FPA Multifamily nabs $100M acquisition loan from Berkadia

FPA Multifamily secured a $100.3 million acquisition loan from Berkadia Commercial Mortgage for its purchase of McClurg Court, among Downtown Chicago’s largest apartment complexes, The Real Deal has learned.

The acquisition of the 1,061-unit complex was first reported in Crain’s earlier this month without a price. The financing, obtained through Cook County records, has not been previously reported.

Multi-Employer Property Trust Fund was the seller of the development at 333 E. Ontario Street. When it listed the property in late January, MEPT was eyeing $200 million, about $189,000 a unit. The firm paid $126 million for McClurg Court in 2006. BentallGreenOak, which oversees the building as an MEPT adviser, poured $35 million into improvements.

Built 50 years ago, the two-tower McClurg Court includes a fitness center, pool, tennis courts and outdoor patios. The complex has become the preferred residence of employees and graduate students of nearby Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Maryland-based MEPT listed the property for sale in 2019, promoting it as an “affordable, amenity-rich living experience in a neighborhood dominated by newer luxury high-rise towers,” according to market material at the time.

But the property didn’t sell and BentallGreenOak negotiated a new 99-year ground lease on the 25 percent of the land MEPT didn’t own — the remaining portion belongs to descendants of bookseller Andrew C. McClurg, a Civil War veteran.