Local Developers List Downtown Chicago Apartments

Another apartment building is hitting the market in Chicago as transactions start to pick up speed.

Local developers Anthony Rossi and Tom Moran listed their 332–unit building at 73 East Lake. The pair took out a $76 million construction loan to build the 42-story tower in 2019, Cook County records show, though they likely invested much more to complete the project.

Marketing materials highlight the building’s proximity to Michigan Avenue, Millennium Park and Google’s ongoing redevelopment of The Thompson Center. CBRE’s John Jaeger, Justin Puppi, Jason Zyck and Danny Zeboski are assigned to the deal.

While an asking price hasn’t been disclosed publicly, the listing is hitting the market at a time when strong rent growth is attracting buyers but high interest rates are cutting into sellers’ profits. A recent analysis by The Real Deal found that about half of the high-profile apartment complexes that have sold in the first half of the year traded at a profit for the sellers. Four sales resulted in a loss for the seller, and four had unknown results due to still-unrecorded sale prices or loan information.

The same CBRE team also recently closed a $78 million deal in Oak Park. The transaction resulted in a loss for sellers, Goldman Sachs and Magnolia Capital, which bought the 270-unit complex for $103 million in 2018. Meanwhile, its buyer, FPA multifamily has been on a spending spree in the Chicago area, taking advantage of potential discounts.

In March, an affiliate of the San Francisco-based investment firm paid $144 million for the 500-unit Paragon Chicago tower, at 1326 South Michigan Avenue in the South Loop. The total penciled out to about $288,000 per unit.

Also in July, the firm paid $60 million for the 270-unit Emerson Apartments in Oak Park and $102 million, or about $159,000 per unit, for the 642-unit for the Reserve at Hoffman Estates.

At 73 East Lake, the building’s average rent is $3,054 per month, or $3.41 per square foot, and it’s about 93 percent occupied, according to the marketing materials.