The Chicago apartment market’s growth is accelerating.
The latest sign of improvement — and optimism for the future — is a plan by DAC Developments and Melrose Ascension Capital to build a 288-unit rental complex in the West Loop, Crain’s reported.
The 19-story project would rise at 1217 West Washington Boulevard, near Fulton Market, with units up to 20 percent cheaper than the average in the neighborhood. Studio units would start at $1,650 a month, and the complex would include 4,500 square feet of ground-floor retail and 110 parking spaces, according to Melrose Ascension’s website.
Melrose founder and CEO Nick Melrose. (Melrose Ascension Capital)
The duo pegs the nearly 300,000-square-foot development at $100 million, the report noted. It would use the air rights from a nearby vacant lot that it intends to buy from Peppercorn Capital. That property has been on the market for nearly two years, and was listed at $10 million.
The plan also includes allowing for up to 154 hotel units at the complex, according to the report, which would serve as short-term rentals.
DAC Developments’ CEO is Daniel Rezko, whose father is disgraced political fixer Tony Rezko.
As demand for apartments picks up again citywide, investor and developer activity has followed. Two big apartment towers listed this month, each eyeing about $100 million.
Russland Capital Group is trying to unload the larger of the pair, 1407 on Michigan, a 199-unit building in the South Loop. And in River North, UBS Realty Investors listed its 171-unit building Bernardin, at 747 North Wabash Ave. In late April, a 548-unit rental tower in Lakeshore East also hit the market. PNC Realty Investors, which oversees the Shoreham for owner AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, hired CBRE to sell the building at 400 East South Water Street.
Slightly ahead of the curve is Pacific Reach Properties, which in February proposed plans to build a two-tower, 1,050-unit apartment complex in the West Loop. It would be the largest project of its kind in three decades.
[Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman