Here are the biggest Chicago-area multifamily sales in 2019

In 2019, one multifamily sale stood out from the rest in Chicago.

Farpoint Development and Golub & Company teamed up to buy a 1,675-unit Bronzeville development for nearly $180 million, making it both the priciest trade and the one with the most units.

Called Prairie Shores, the complex was also the only one in the South Side to make the top five list, and by far the oldest. The property was completed in 1961.

The other buildings on this year’s list are just a few years old, highlighting a run of large-scale multifamily construction. The rental market in Chicago continued to be an active one in 2019, though deconversions were slightly down from their blistering pace over the previous couple of years when investors were spending big money to transform apartments into condos.

Meanwhile, CA Ventures continued to shed some of its local residential portfolio in 2019. The local developer was the seller in two of this year’s top five multifamily trades.

Combined, the five priciest multifamily sales in Chicago closed at nearly $660 million. That was slightly above 2018’s total.

All sales figures were compiled from Cook County property records from January through early December.

1. 2851 S. King Dr. | $177 million

In November, Farpoint and Golub closed on the purchase, paying just under $177 million for the 1,675-unit Prairie Shores apartment complex south of McCormick Place in Bronzeville. The seller was Draper & Kramer, which built the 20-acre complex about 60 years ago. The sale was originally agreed to in July.

Prairie Shores is the largest multifamily property to sell in Chicago since 2007, when the 2,346-unit Presidential Towers development sold in the West Loop.

2. 1140 S. Wabash Ave. | $117 million

Chicago-based CA Ventures sold its new 26-story South Loop apartment complex, Eleven40, to Diamond Realty Investments for $117 million at the end of March. Diamond, the real estate arm of car manufacturer Mitsubishi, used a $76 million acquisition loan from Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui to buy the 320-unit complex.

The building was developed by CA and Keith Giles’ K Giles LLC, and was delivered last year. The property has proven to be a popular one: it was nearly 90 percent leased in four months.

Eleven40 was California-based Diamond’s first multifamily acquisition in the Chicago market.

3. 220 W. Illinois St. | $91 million

When Singapore-based Mapletree Investments bought this River North apartment building for $91 million in January, it planned to turn it into corporate housing. A subsidiary of Mapletree, Los Angeles-based Oakwood, will rent the building’s 188 apartments to business travelers and other extended-stay residents. The 25-story building was acquired from Chicago developer Fred Latsko and Portland firm Gerding Edlen, which first put the apartment tower up for sale in 2017.

Oakwood controls more than 40 extended-stay housing sites in Chicago.

4. 31 E. Ogden Ave. | $89 million

In October, Oak Brook developer JVM Realty paid $89 million for the Uptown La Grange, a luxury apartment complex in the southwest suburbs. Around the same time, JVM landed a $61 million loan from Axa Equitable Life Insurance.

The seller, Minneapolis-based Opus Group, built the 254-unit complex in 2017. Its units range from $1,700 per month for a studio to $4,000 for a three bedroom, according to Zillow.

Uptown La Grange is at least the fifth luxury apartment complex JVM purchased in the Chicago area.

5. 504 N. Green St. | $85.5 million

Newcastle added to its Chicago portfolio of multifamily and retail properties in February when it purchased this River West apartment complex for $85.5 million. The seller was Akara Partners and CA Ventures.

The three-year-old building, formerly known as Kenect, includes 227 units and 13,000 square feet of retail space.

Akara and CA developed the two-building complex with Goldman Sachs, then tried to sell it in 2017 but pulled it from the market when they couldn’t get their price.

Source: TRD analysis of brokerage data, as provided by Cushman & Wakefield, news clippings and market reports.