JC Griffin Wins Land Deal for 50-Story South Side Tower

JC Griffin’s foray into Chicago development is nearing a huge deal on the lakefront that could yield a $900 million residential skyscraper on the Near South Side.

Griffin, a former Transwestern capital markets broker, struck out on his own last year to dedicate more time to his firm Griffin Venture Group with ambitions to buy the King Sykes site adjacent to the planned $4 billion-plus Bronzeville Lakefront megadevelopment being led by Scott Goodman’s Farpoint.

Griffin is under contract to buy the 6.5-acre property at the intersection of 26th Street and Martin Luther King Drive from King Sykes LLC, a venture involving Woodstock-based investor Brett Walrod. The price wasn’t disclosed, but the property was expected to trade for about $30 million when negotiations between the parties were underway earlier this year.

Walrod declined to comment, citing ongoing negotiations. Walrod’s partners in King Sykes are Michael Madura and commercial real estate brokers Jeff Devine and Steve Disse, and they’ve owned the site for nearly two decades.

Griffin’s original vision included a 50-story tower with 370 housing units, but the development team has tweaked the floor plans within the building to boost the number of homes in the project to over 600. Most will be rentals, plus 30 to 40 luxury condominiums for sale on the building’s highest floors, he said. The rentals will include units for workforce housing as well as market-rate apartments. The project is being dubbed Metropolis Pointe.

Along with the massive housing building, located at the intersection of 26th Street and Martin Luther King Drive, the project will also include an “AI Preparedness Institute,” aimed at fostering education and workforce training in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.

The sellers are set to make an exit from the property at a big jump in its value from their 2007 purchase price of $12.4 million, but they’ve navigated some financial and political turbulence in recent years.

They forged a legal battle against the city and former Fourth Ward Alderwoman Sophia King in 2023 over alleged interference by city officials in a previous sale attempt, when data center firm Equinix was set to buy the site for $30 million. King disapproved of a data center proposal, and the King Sykes venture sued her, the city and Goodman in a challenge against aldermanic prerogative, alleging officials were angling to give the Bronzeville Lakefront developer a chance to buy the parcel at a cheaper price. A judge ultimately sided with the city and Goodman, and the case was dismissed.

Metropolis Pointe represents GVG’s first ground-up development in Chicago. Griffin declined to disclose financial backers or academic partners for the AI institute, citing ongoing negotiations. Fourth Ward Alderman Lamont Robinson is supportive of the proposal.