In Chicago’s bustling multifamily market, local players are trading apartment buildings.
The estate of late Chicago-based investor John A Brown sold a 49-unit vintage apartment complex in Lincoln Park for $17.3 million to another Chicago-based real estate firm, Horizon Realty Group, according to a press release from Interra Realty.
Interra’s Colin O’Malley represented both the buyer and the seller in the deal, which was completed in late December. The sale equates to $353,000 per unit.
Brown was a longtime owner of the property at 506 West Deming Place going as far back as the 1990s, property records show. Though details of the original sale price are unclear, Brown took out a $7.3 million mortgage from Citibank on the property in 2007 and later refinanced it for $9.3 million in 2022, records show.
The courtyard-style building, built in 1915, includes seven studios, seven one-bedroom units, 31 two-bedroom and three three-bedroom units and one four-bedroom unit.
The sale price highlights the strength of Chicago’s multifamily market in 2025, particularly among mid-market properties.
While Chicago deals with challenging market conditions ranging from an unpredictable property tax system, a progressive city council and high interest rates, local buyers and sellers have an edge in navigating those obstacles.
At the same time, developers from Chicago and elsewhere have struggled to secure financing from hesitant lenders, resulting in a historically low pipeline of new multifamily construction. Those same lenders are also often needed to back mortgages for some for the city’s high-rises.
As a result, mid-market properties have found themselves in an advantageous position. Low supply has driven rents up, and buyers have had easier access to financing for mid-range properties than for high-rises, which have more often sold for less than their prior price.
Interra, which specializes in mid-market sales, recorded $111 million in multifamily transactions in 2025 on the North Side alone, according to a press release from the brokerage.
Just down the street at 501 West Deming Place, Interra’s O’Malley brokered the sale of a 56-unit building for $19.4 million in November. The property was also owned by the estate of Brown, the former owner of the apartments at 506 West Deming Place. The buyers were another Chicago-based venture led by Hayes Properties.