Range Group Buys Discounted Land in Chicago’s Fulton Market

One of Fulton Market’s few foreclosure dramas just reached the finish line.

Chicago-based Range Group acquired a major redevelopment site in the district for $4.7 million, wrapping up a foreclosure case in the high-profile corridor, Crain’s reported.

The purchase includes more than 40,000 square feet of loft office and industrial buildings at 415 North Aberdeen Street and 1044–48 West Kinzie Street, plus a 27,000-square-foot surface parking lot. The price pencils out to $70 per square foot.

The sale also involved a 12,600-square-foot building at 410 North Carpenter Street, which went to investment firm OnDean Management for $2.5 million under a right of first refusal.

The seller, an entity led by Lake Geneva–based investor Thomas Owens, was facing foreclosure in January after defaulting on a $4.4 million loan from Wintrust Financial. That loan, issued in 2015, matured in March 2024. The note was later sold to a Delaware-based entity that advanced the foreclosure action, prompting a receiver to oversee its operations and sale.

At one point, the Owens venture had offers between $13 million and $18 million for the portfolio, but rising interest rates and financing hurdles caused deals to fall apart. By the time of the foreclosure auction, the combined properties fetched under $8 million, a sharp discount from Fulton Market’s pre-pandemic land values, which regularly exceeded $500 per square foot.

The acquisition sets the stage for future redevelopment.

Range could eventually pursue a 350,000-square-foot project on the site, but the firm plans to continue operating the buildings as-is for now, Range Principal Seth Halpern told the outlet. He called the deal “the best land basis in Fulton Market since 2014.”

It gives Range control of a large T-shaped portion of the block, but a few key parcels — including a small site along the Metra tracks and a condo building at the northwest corner — are under separate ownership. That could complicate full-block redevelopment efforts.

The site sits across from Fulton Labs, home to Portal Innovations and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, signaling long-term appeal to institutional investors circling the district.

— Judah Duke