The only completed building in the stalled Lincoln Yards megadevelopment on Chicago’s North Side is for sale as plans take shape for a new development team to bring thousands of residences to the riverfront.
Brokers from Eastdil Secured and Savills have been hired to seek a buyer for the eight-story structure on the southern tip of the long-planned Lincoln Yards mixed-use development, according to a brochure.
It was built as a facility for life science research and offices, but all 284,463 square feet remain vacant, according to the marketing materials.
Construction was completed more than two years ago by Chicago developers Sterling Bay and Harrison Street, and New York-based investor J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
The glassy, Gensler-designed building is near a Home Depot store and the North Avenue bridge over the Chicago River.
Efforts to sell the building are the latest step toward a dramatic reshaping of more than 50 acres along Lincoln Park and Bucktown where Chicago developer Sterling Bay for years had planned a $6 billion mixed-use development that was to include office and residential towers, retail and entertainment space and other uses on land once used by industrial businesses such as the former A. Finkl & Sons steel plant.
Sterling Bay won city zoning approval for the project, which was to include up to 14.5 million square feet of construction in towers reaching nearly 600 feet tall, more than six years ago.
But COVID-19, infrastructure work that Sterling Bay would have been required to fund upfront, rising construction and borrowing costs, and other challenges have left the project at a standstill since the building at 1229 W. Concord was completed in early 2023.
Divided project
Sterling Bay had been seeking new investors to step in for Lone Star Funds on the northern part of the site and J.P. Morgan Asset Management to the south as both investors sought to exit the project.
Hopes of keeping the assembled land in one Sterling Bay-led project ended last month when Chicago-based JDL Development and Florida-based partner Kayne Anderson confirmed they have an agreement to buy the northern 31 acres with plans to build as many as 3,000 homes — potentially a combination of single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and rental apartments — on the land.
Those firms are rebranding their development as Foundry Park.
The fate of the southern land is unclear as the Concord Place building goes up for sale.
Sterling Bay also has looked to sell land parcels adjacent to Lincoln Yards, including recently hiring brokers to sell a site at 2033 N. Kingsbury St. that already has zoning approval for a 355-unit apartment building.
It’s unknown how much the developers are expecting in a sale of the Concord building.
Sterling Bay and J.P. Morgan Asset Management declined to comment. Harrison Street did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CoStar News.
The project was backed by $125 million in construction financing from Bank OZK, the same lender that recently seized the northern half of Lincoln Yards before agreeing to sell it to the new developers. Construction began in 2021.
Less expensive to buy than build
While the developers still seek potential tenants, the Eastdil and Savills brokers are marketing 1229 W. Concord as an opportunity for a developer or user to buy a state-of-the-art structure for far less than it would cost to build today.
The property “offers a rare combination of robust life science infrastructure and hospitality-caliber amenities sought by today’s forward-thinking tenants,” according to the brochure, making it ideal for office, medical, research-and-development and life science companies to own and occupy.
Although it was designed to accommodate a combination of life science lab and office space, the brokers say it can be used as traditional office space at a time when little brand-new, trophy-quality corporate space is available.
Although the building now overlooks undeveloped land, the nearby residential development is expected to bring amenities such as restaurants, bars and shops in the years to come.
Existing amenities include a fitness center, outdoor terrace, riverfront patio, tenant lounge and conference space, according to the brochure. There also are high-visibility signage opportunities.
For the record
The property is listed for sale by Eastdil Secured brokers Bryan Rosenberg, Paul Nelson, Cameron Palmer, David Caprile and Sam Byczek, and Savills brokers Robert Sevim and James Otto.