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, starting at 10 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com
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The best-performing Chicago suburb? Flassmoor. Crain’s crunched the numbers and found the number of homes sold in the suburb is up 23 percent, and the median sale price is also on the rise (up 2.5 percent to $210,000). The drawback remains tax rates far higher than suburban towns west and north of Chicago. [Crain’s]
Amtrak is permanently closing a parking garage across the street from Riverside Investment & Development’s upcoming 700-foot office tower. The tower at 210 S. Canal St. is slated to break ground later this year and open to office tenants in 2022. The project will also feature a 1.5-acre park above 400 parking spaces. [Curbed]
Mayor Lori Lightfoot really doesn’t want recreational marijuana dispensaries downtown. She has proposed an “exclusion zone” that spans much of the downtown. “You know what’s going on here. There’s a lot of real estate speculation. People got leases in places where they thought they were gonna be able to open up supreme spots,” she said. “But, I feel pretty strongly that we have to focus on really bringing equity to the neighborhoods.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
WeWork has made some unique design choices on its IPO prospectus. Normally, companies rank banks linearly on the cover of their offering documents, putting the lead bank with the most input in the top left. But WeWork decided to have the names of banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs encircle its logo instead. “Sadly,” wrote Wall Street Journal reporter Lauren Silva Laughlin, “the protective ring of Wall Street institutions around We Co. failed to save it from a stalled offering.” [WSJ]
Tom Petty’s former home on Lake Sherwood in LA sells below asking. The late rocker’s 5,300-square-foot home saw several price cuts and was most recently listed at $4.7 million before selling for $4 million. The home was built in 1931 and features stone and bare wood walls and floor. A stone pathway in the backyard leads to 125 feet of lake frontage, a boat ramp, and a dock. Petty died two years ago. [TRD]
They bought a parking garage the size of the Willis Tower for $370 million. But they can’t fill it. That’s the conundrum facing the joint venture that bought the Millennium Lakeside Garage under Maggie Daley Park. Northleaf Capital Partners and AMP Capital are looking to convert unused space into a warehouse, but there are no takers yet. [Crain’s]
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle
Mayor Lori Lightfoot will co-host a Cook County Democratic Party fundraiser with board president Toni Preckwinkle. The Nov. 5 fundraiser will be held at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue. Ticket prices range from $200 all the way up to $25,000. Real estate figures turned out in droves to raise money for Joe Biden during his recent trip to Chicago. [Chicago Tribune]
The housing market in Naperville is at risk of a downturn, according to a new study. Online website GoBankingRates, which conducted the study, found that home prices have dropped more than 2 percent in the past two years. Almost a quarter of homes had price cuts. Eight other Illinois cities made the top 50 list. [Chicago Tribune]
One individual is responsible for over 1,100 homeowners receiving lower property tax assessments in New Trier Township. Jane Goldberg convinced Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi to factor in how the floodplain affects property values. A number of homes had sold at only half of their assessed value before the change was made. [Chicago-Sun Times]
@properties names new office managers in the suburbs. Tamy Bobbitt, who jumped from Baird & Warner, will lead a new office in the Hinsdale area. Jorge Abreu, who’s been with the brokerage since 2012, will manage the Highland Park office. Grace Goro Kaage was recently selected to run the Streeterville office. [Chicago Agent Magazine]
SoftBank is pushing for Adam Neumann to be ousted as WeWork’s CEO. The bank is WeWork’s largest investor but has become frustrated with Neumann’s behavior, the company’s troubled plans for an initial public offering and its hemorrhaging losses, according to The Real Deal. Neumann and other executives did not expect such a negative reaction to the company’s IPO prospectus last month and have since said they will delay WeWork’s IPO. They have made other changes as well, but some critics maintain they are not enough. [TRD]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could start keeping their profits again this week. The expected agreement between the pair of mortgage finance companies and the Trump administration would be a major step toward letting the firms build up capital and operate as private companies again, according to the Wall Street Journal. They would be allowed to keep about one year’s worth of profit ($20 billion) under the deal, years after the government essentially nationalized them following the 2008 financial crisis. [WSJ]