City Park District too broke to afford Sterling Bay’s gift, Chicago complex trades for $16M despite seller’s federal indictment: Daily digest

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Sterling Bay wanted to gift the city a complex of soccer fields in Lincoln Yards. But the city’s Park District is too broke to afford the maintenance. A rep for Sterling Bay wouldn’t say how much the developer invested in Fleet Fields, and the Parks District plans to help Sterling Bay find a new owner for the fields. [Block Club Chicago]

Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding is nearing a deal to lease a full floor spanning 25,000 square feet at 110 N. Wacker Drive. Law firms Perkins Coie and Morgan Lewis & Bockius have already inked deals totaling 190,000 square feet at the tower. The building, developed by Riverside Investment & Development and Howard Hughes, is at least two-thirds leased. [Crain’s]

Open Space CEO Jeevan Kalanithi (Credit: LinkedIn and iStock)

A startup that maps construction sites raised $14 million on Tuesday, marking the latest infusion of capital into construction-tech companies by major players in the industry. OpenSpace, which creates 360-degree photo representations of job sites using artificial intelligence, raised $14 million in Series A funding, the company announced on Tuesday. [TRD]

Keller Williams CEO Gary Keller and Offerpad CEO Brian Bair (Credit: Keller Williams/Gage Skidmore via Flickr)

Until the money runs out, iBuying remains the biggest craze in housing these days. Offerpad and Keller Williams just announced a plan to buy and sell more homes. Under the partnership, Keller agents would steer sellers who want all-cash offers to Offerpad, which will look to flip the house within 10 days. They’ll enlist Keller agents to market the properties. [TRD]

Though Kanye West’s quirky plan to build a community of affordable Star Wars-inspired homes in Los Angeles hit a snag last week, he and his wife Kim Kardashian are known as savvy real estate operators. We took a look at all of their real estate deals and talked to experts as to whether they could pull upcoming projects off. [TRD]

J. Michael Drew of Structured Development and 1457 North Halsted Street (Credit: Google Maps)

Structured Development sold its 199-unit New City apartment complex for significantly less than what the firm was aiming, despite a strong demand market for rentals in Chicago. An entity linked to The Gelman Companies paid $75 million for the development located at 1457 North Halsted Street, according to property records filed Tuesday. [TRD]

Despite a $500 million federal mortgage charge hanging over his head, Robert C. Mogan was able to sell an Illinois multifamily complex. New York-based Cyclone Investments paid $16 million to acquire the 92-unit Cedar Ridge Apartment Homes in Richton Park. After a full audit of the leases, the lender Greystone felt comfortable releasing the funds. [TRD]

Optima CEO David Hovey Sr. and COO Tara Hovey with renderings of Optima Lakeview (Credit: Optima and 44thward)

A month after Optima Inc. unveiled plans for a 246-unit apartment building in Lakeview, it is getting pushbank. The company wants to build the complex on the site of a closed Treasure Island grocery store at 3460 North Broadway. Locals gathered 500 signatures opposing the project, which they sent to Ald. Tom Tunney (44th Ward), saying the eight-story structure would be too big for the surrounding area. [Chicago Tribune]

Lake Point Towers (Credit: Wikipedia)

This would be the mother of all deconversions. The 857-unit Lake Point Tower condo building appears to be targeted for deconversion into rentals. If successful, it would be the biggest deconversion in Chicago in what has become a trend. The 70-story building at 505 North Lake Shore Drive had been a rental then switched to condos 30 years ago. [Crain’s]

Another apartment project, more opposition. Developer RBH Group wants to turn the former Von Humboldt Elementary School into an apartment building geared toward teachers. But teachers and residents of the Humboldt Park neighborhood gave the proposal an “F” at a meeting this week at the shuttered school, saying those same teachers wouldn’t be able to afford it, and that it would worsen the growing gentrification problem. [Block Club]

The trade war has created an uncertain environment for construction. (Credit: iStock and Getty Images)

General contractors are feeling the sting of President Trump’s trade war with China. The president raised levies on $200 billion in Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent in May. Project delays are among the headaches those contractors are grappling with amid the rising cost of materials. [TRD]

Guards charged with keeping watch on Jeffrey Epstein were sleeping instead. The financier accused of sex trafficking reportedly went unchecked for three hours at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. After realizing their mistake, two corrections officers falsified log records. The pair were reportedly working consecutive days of overtime. [NYT]