After filing two lawsuits last year against the owners of a Chicago loft office building that was converted into a migrant shelter, the lender is looking to sell the property along the western edge of the high-demand Fulton Market district.
JLL has been hired to seek a sale of the five-story building at 344 N. Ogden Ave. and adjacent properties, according to a brochure. The brokerage is representing the lender, Greenwich, Connecticut-based Knighthead Funding, in the sale.
The offering also includes two smaller structures and land on the total 28,238-square-foot site at Ogden and Carroll avenues, according to JLL. The structures total 62,135 square feet.
The property is on the west side of Ogden, which serves as the western boundary of Fulton Market. The former meatpacking district has emerged as one of the most active pockets for development over the past several years, attracting high-rise office, residential and hotel structures.
The building at 344 N. Ogden made a shift from office space to housing asylum seekers in 2023 as local and state leaders scrambled to find room to house thousands of migrants that were sent on buses to the city by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Owners of the building, a venture including Scott Goodman and A.G. Hollis, agreed to use the building for housing amid historically low demand for office space, receiving $150,000 per month in rent.
Pair of lawsuits
But Knighthead sued in May 2024, alleging that the property owners were late on payments for their $11.5 million loan and that the lender had not signed off on a change in use for the property as required in terms of the loan, Crain’s Chicago Business reported at the time.
A few months later, The Real Deal Chicago reported that Knighthead had filed a second lawsuit to foreclose on the property with plans to then sell it. That complaint alleged that the borrowers had missed loan payments.
It’s unclear from online court and real estate records whether the lawsuits have been resolved or whether the lender has formally taken possession of the property.
Knighthead and Hollis did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CoStar News. Goodman declined to comment.
The venture of Hollis and Goodman bought the property for $10.85 million in August 2016, according to CoStar data and Cook County property records.
Goodman is the co-founder of well-known Chicago developer Sterling Bay. He left that firm to help launch Farpoint Development in 2016.
That company’s investments include the planned Bronzeville Lakefront megadevelopment on the city’s South Side, a multilevel retail building on the Magnificent Mile and the mixed-use North Avenue Collection building on the city’s North Side.
For the record
The seller is represented by JLL broker Dan Reynolds.