Chicago run of condo deconversions may be ending, North Beach will get 200-key hotel: Daily digest

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up Chicago’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page throughout the day. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com

Updated at 11 a.m.

Elk Grove Village has approved a big rezoning. The move rezones 23 residential properties, clearing the way for a 210,400-square-foot trucking warehouse. The deal comes with a tax break for Logistics Property Co., which will develop the site. [Daily Herald] 

Bridgford Foods Corp. will sell its Fulton Market food processing plant — but just the building, not the land. The Anaheim-based jerky-maker is betting that Fulton Market’s runaway success will continue, so it is not quite ready to give up the property. It is offering a long-term ground lease. [Crain’s]

NewLake Capital Partners has raised $86 million to buy and lease Chicago industrial space to cannabis companies. Many landlords are leery of marijuana companies, leaving space in the market for investors who see the opportunity. NewLake’s team is associated with big Chicago names like Avant, Pangea, and Pearl Real Estate Partners. [Crain’s]

Former FBI informant plans to flip the vacant Elgin hospital campus. John Thomas bought the 13.7-acre property at 901 Center St. for $1 million and has already placed a “For sale” sign outside the campus. [Daily Herald]

Blackstone says it has closed a $20 billion fund — the largest in real estate history. The company surpassed its own record of $15.8 billion, which it set in 2015. Blackstone has earned itself a reputation for bringing in double-digit returns on its “opportunistic” funds. [WSJ]

Forever 21 may be winding down, but Old Navy is only getting bigger. Fashion retailer Old Navy said it planned to open 800 new stores over an unspecified period as it prepares to split with Gap, its parent company. Old Navy has been outperforming its sister companies, Gap and Banana Republic. [WSJ]

Brookfield’s Ric Clark (right) and RXR Realty’s Scott Rechler (Credit: Getty Images and iStock)

Brookfield Property Group and other real estate firms have weighed into the gun control debate. Brookfield’s Ric Clark and RXR Realty’s Scott Rechler are among executives who have urged Congress to expand background checks on all guns sales and implement further controls to ensure weapons aren’t sold to potentially dangerous people. [TRD]

Chicago Council moves to impose stricter requirements on deconversion bids. A Council committee approved a measure that would require 80 percent of condo owners approve a bulk sale to deconvert into a rental property. Illinois now requires 75 percent of condo owners approve. Full Council will vote on it next week. [TRD]

Just in time, the Kiser Group brokered a 64-unit condo deconversion. Dover Court listed its building for bulk sale in October 2018. The buyer, Neriel Lagoon LLI will convert 4601 North Dover Street into apartments. [ReJournals]

General Iron will vacate its Lincoln Park site in the Clybourn Corridor. The lot between Lincoln Park and Bucktown will be open for development in 2020, Alderman Hopkins told constituents. [Crain’s]

A judge suggested that the city’s $1.3 billion tax increment financing to Sterling Bay’s Lincoln Yards megaproject, though rushed, was legal. The activist-plaintiffs complained that qualifying the TIF land as a blighted area was based on outdated numbers. The judge will issue a formal decision next month. [Crain’s]

North Beach’s beachfront will get a 200-room hotel on its last undeveloped lot. The 1-acre lot sold for $40 million to Urbanica The Hotels, which will build a 20-story lifestyle hotel. The previous owner of the site was China City Construction. [Globe St.]

President Trump wants to the Fed slash interest rates below zero. He tweeted Wednesday that the Fed should slash interest rates to zero or below, raising questions about how negative rates would work, and what they would do for the economy. [NYT]

Guardant Health is vulnerable to WeWork’s valuation woes. While headlines about WeWork’s faltering IPO path have focused on SoftBank, another SoftBank-backed company, Guardant Health, may also be vulnerable. The company’s stock price dropped 7.8 percent on Wednesday following reports that SoftBank is urging WeWork to shelve its IPO. [Bloomberg]