Concord Capital Scoops up River North Landmark for $4.4M

A long-stalled River North development site tied to a failed skyscraper proposal is trading hands, closing the book on a yearslong saga involving foreclosure and investor lawsuits.

Chicago-based Concord Capital paid $4.4 million for the 12,428-square-foot property at 42–46 East Superior Street, according to Cook County records. The site was sold by Madison Realty Capital, which seized control through a foreclosure auction in January 2024 after the previous owners defaulted on their loan, Crain’s reported.

The parcel carries historic criteria as well as landmark protections. The existing buildings date to the 1870s and 1880s, erected shortly after the Great Chicago Fire. They sit within a designated Chicago Landmark District, meaning their historic facades must remain intact, according to the publication. Any new development would have to rise behind those preserved fronts or be built on a small adjoining vacant lot at the corner of North Wabash Avenue and Superior Street.

Concord Capital principal Drew Millard declined to outline plans for the site, but told the outlet that the firm floated the idea of a “modest mixed-use development” in early discussions with Ald. Brian Hopkins and the local neighborhood association. Any proposal, he said, would respect the landmark status and remain within existing zoning limits.

Those limits still leave room for density. The property is zoned DX-12, one of downtown Chicago’s highest-density categories, which allows high-rise construction without triggering the city’s affordable housing requirements, according to a marketing brochure from JLL.

The site’s previous owners, developers Jeffrey Laytin and Jason Wei Ding, once envisioned a much more ambitious future for the property. Their firm, Symmetry Property Development, unveiled plans in 2017 for a 60-story hotel and condominium tower.

The project quickly ran into turbulence. Preservationists opposed changes to the historic buildings, tenants pushed back and the alderman representing the area at the time declined to support the proposal, according to the publication.

Additionally, a group of Chinese investors filed a federal securities fraud lawsuit in 2020 tied to the project’s fundraising through the EB-5 visa program, which offers foreign investors a path to U.S. residency in exchange for funding development projects. Symmetry agreed to return nearly $50 million to those investors for its unbuilt tower that year.

Meanwhile, New York-based Madison Realty Capital — Symmetry’s lender — filed to foreclose on the property in 2019.

— Eric Weilbacher