After Fulton Market notched Chicago’s highest-priced multifamily sale in nearly two years, the owners of a 263-unit apartment building less than a block away are ready to cash in.
The owners of The Mason, a 14-story building at 180 N. Ada St., have hired CBRE and Eastdil Secured brokers to seek a sale, according to a marketing brochure.
The Mason was completed in 2019 by local developer Marquette Cos. and Germany’s DWS Group, an affiliate of Deutsche Bank.
It is less than a block from the 375-unit Fulbrix tower at 160 N. Elizabeth St. that last week sold for $170 million. The sale to New York-based Normandy Real Estate was the highest-priced Chicago apartment sale since August 2023 when Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega’s real estate investment firm paid $231.5 million for the 492-unit tower at 727 W. Madison St.
While the broader Chicago and U.S. investment sales markets have been slowed by higher borrowing costs and economic uncertainty, the former meatpacking district immediately west of the Loop business district has stood out with a series of high-priced sales in the past several months.
Major sales within or alongside Fulton Market have included another project that Marquette and DWS developed, the 223-unit Catalyst tower at 123 N. Desplaines St., which Portland, Oregon-based Green Cities Co. bought for $94 million earlier this year.
Among other large deals in the area, a venture including former Blackstone real estate executive John Schreiber paid more than $93 million for the 227-unit Parker Fulton Market tower, and Legal & General invested more than $113 million on the 350-unit Arkadia West Loop. The latter was the U.K.-based financial services firm’s first U.S. multifamily acquisition for its institutional retirement business.
It’s not clear how much Marquette and DWS are expecting in a sale of The Mason. The firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CoStar News on Wednesday.
In April 2022, they took out a $54.7 million loan from Wells Fargo Bank, according to Cook County property records.
The property includes a pool deck with private cabanas, fire pits and grilling stations, 143 parking spaces, fitness club, co-working areas and rooftop lounge, according to marketing materials. It is adjacent to Michelin-rated restaurants Smyth and Elske.
Marquette has been an active developer in Fulton Market as the area has emerged in recent years as a high-demand residential, office, hotel, retail and restaurant market.
In 2022, Marquette sold the 243-unit Evo Union Park on the western edge of Fulton Market to Pacific Life Insurance for more than $103 million. That project was financed and launched in the chaotic early months of the pandemic.
For the record
The sellers are represented by CBRE brokers John Jaeger, Justin Puppi, Jason Zyck and Danny Zeboski and Eastdil Secured brokers Kenneth Glomb and Bryan Rosenberg.