How Sony Gained Control of Luxury St. Regis Chicago Condos

Dalian Wanda Group’s bulk sale of St. Regis Chicago condos in December was the result of a dispute with Sony over the rights to the popular “Octonauts” children’s show.

When the Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group transferred a group of condos valued at $47.5 million in December, The Real Deal previously reported the buyer was CPE Stage Investments. But property records with more details on the purchasing company weren’t available at the time.

A recent Cook County deed shows the buyer is connected to Sony Pictures Entertainment, the U.S. media arm of the Tokyo-based media and electronics conglomerate. The deed also shows the sale included 16 of the 37 condos Wanda owned at the building.

The transfer of the units at the 101-story, Jeanne Gang-designed skyscraper at 363 East Wacker Drive is the conclusion of a long-running legal fight which spilled into a United Kingdom court in 2024.

In 2017, Wanda’s children’s entertainment subsidiary purchased a 51 percent stake in Vampire Squid Productions, the holding company for the animated show “Octonauts,” from Silvergate, according to a Variety report from 2024.

The agreement stipulated the remaining share of Vampire Squid was subject to an option for Wanda to purchase at a later date, the publication reported. When Sony bought Silvergate in 2019, Sony exercised the option and valued the remaining 49 percent at $87.4 million.

After disputes over the price, Sony sued Wanda in 2024, accusing it of neglecting its end of the deal. Last year, a UK judge ordered Wanda to pay Sony $49 million for the remaining 49 percent stake in the “Octonauts” property, ICLG News reported.

Rather than paying cash, Wanda agreed to a non-cash asset swap with Sony, according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Wanda acquired the remaining 49 percent stake in Vampire Squid Productions while Sony’s subsidiary took over the 16 residential units at the St. Regis.

The asset swap gives Wanda full rights to the “Octonauts” intellectual property globally until 2034 and in China until 2053, according to the filing.

It’s unclear what Sony will do with the units. Downtown Chicago condos have been a tough sell in recent years, but the St. Regis, which was completed in 2020, notched some of the highest prices downtown in 2025. The bulk price for Sony’s acquisition comes out to an average of nearly $3 million per unit, but it includes an 89th floor unit likely worth much more.

That 6,000-square-foot condo never sold individually but was listed in 2019 for $11 million. It was taken off the for-sale market in 2020 but was listed for rent at $35,000 per month for much of 2025; it’s unclear if it was ever leased but the rental listing was most recently removed from the market in November.

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Wanda Group did not respond to requests for comment.

Wang Jianlin’s Wanda has had a long history at the St. Regis. The firm originally invested in the 101-story project in 2016 alongside Chicago-based Magellan Development Group, intending to debut its first U.S. hotel under the Wanda Vista brand. But after Chinese regulations on overseas investment tightened, Wanda sold its 90 percent stake to Magellan for $270 million in 2020.

In March, Wanda marketed the 37 condos it owned in the building as a bulk sale. The condos handed over to Sony came from that pool, property records show.

In 2024, Magellan sold its remaining 84 units to Denver-based GD Holdings for $117 million. GD holdings has been able to command high prices for the prime units in that portfolio: A 79th-floor penthouse sold for $7.5 million in September. In October, Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus bought an 84th-floor St. Regis penthouse for $9.25 million, property records show.

The priciest sale on record at the St. Regis came in 2022, when Mexican mining executive German Larrea purchased a two-story, 10,000-square-foot penthouse spanning the 71st and 72nd floors for $20 million.