Mag Mile Office Building Careening Towards Foreclosure

Golub and BlueFive Capital’s Magnificent Mile high-rise is careening towards foreclosure.

The owners of the 28-story, 289,592 square-foot building at 625 North Michigan Avenue are bracing for a foreclosure lawsuit being handled by special servicer LNR Partners on behalf of bondholders, and appear to be willing to cooperate with the lender, according to Crain’s.

Last December, the tower had its $50.6 million commercial mortgage-backed securities debt transferred to special servicing due to cash flow problems. Loan servicers said it was on track for imminent default.

The loan is from 2019, when the building had 92 percent occupancy. In summer 2025, the building was only 64 percent occupied.

Previously, the building was owned by Chicago-based Golub and Los Angeles-based CIM Group. CIM sold its portion to Dubai-based Neo Capital in 2019 for $72 million, while Golub retained its position. As previously reported in The Real Deal, United Arab Emirates-based BlueFive absorbed Neo in fall 2025, as well as the distressed asset. This would be Golub’s second Mag Mile property sent to foreclosure in a little over a calendar year; the company lost the 36-story tower at 444 North Michigan Avenue to Blackstone via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

Downtown Chicago office space was mauled by pandemic work-from-home movements, and the fallout has made several previously solid buildings radioactive in recent years, according to Crain’s. Retail is returning to the area, and residential mixed-use redevelopments are happening all over downtown, but office space has yet to see a rebound.

An office tower at 500 North Michigan Avenue sold for a mere $5.1 million to Commonwealth Development Partners, who immediately began plans for a residential conversion. In 2025, 401 North Michigan Avenue was in trouble as well.

Golub and BlueFive’s CMBS loan matured in March, according to the outlet. Golub is also collaborating on a $135 million redevelopment of vacant office space at 30 North LaSalle Street into a 349-apartment complex with help from the LaSalle Street Reimagined program.

— Hunter Cooke