Larry Weiner’s Marc Realty is looking to sell one of its Central Loop office towers to a multifamily or hotel developer, indicating a pivot for the longtime office landlord.
The Chicago-based commercial firm hired CBRE to market 180 North Michigan Avenue, the 24-story 235,0000-square-foot Class B building that is leased by the American Writers Museum and the embassies of Spain and Peru, with retail on the ground floor.
The listing doesn’t include a price, though it is expected to sell for around $30 million, according to a source familiar with the offering. Marc bought the property for slightly more than $20 million in 2007, Crain’s reported at the time.
Marc did not respond to a request for comment.
The firm is marketing the building as a good candidate for a conversion in Chicago’s pandemic-battered downtown office market, which has a record amount of available office space. If redeveloped, the building will fit in with its neighbors, which include a handful of hotels and apartment towers.
Marc’s portfolio includes more than 40 office properties that the firm manages and leases, mainly in downtown Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.
Marc sold a vacant office building in suburban Rolling Meadows for $13 million in May, two-thirds more than what it fetched in 2016.
Weiner’s firm is also facing a potential foreclosure. A $16.5 million loan on the 10-story building at 216 West Jackson Boulevard was transferred to a special servicer in July.
Chicago’s central business district saw negative absorption in the fourth quarter of 2022, falling to -600,000 square feet, according to a report from Chicago-based commercial real estate firm Bradford Allen. Direct vacancy increased to nearly 19 percent, the report also shows.