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Chicago

Fulton Market lab development in flux

Once-promising development faces unknown future

Mark Goodman & Associates' Mark Goodman and 400 North Elizabeth Street (Getty, LoopNet, LinkedIn/Mark Goodman)
Mark Goodman & Associates' Mark Goodman and 400 North Elizabeth Street (Getty, LoopNet, LinkedIn/Mark Goodman)

Developer Mark Goodman’s ambitious plan for a 503,000-square-foot, $218 million life sciences lab building in Fulton Market is on hold.

Goodman has hired CBRE to either sell the property at 400 N. Elizabeth St. or help find an investor in the project, reported Crain’s. The developer believes the 1.5-acre site is worth over $30 million. 

Goodman acquired the industrial building at the beginning of 2022, two months after the City Council approved the life sciences project. Demolition was slated to begin by the end of 2022, but the old brick building remains.

According to Goodman, rising interest rates and other economic challenges are making it tough to secure adequate financing for lab developments. Despite Fulton Market’s reputation of being a life science hub – Chan Zuckerberg Initiative recently committing to a $250 million research center –growth has tapered off. 

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Another factor playing into the project’s stall is a $20 million loan Goodman took out last year from Convexity Properties. The loan was supposed to mature by the end of January, but was extended, Crain’s reported. 

Goodman has been bullish on Fulton Market dating back to the early 2000s when he redeveloped the office building at 550 W. Jackson Blvd. In 2021, he completed a 13-story, 320,000-square-foot office building at 320 N. Sangamon St., which is already almost fully leased and includes big-name tenants such as Hazel Technologies.

–Quinn Donoghue

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CBRECommercial Real EstateDevelopmentMark Goodman