Ventas Lists Multifamily Tower in Hot Chicago Submarket

A senior housing facility just hit one of Chicago’s most competitive rental markets and could be converted to typical apartments.

Ventas, a Chicago-based healthcare real estate investment trust, listed its 14-story property at 3121 North Sheridan Road for sale, Crain’s reported.

Brookdale Senior Living operates an independent and assisted living community in the building, but it is declining to renew its lease as part of a broader exit from dozens of similar properties across the country.

Located in Lakeview, one of Chicago’s highest-demand and supply-constrained neighborhoods, the listing offers buyers the opportunity to convert the building’s 256 units into market-rate apartments. Occupancy in the submarket hit a record-high 95.8 percent as of March, with rents rising 4.6 percent year-over-year, according to Berkadia.

The building is one of 11 being sold by Ventas after Brookdale opted not to renew its master lease for 55 senior living communities. Ventas is retaining and folding the remaining 44 properties into its operating portfolio.

The Sheridan Road listing is the only Chicago-area property being offered for sale. Berkadia brokers Pete Evans and Richard Evans have the listing.

The 1950-built tower has not traded hands in more than two decades. It last sold in 1998 for $16.8 million ($66,000 per unit) to Provident Senior Living Trust, which was acquired by Ventas in 2005.

At an average of 566 square feet, the units are smaller than standard apartments, but could be upgraded or reconfigured. There may be potential to add units as well, the outlet reported.

The listing adds to a growing trend of adaptive reuses and conversions across Chicago’s rental landscape, especially in older buildings that no longer suit their original purpose.

Recent deals and development shifts highlight both opportunity and caution in the hot Lakeview submarket: Randolph Street Realty Capital paid over $40 million for the 140-unit Panorama Apartments in January, while Mavrek Development scaled back a planned 210-unit project last month to just 46 units at 925 West Belmont Avenue amid financing challenges.

— Judah Duke