Crescent Heights Refinances Chicago’s Tallest Apartment Tower

Crescent Heights scored a $332 million debt package to refinance NEMA Chicago, the city’s tallest all-rental tower.

JLL Capital Markets arranged the financing, which consists of a $275 million, five-year, fixed-rate senior loan from New York Life Insurance Company and a $57 million mezzanine loan from PGIM Real Estate, a press release from the brokerage said.

The new debt replaces a $340 million floating-rate loan provided by KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in 2019, which allowed the Miami-based developer led by Sonny Kahn, Russell Galbut, and Bruce Menin to retire its initial $328 million construction stack.

The transaction marks a pivot from floating to fixed-rate debt for the 76-story tower at 1210 South Indiana Avenue. Designed by the late Rafael Viñoly’s eponymous firm, the 800-unit skyscraper also contains 70,000 square feet of amenity space.

Crescent Heights previously explored a full-on sale or recapitalization for the trophy asset, testing the market by hiring CBRE to seek a buyer in late 2023, when interest rates began pressuring commercial valuations.

The refinancing arrives amid tightening fundamentals in downtown Chicago’s multifamily sector, which led the U.S. in rent growth through the end of 2025 at 5.4 percent. A stark supply mismatch — with only 370 units delivered in 2025 against 1,700 units absorbed — pushed local vacancy down to 5.1 percent, insulating luxury assets from broader macroeconomic pressure, according to JLL.

While the NEMA refinancing stabilizes Crescent Heights’ premier asset, the firm’s broader portfolio reveals evidence of recent capital market distress.

Right next door to NEMA, the developer surrendered a 43,123-square-foot vacant development site at 1201 South Michigan Avenue back in 2024. Zoned for a matching 900-foot residential tower with up to 621 units, the parcel was handed over via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure agreement to an affiliate of Mexico-based lender Grupo Financiero Inbursa.

Crescent Heights originally purchased the two South Loop land parcels for $29.5 million in 2012. After extending a $30 million mortgage on the vacant lot four times, the debt matured in August 2023 without a repayment or a sale, forcing the developer to yield the property to the lender.

Stabilizing NEMA frees the firm to focus on its remaining Chicago pipeline, where it faces a challenging financing market for new construction.

Crescent Heights is hunting for a construction loan to break ground at 420 North May Street in the Fulton Market district. The firm acquired the 1.7-acre development site for $34.5 million from a venture that included @properties brokerage founders Thad Wong and Mike Golden as well as MCZ Development, navigating the acquisition at the height of interest rate volatility.

Crescent Heights secured Chicago City Council approval for a 53-story, 587-unit apartment tower budgeted at $300 million. However, without a construction loan in place, the project remains stuck on the drawing board as lenders scrutinize ground-up development risk.

JLL’s Danny Kaufman, Medina Spiodic and Youngsoo Yang represented Crescent Heights in the NEMA debt transaction.