Preparing for United Center Redevelopment’s Spillover Effect

Momentum is building around the 1901 Project to redevelop the United Center’s surroundings as well as a potential comeback for the Magnificent Mile.

Real estate speculators are trying to get in position to pull the right political levers to maximize the impact of the redevelopment of the United Center’s parking lots that’s being planned by the owners of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks.

Phil Denny’s firm Peppercorn Capital is among the West Loop and Near West Side players voicing support for relaxing zoning restrictions on a strip of Lake Street north of the stadium that prioritize industrial uses, while Alderman Walter Burnett Jr. and a key property operator say the area’s not ready.

A check-up on Michigan Avenue’s vital signs show its heart is still beating, and may be ready to start jogging with signs of a revival from the challenges of the pandemic. But that may mean leaning into a recent turn toward fun, upbeat storefronts focused on experiential retail rather than high-end fashion outlets and Magnificent Mile outposts for national brands.

Embattled developer Marty Paris and his firm Sedgewick Properties took their latest blow in a series of significant challenges. Paris signed a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure to surrender his high-end housing project he built at the intersection of LaSalle and Erie streets in River North to lender Republic Bank of Chicago. He has another large real estate debt to Republic Bank allegedly in default, as well.

Speaking of embattled, investor Shaya Prager and his New York-based firm Opal Holdings — which have faced numerous big-money foreclosures on office properties across the nation over the past year — may have scored a lifeline in suburban Chicago. Details are still murky regarding whether it’s Prager or his lender that will benefit from Baxter International spinoff Vantive’s colossal, 670,000-square-foot lease of the Corporate 500 campus in Deerfield; Prager bought the property in 2022 for nearly $180 million only to face foreclosure a little more than a year later.

Back in Chicago, there’s more drama in the South Side multifamily market stemming from convicted investors’ Chaim Puretz and Boruch Drillman’s involvement with a Kenwood rental complex. Tenants at the 105-unit Ellis Lakeview property that was seized by from an LLC tied to Puretz and Drillman have sued the lender, Freddie Mac, for failing to fix up the property, which has suffered from insufficient heating, broken elevators and building-wide roach and mice infestations.