Tryperion Buys Suburban Chicago Office Complex

Tryperion Holdings paid $59 million for Mid America Plaza, a two-building office complex in Oakbrook Terrace near the intersection of Kingery Hwy and West 22nd Street, according to DuPage County property records and first reported by CoStar. The price is well below the $78 million that seller Equus Capital Partners shelled out for the property in 2016, before the office market fell into its current malaise.

The deal marks one of Tryperion’s more visible entries into the Chicago-area office market, coming just months after the firm announced it had raised $163 million for its latest real estate investment and debt vehicle. The fund targets “sub-institutional” assets that often fly under the radar of large institutions, according to the publication.

At the time, Tryperion said it was actively bidding on office properties in gateway markets while keeping flexibility to invest across other property types. Fund IV drew capital from family offices tied to high-profile investors, including Oaktree Capital co-chairman Howard Marks, Apollo Global Management co-founder Tony Ressler, Moelis & Co. CEO Ken Moelis and Panda Express founders Andrew and Peggy Cherng. The firm also cited an unnamed top-20 university endowment in the Southeast as an investor.

Tryperion financed its suburban Chicago buy with a $36.6 million loan from Continental Casualty Company, a subsidiary of Chicago-based CNA Financial, property records show.

The more than 413,000-square-foot Mid America Plaza sits across from Oakbrook Center, one of the region’s largest shopping malls. The complex hit the market in June and was 87 percent leased at the time, with a weighted average lease term of 6.5 years, according to marketing materials from JLL, which brokered the sale. The Oakbrook Terrace sale was brokered by JLL’s Patrick Shields, Sam DiFrancesca, Jaime Fink and Bruce Miller.

JLL pitched the offering as a chance to acquire a stable, well-leased office asset at a basis far below replacement cost. Newtown Square, Pennsylvania-based Equus had invested $17.7 million into the property since acquiring it, upgrading lobbies and common areas. Tenants including Graycor Services, BCS Financial and Mike Ditka’s Restaurant renewed leases between 2021 and 2025, JLL said.

Tryperion founder and managing partner Jeffrey Karsh said in a statement to the outlet that the firm saw long-term value in entering the Chicago-area market below the replacement cost of the prior owner, calling the property a victim of the broader stigma hanging over the office sector.

Equus, which is nearing the end of its planned hold period, said it is handing the asset off after a full 10-year investment cycle. The firm is still marketing another suburban Chicago office property — the Helmut Jahn-designed MetroWest building in Naperville — where Newmark brokers were hired in October to seek a buyer.

— Eric Weilbacher