JUST RENTED! Great 1Bed+Den on South Michigan Avenue in South Loop

Just helped my @properties renter find this 1Bed+den gem in the South Loop, located at 1430 S. Michigan Avenue…AND signed a 2 year lease.  These renters were great and I definitely think they picked a good place.  This apartment comes with lots of storage space, a nice sized balcony off the living room, and includes a parking space.  Even the living space is a really good size with the perfect space for an office.

Check out the full virtual tour HERE!

If you’re ready to buy a home, sell your current place, find a rental apartment, or rent you home in Chicago, contact me and we can get started!  jeffstewart@atproperties.com.

Piece of World Trade Center now part of Tribune Tower.

I wonder how often the Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue inserts these pieces of other buildings into its exterior.  This one is a jagged piece of the World Trade Center obviously from after September 11th.

Random building blocks at Chicago’s Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue!

Obviously these stones from across the world don’t contribute to anything structurally, it’s still pretty cool to walk around Chicago’s Tribune Tower and see the dozens of pieces of history stuck into the building’s exterior.  Check out the first one!

The Archdiocese of Chicago planning a new Catholic school in Chicago’s South Loop.

New Catholic school building slated for South Loop

A rendering of the planned Old St. Mary’s school building

By: Todd J. Behme Jan. 28, 2010

(Crain’s) — The Archdiocese of Chicago plans to start work in June on a new school building on a South Loop site purchased from a venture including restaurateur Matthew O’Malley.

The 33,000-square-foot elementary school building is to be completed in 2011 next to Old St. Mary’s, 1500 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago’s oldest parish that has seen its school’s enrollment grow amid the housing boom on the Near South Side. The school is currently located in a 12,000-square-foot former warehouse.

The archdiocese bought property for the school in 2008 from a venture managed by Matthew O’Malley, whose Mainstay Hospitality LLC runs well-known Chicago Firehouse restaurant, Grace O’Malley’s Restaurant & Pub and Wabash Tap, all near the church, according to the Cook County Recorder.

Mr. O’Malley’s venture sold for $2.4 million, after paying $1.35 million for it in 2005, property records.

Mr. O’Malley has a daughter at the school and is also donating to the building project. He was at the center of a controversy several years ago over an agreement with Chicago Park District to operate the Park Grill restaurant in Millennium Park. He could not be reached for comment.

The school, which opened in 2004, offers pre-kindergarten through fourth grade and now has about 170 students. A grade is being added each year, with some 215 students expected to be enrolled next school year, says the principal, Mary Lee Calihan. The school is getting many more applications than it can accept, she says.

The new building will be primarily a school, with some meeting space for parish use, says the Rev. Mike Kallock, Old St. Mary’s pastor. Newman Architecture of Naperville designed the building.

The school is proposed for a site that includes some land that the archdiocese already owned. The archdiocese has requested a zoning amendment for the property, and is represented by attorney Thomas S. Moore of Chicago law firm Anderson & Moore.

The parish is also growing, with more than 1,200 people at Masses on Sundays, up from about 500 when the church moved to its current site in 2002, says Rev. Kallock, who has been pastor since 2006.

The archdiocese is financing the $6-million construction project without loans, and the parish will have to pay back the money. The project has been scaled back from original plans that were too costly, Rev. Kallock says.

Read the full Crain’s Chicago Business article by clicking HERE!

Chicago’s Michigan Avenue close to landing a Nordstrom Rack.

Good news for Michigan Avenue since their vacancy rates have reached a high not seen since 1992.  With more and more mainstream stores, Best Buy is a big one, Michigan Avenue has lost a lot of its international appeal to a lot of people and a Nordstrom Rack isn’t going to help at all.  The only other Nordstrom Rack that I know of is located on State Street next to the H&M store.  I actually like to go shopping there, mostly because their guys shoes are pretty cheap.

