Morlen Sinoway Seeks $9M For Fulton Market Building

Custom furniture designer Morlen Sinoway wants to sell an old commercial building in the buzzing Fulton Market District.

Sinoway has hired brokerage firm Greenstone Partners to market the 15,000-square-foot building at 1052 West Fulton Street, where his store, Morlen Sinoway Atelier, has operated for more than 20 years, Crain’s reported.

The asking price for the three-story structure is almost $9 million, or about $600 per square foot. That price tag is on par with other Fulton Market properties that have sold in recent years as the onetime meatpacking district became Chicago’s commercial development hotspot.

Sinoway could cash out in a big way even if the building sells for much less than the asking price. The 71-year-old designer paid about $770,000 for the site in 2000, when Fulton Market was still more known for its industrial roots than upscale apartments, restaurants and hotels.

“I’m the old dude on the block,” Sinoway told the outlet. “I’m ready to pass it on.”

Sinoway previously tried to sell the property before the pandemic hit and had it under contract for more than $11 million. The buyer was planning to open a marijuana dispensary at the site, but the deal fell through over licensing issues.

The neighborhood has since exploded. Across the street from Sinoway’s store is a 12-story office building completed last year, and Trammell Crow is developing a 368-unit apartment tower one block north. With high-rises sprouting up all around him, Sinoway now considers his building “the tiny house” in the area.

Despite Fulton Market’s popularity, there are several challenges working against Greenstone landing a buyer. The 101-year-old building is landmarked under the city of Chicago’s 2015 designation of the historic Fulton-Randolph Market District, the outlet reported. Thus, the site can’t undergo a large redevelopment, and the structure must remain mostly unchanged.

Plus, high interest rates, crime, a tight lending climate and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s progressive policies have made investors wary of Chicago’s real estate market, in general.

However, Greenstone is highlighting potential buyers’ chances to reposition the building with one or two tenants, calling it “a blank canvas for someone to take it and backfill (the space),” Greenstone CEO Danny Spitz told the outlet.

Sinoway is also open to remaining in the building as a tenant.

— Quinn Donoghue