National multifamily investor Waterton has paid almost $90 million for a 263-unit apartment building in its home city, removing one of several high-profile properties from the downtown Chicago for-sale market.
Waterton on Wednesday paid $89.5 million for The Mason, a 14-story building in the city’s high-demand Fulton Market district, according to online property records.
The building at 180 N. Ada St. was completed in 2019 by local developer Marquette Cos. and Germany’s DWS Group, an affiliate of Deutsche Bank.
They put the property on the market for sale in April.
It was among downtown Chicago multifamily buildings totaling more than 4,200 units that hit the market between April and early September amid signs that the market’s rent growth could help overcome the long-running effects of higher borrowing costs on dealmaking.
The Chicago area’s rent ranked No. 2 among the nation’s 50 largest markets, according to a recent CoStar analysis, and industry professionals expect several other big properties on the market to sell before the end of this year.
Waterton also could be a seller in this cycle, having put the 346-unit Grand Central complex in the South Loop on the market in August, less than two years after buying it for $81.9 million.
About a year ago, Waterton announced the closing of a $1.73 billion fund that it described as one of the largest value-add multifamily funds in the country.
Fulton Market demand
Fulton Market has transformed over the past several years from a gritty meatpacking district to a high-demand area for the development of residential, office and hotel towers just west of the Loop business district.
The biggest sale in the city since 2023 already came this year in Fulton Market, where a New York-based investor paid $170 million for the 375-unit Fulbrix tower at 160 N. Elizabeth St. That is less than a block from The Mason.
It’s unclear how much Marquette and DWS had hoped to receive in a sale of the property at 180 N. Ada.
Those firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CoStar News on Thursday.
Naperville, Illinois-based Marquette and DWS took out a $54.7 million loan from Wells Fargo Bank in April 2022, according to Cook County property records.
Those investment partners sold the 223-unit Catalyst tower at 123 N. Desplaines St., about a mile east of The Mason, for $94 million earlier this year.
The Mason’s amenities include a pool deck with private cabanas, fire pits and grilling stations, fitness club, co-working areas and a rooftop lounge. It also has 143 parking spaces.
Waterton said it plans minor upgrades to in-unit flooring, common areas and amenity areas.
“The Mason is an excellent addition to our portfolio and we are thrilled to be back in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago,” Casey Mog, vice president of acquisitions at Waterton, said in a statement. “The favorable supply/demand dynamic in downtown Chicago combined with the quality features of the units and common areas in this dynamic West Loop location makes The Mason an attractive investment opportunity.”
For the record
The sellers were represented by CBRE brokers John Jaeger, Justin Puppi, Jason Zyck and Danny Zeboski and Eastdil Secured brokers Kenneth Glomb and Bryan Rosenberg.