Longtime Sterling Bay exec Reed Edwards heads to Vista

One of Sterling Bay’s longest-serving executives is on the move.

Reed Edwards, a managing principal of the Chicago-based development giant since 2008, has exited the firm to take a new position with New York-based Vista Property Group, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

Edwards’ new employer competes with Sterling Bay as a developer in Fulton Market, with a significant portfolio of projects proposed in the fast-growing neighborhood.

“We wish Reed the best of luck in all future endeavors and look forward to crossing paths again as he continues his career in real estate,” Sterling Bay CEO Andy Gloor told The Real Deal through a spokesperson.

Edwards did not return requests for comment, and Vista Property Group declined to comment. The nature of his role with Vista was not immediately clear.

Edwards made the change as Sterling Bay faces headwinds with the financial package tied to its $6 billion Lincoln Yards megaproject, which aims to bring a hub of office space and other new commercial buildings to historically industrial grounds between the Bucktown and Lincoln Park neighborhoods.

Earlier this year, Sterling Bay was in talks with the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund to inject around $300 million of new capital into the Lincoln Yards project. The discussions arose after Lincoln Yards’ current financial backers, JPMorgan Asset Management and Lone Star Funds, said they plan to sell their stakes in the project at a discount due to mounting impatience with the development’s progress.

But the teachers fund ultimately passed on the chance to enter the project. Since then, Sterling Bay has been seeking other investors. Meanwhile, its first life sciences-oriented building at Lincoln Yards is complete and ready to lease, and so far there hasn’t been a big tenant to take any space there.

Meanwhile, Sterling Bay has proposed a couple large multifamily projects on development sites nearby Lincoln Yards.

And the firm has been busy in Fulton Market, where it previously developed Google’s and McDonald’s Chicago headquarters. It recently landed a lease around 90,000 square feet with law firm Greenberg Traurig at 360 North Green Street, a 500,000-square-foot office building under construction and slated for completion next year.

Vista, headed by Saul Sutton and Hymie Mishan, earlier this year gained Chicago Plan Commission approval of a $448 million proposal to build 1,450 housing units spanning three towers at 370 North Morgan Street, 400 North Morgan and 401 North Morgan.

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