Utah-based investors Highland Partners are expanding their presence in Chicago with their largest multifamily purchase in the city to date.
Highland bought the 298-unit Exhibit on Superior at 165 West Superior Street for $119 million from Chicago-based Magellan Development, public records show. The purchase comes out to $399,000 per unit.
Highland President Ben Frazer said the property’s value still has room to grow.
“We feel that the price at which we acquired it is less than it would cost to replace the building today,” he said.
Magellan developed the 34-story River North apartment tower in 2017 and last refinanced for $113 million in 2021. It’s unclear the total amount that the developer put into the project. Magellan President J.R. Berger declined to comment on the sale.
When Magellan first listed the property in 2023, it was 95 percent occupied with an average monthly rent of $2,700 per month. All units are rented at market rate, Frazer confirmed.
Until recently, Highland had been purchasing smaller multifamily properties in Chicago and its Northern suburbs. The company also has an extensive portfolio of larger multifamily properties in Utah.
Also on the North Side, developer Michael Breheny’s Contemporary Concepts sold a 14-unit apartment building at 516 West Arlington Place in Lincoln Park that the firm developed to Highland Partners for $10.3 million or $739,000 per unit, last May.
Near the Lakeview neighborhood’s border with Roscoe Village, Highland bought a 95-unit, two-building complex known as the Low-Line Commons for $40 million in a deal that came out to about $421,000 per unit.
The company’s $400 million portfolio is split roughly in half between properties in Utah and Illinois, Frazer said and the company plans to continue acquiring properties in both states.
“We’re looking to do quite a bit more in the Chicago market,” Frazer said.
Highland’s existing properties in Chicago are nearly 100 percent occupied, he said.
Chicago’s multifamily market has been constrained by a lack of new supply as development costs increase and local bureaucratic red tape adds to the hurdles facing developers.
The city 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.
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