Joy Jordan’s $13M West Loop development site deal killed, seller sues

A former Sterling Bay broker who struck out on her own to develop a West Loop office tower is facing a dead deal and lawsuit from the seller of the project site, jeopardizing a $100 million construction job.

Joy Jordan, founder of Fortem Voluntas, is being sued for breach of contract in Cook County court by the owner of the building and land at 415-417 North Sangamon Street, which is a venture led by investor Grey Bemis-Kelley. Fortem Voluntas is a real estate development and investment company Jordan founded in 2021. The firm planned to erect a $100 million, 17-story office tower at the site.

The Bemis-Kelley venture’s suit alleges that it struck a purchase agreement with Fortem in March 2022, and modified it three times to extend the purchasing date at the request of Fortem. Jordan’s firm never closed on the deal, despite agreements extending the closing date by more than a year to June 14 of this year. The amended agreements also reduced the purchase price at Jordan’s request, from $13 million to $12.2 million, contingent on the Chicago City Council approving Fortem’s zoning change request. She still failed to close the less expensive deal, the suit alleges.

This wouldn’t be the first West Loop development site deal to flame out since interest rates started climbing and forcing rapid shifts in the commercial real estate market. Tishman Speyer also pulled out of a Fulton Market development site deal where it planned a big office building at 850 West Washington Boulevard in June 2022.

It’s unknown why Fortem hasn’t closed on the Sangamon Street site. Attorneys for each party to the lawsuit didn’t return requests for comment, and Jordan didn’t immediately respond to an email.

The seller of the Sangamon Street site is asking the court to force Fortem and its title company to release the $500,000 in earnest money the buyer put up ahead of the closing date because Fortem defaulted on the purchase agreement.

Jordan filed plans for the development in September, preparing to erect an L-shaped building with office and retail space on the northern edge of the Fulton Market District. Designed by Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, the 260-foot-tall tower was expected to include 267,000 square feet of office space and 9,800 square feet of retail on the ground floor.

The project planned to incorporate an existing masonry building that sits on the north end of the site. It would have retained the existing facade as well as glass and metal paneling.

The suit and the seller’s termination of the purchase agreement — which was delivered in a June 14 letter, according to exhibits filed with the complaint — are likely a blow to the three-year-old development firm. The Sangamon proposal appears to be Fortem’s first major Chicago project Jordan set out to complete with the new company.

The seller terminated the purchase agreement with Fortem after the buyer didn’t deliver any closing materials to the title company by the extended June closing date, according to the suit. It’s unclear what the litigation could mean for the prospect of Fortem obtaining construction financing for the office project or acquisition financing for the development site itself, as the seller claimed it was killing the deal.

Jordan was at Sterling Bay for about two years before forming Fortem. Prior to that, she was with Telos Group brokerage representing office landlords since the firm opened in 2012. Jordan was hired at Sterling Bay to oversee office leasing for Lincoln Yards. Previously, she had overseen leasing at Willis Tower, 300 South Riverside, 20 North Wacker Drive and 550 West Adams Street.

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