Billionaire Neil Bluhm’s Walton Street Capital is still on the hunt for a buyer for the office tower at 401 North Michigan Avenue.
Prior reports indicated Olayan Group was in talks to buy the building, but the deal appears to have fallen apart.
The 25-story building on the southern end of the Magnificent Mile was recently re-listed with JLL.
The property was 90 percent occupied when it was last listed in 2024.
Walton Street purchased the 811,000-square-foot building in 2017 for $360 million, or $443 per square foot. It sold the retail spaces in 2019 for $90 million and refinanced the office portion with the $160 million ($197 per square foot).
Its value tumbled after the pandemic slammed the office market.
When Saudi Arabia-based Olayan Group was in talks to purchase the property, the sale was expected to land between $120 million and $130 million ($148 to $160 per square foot).
Olayan Group, known for its global real estate portfolio, had been capitalizing on declining property values in key markets but this deal did not come to fruition. The firm owns high-profile assets such as the 550 Madison Avenue tower in New York and the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Barcelona.
The building is located on Chicago’s iconic retail strip and is adjacent to landmarks such as the Tribune Tower, the Apple flagship store and the Wrigley Building. Constructed in 1965, it is known as the Equitable Building.
Representatives of Walton Street Capital did not respond to requests for comment.
Another distress player just snapped up a Loop office building for a steep discount last month
Kohan Retail Investment Group closed on its purchase of 311 South Wacker Drive at a price showing just how far downtown Chicago office values have fallen.
The New York-based firm, best known for acquiring distressed malls, paid close to $45 million for the 1.3 million-square-foot tower. The price marks an 85 percent drop from the $302 million Zeller Realty Group and Cindat Capital paid in 2014. The deal pencils out to about $35 per square foot.
Bluhm’s tower may benefit from its location along the river walk where some office buildings have been outperforming those farther south in the core of the Loop.