LG Group Lists Chicago Apartments as Rent Surge Fuels Sales

Chicago developer LG Group is cashing in on the city’s red-hot rental market, listing its newly built River North apartment complex for sale.

LG is seeking a buyer for the Hugo, a nine-story, 227-unit building at 411 West Chicago Avenue and 751 North Hudson Avenue, Crain’s reported. Newmark’s Elizabeth Gagliardi, Susan Lawson and Chuck Johanns are marketing the property, which also includes 19,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

It’s unclear what LG spent developing the property or how much it hopes to fetch in a sale.

The move comes weeks after LG put another of its recent projects — the Arthur on Aberdeen in Fulton Market — on the block.

The listings arrive as downtown landlords ride a surge in rent growth driven by limited new supply. The Class A apartment market posted a 6.3 percent year-over-year rent increase in the third quarter, hitting an average of $3,228 a month, according to Luxury Living. River North led the charge, with rents jumping 13 percent to $3,738.

Completed in 2023, the Hugo is roughly 96 percent leased, according to CoStar.

Available one-bedroom units are listed around $2,550 a month, while two-bedrooms are approaching $4,000. The project gave LG a foothold in one of Chicago’s strongest rental submarkets, where proximity to the tech corridor and a spate of restaurant and retail openings have kept demand high.

Records show the firm paid $14.2 million for the site in 2019 and secured a $75 million construction loan in 2021. The deal could test investor appetite for stabilized downtown assets.

The listing could also be part of a broader capital recycling strategy as LG evaluates timing in a still-favorable rent environment. With construction starts at their lowest level in nearly 30 years, strong fundamentals may give sellers like LG a narrow window to lock in returns before the next development wave hits.

LG is still investing in construction in Fulton Market, including a five-story, 66-unit residential building at 1201-19 West Kinzie Street.

— Eric Weilbacher