vacant space. A JCPenny department store remains on the site.
4. Emerald Tower | 4541 North Sheridan Road | $10.8 million
Cedar Street was in the rare position of selling a property last month, when it offloaded its 112-unit mixed-use property near Broadway and Wilson Avenue in Uptown.
The building has a roughly 2,000-square-foot vacant storefront on its ground floor. It sits next door to a new 149-unit apartment complex being built by Clayco.
5. Serta Headquarters | 2600 Forbs Avenue, Hoffman Estates | $6.89 million
Serta Simmons Holdings sold the office headquarters of its mattress brand in northwest suburban Hoffman Estates to Planmeca USA Incorporated, which manufactures dental instruments.
Serta Simmons is moving all its offices to a consolidated new mixed-use campus in Doraville, Georgia, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.