Evanston’s E2 is latest large apartment building to hit market

Northwestern Mutual has listed a large luxury Evanston apartment complex.

The Milwaukee-based insurance company hired JLL to sell E2, a 352-unit multifamily property at 1890 Maple Avenue in the North Shore suburb, Crain’s reported. The company opened the property, located west of Northwestern University, in 2015.

E2 is the third large Evanston multifamily property to hit the market in the past four months. It could sell for as much as $450,000 per unit, or about $158 million, people familiar with the Evanston market told the outlet.

If the property meets expectations, it would represent the priciest trade for a multifamily property in the Chicago suburbs. The record is currently held by the 612-unit Bourbon Square property in Palatine that sold for $139 million last July.

The most recent large Evanston apartment buildings to sell were the Reserve at Evanston, which sold for $65 million, or $377,000 per unit, and 1717, which sold for $71 million, or $406,000 per unit in late 2021.

Northwestern Mutual partnered with Chicago-based developer Fifield Companies to develop the luxury apartment complex before buying it out about four years ago.

The property includes two 16-story towers and a complex of three-story townhomes that open onto the street. There is also a fitness center and outdoor pool for residents. The JLL brochure says the property is 99 percent occupied and rents have steadily increased. New tenant leases have rents 21 percent higher than returning tenants and rents for renewed leases have risen by 6 percent.

E2 ranks as the most expensive large apartment building in Evanston with average monthly rents of $4,00. Studio units rent for $2,250 per month, while the most expensive three-bedroom unit rents for $6,000 per month.

— Victoria Pruitt