DRA Advisors Lists River North Office Amid Chicago Retreat

DRA Advisors is looking to lighten its Chicago load again, listing a mixed-use property in River North after years of shedding local holdings.

The New York-based investment firm, alongside partner M&J Wilkow, hired JLL to market the six-story office and retail building at 1 East Erie Street, CoStar reported. The listing includes an attached 208-space garage at 10 East Ontario Street. The partners paid $47.9 million, or $375 per square foot, for the 127,750-square-foot asset in 2016, according to Cook County records. The asking price wasn’t disclosed.

Built in 1983, the property is hitting the market in the middle of a brutal stretch for Chicago’s office sector, where landlords have been surrendering keys to lenders or selling at steep losses. Downtown vacancy is hovering around 25 percent, making it difficult for sellers to find willing buyers. Still, the brokers are leaning on the River North address, the garage cash flow and a chance to boost ground-floor retail rents as selling points. The building is 75 percent leased according to JLL.

Smaller, well-located offices have managed to draw investor interest even as the broader market falters. Next Realty recently refinanced the Kingsbury Center in River North, while local player R2 has picked up boutique buildings in the neighborhood, including a six-story property at 303 West Erie Street. The pitch is that bite-size assets with multiple revenue streams can still pencil out for buyers.

For DRA, the move extends its retreat from Chicago. The firm has been unloading assets it picked up through its $2.3 billion takeover of Inland Real Estate in 2016, including a slate of retail properties in the city and suburbs. One of the final sales in that portfolio was the Point at Clark, a fully leased North Side property that went to North American Real Estate earlier this year.

The Erie Street property last refinanced in 2022 with a $37.35 million loan from Fifth Third Bank. That loan was set to mature this year, with extension options.

— Eric Weilbacher