UPDATED March 8, 2022, 7 p.m.: A Los Angeles private equity firm paid $14 million for a Fulton Market building across Google’s former Chicago headquarters.
The buyer was represented by Pegasus Investments Real Estate Advisory, which declined to name its client. It bought the six-story office and retail building at 1001 West Fulton Market from local retail real estate investment and development company Vequity, according to Cook County property records. The building, completed in 2018 by Vequity, consists of ground-floor retail, office space on levels two through five, and a sixth-floor rooftop area.
The building was fully leased when it was sold, according to Pegasus. Heisler Hospitality will be the anchor tenant for the 5,100-square-foot building, Vequity, Vequity Construction, and Vequity Real Estate Advisors will occupy two floors, solar energy development company Ranger Power, and brokerage firm Stream Realty Partners will each take a floor.
Vequity initially proposed a five-story building in early 2017 but later added a floor, making an $88,800 payment into the city’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund in exchange for greater density. The firm secured a $7.8 million construction loan from Pan American Bank and Trust for the project.
Once solely for the realm of meatpackers and food wholesalers, Fulton Market became the destination for restaurants, life science companies, and tech, led by Google when it opened its Midwest headquarters in 2015 at the 520,000-square-foot, 10-story property at 1000 West Fulton Market. Google is leasing 75 percent of the cold storage facility-turned Class A building until 2028, which sold for $357 million in June 2021, marking the second-biggest Fulton Market deal. In October 2020, McDonald’s headquarters sold for $412.5 million in the priciest deal in the district.
Fulton Market was the city’s only neighborhood where Class A availability dropped to 23.1 percent last year as the rest of the downtown office market suffered from the pandemic. Strong demand in Fulton Market pushed up the average sale price per square foot to $678 last year, compared with the central business district’s $431.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the buyer. Pegasus Investments was an adviser to the buyer.