Mag Mile close to landing Nordstrom Rack

By: Eddie Baeb Jan. 06, 2010

(Crain’s) — Department store chain Nordstrom Inc., best known for its wide array of shoes and its high-level customer service, is looking to open one of its off-price outlets along the Magnificent Mile.

The Seattle-based retailer has a letter of intent to lease about 30,000 square feet for a Nordstrom Rack store at the long-vacant CompUSA space just off Michigan Avenue at the corner of Chicago Avenue and Rush Street, a source says.

While the deal is not yet final, it stands to be the biggest retail lease in the Mag Mile region since fall 2007, when Spanish discount fashion giant Zara signed up for its new three-level, 33,838-square-foot store at 700 N. Michigan Avenue.

The Nordstrom Rack deal also would bolster a trend many years in the making that has discount-oriented big-box stores taking up more Mag Mile real estate after already saturating the nation’s suburban retail landscape.

“What can I say? Quite honestly, it’s happened,” Jacqueline Hayes, president of the retail brokerage firm Jacqueline Hayes & Associates Ltd., says of the trend.

Ms. Hayes, who focuses on upscale retail, says she knew Nordstrom Rack had been looking at the space but didn’t know there was a letter of intent.

“It’s off the Avenue, so I’d be more in favor of that than having it face on the Avenue.”

The lease also comes at a time when the Mag Mile’s vacancy rate stands at 7.2%, highest since 1992, according to an annual survey of the region compiled last spring by brokerage firm CB Richard Ellis Inc.

A representative of the building’s owner, Spanish billionaire and Zara founder Amancio Ortega, didn’t return a call seeking comment. Bruce Kaplan, a senior vice-president with the Chicago office of CB Richard Ellis Inc. who is marketing the space for Mr. Ortega’s investment firm, Ponte Gadea S.L., declines to comment.

A spokesman for Nordstrom, which opened a Mag Mile department store in 2000 and a downtown Nordstrom Rack on State Street three years later, says there’s been no announcement or signed lease for a new store in Chicago….

Check out the full Crain’s Chicago Business article by clicking HERE!

Ritz-Carlton Residences on Michigan Avenue moving forward! Positive news for sure.

Kuwaiti bank pegs Michigan Avenue condos at $242 million

By: Todd J. Behme Dec. 28, 2009

(Crain’s) — A Kuwaiti bank that has invested in the Ritz-Carlton Residences, a 40-story condominium tower under construction on Michigan Avenue, said Sunday that the project is worth $242 million.

Kuwait Finance House said in a release that it has a 95% stake in the project while Chicago-based Prism Development Co. owns the remaining 5% of the development at 664 N. Michigan Ave.

The investment is a pricey bet that the market for new luxury condos will rebound strongly by 2011, when the project is scheduled to be completed.

The $242 million refers to the gross sales proceeds from the 88 condo units, says Bruce R. Schultz, a principal with Prism. He estimates the cost of the project at $200 million. The development has a $137.5-million construction loan from the German financial institution known as Helaba.

Of the remaining capital in the deal, Kuwait Finance has put up 95%, which would be about $59 million. That includes a $40-million preferred-equity investment when the sale of the site closed last year.

After KFH and Prism each recoup their equity investments, they will split the projects’ profits 50-50, Mr. Schultz says.

The project is about 40% sold, roughly unchanged in more than two years.

But in a hopeful sign, two contracts have been signed in the past 30 days, Mr. Schultz says. The development is slated to be completed at the end of 2011, with the foundation to be complete by March 1.

“We’re moving forward,” Mr. Schultz says, adding that the project is “very fortunate” to have KFH and Helaba on board.

Despite the current slowdown in sales, the project could benefit next year from a pent-up demand for high-end condos, says Gail Spreen, president of residential brokerage Streeterville Properties.

Also, Ritz-Carlton Residences will face less competition than it might have because of cancelled projects, she says….

Check out the full Crain’s Chicago Business article by clicking HERE!