Vintage Loop Office Building Hits Market as Conversion

A nearly century-old office building near Millennium Park is the latest Chicago Loop property angling for a second act.

The 17-story building at 70 East Lake Street is up for sale, with Cushman & Wakefield marketing the 1927 building as a candidate for apartments or a hotel conversion, according to offering materials. CoStar first reported that the property, designed with gothic revival and art deco influences, is about 63 percent leased as offices.

Brokers Kelsey Berry, Cody Hundertmark, Dirk Riekse and Tom Sitz are pitching the deal as a chance to buy the property for roughly $10 million to $12 million and reposition it, according to a person familiar with the offering. All but two of the existing leases include landlord termination rights, giving a buyer a relatively clear path to vacate the building and start over.

The seller, a family office represented locally by Chicago-based Ansonia Properties, has owned the tower since 1993, when it paid $3.1 million for the property, according to Cook County records. The building was last financed with a $6 million loan in 2017.

The offering adds to a growing pile of aging, half-empty office buildings in downtown Chicago being shopped for their conversion potential, as demand for workspace remains historically weak. Investors are increasingly hunting for low bases and flexible tenancy that make the math work for residential or hospitality reuse, according to the publication.

The Lake Street address sits in the heart of the Loop’s tourism corridor, surrounded by North Michigan Avenue retail and some of the city’s largest hotels. Next door is the teal “Rolls-Royce Garage” at 60 East Lake Street, the Stanley Tigerman-designed parking structure that traded last year to Toronto-based Clermont for just under $12.4 million. A few feet away, the original Virgin Hotels outpost is being redeveloped into a Sports Illustrated-branded timeshare resort.

— Eric Weilbacher