Chicago-based multifamily giant Waterton has paid $85 million for a 197-unit apartment tower in the city’s River North neighborhood, the firm’s second large acquisition in its home city in about seven months amid rising rents.
Waterton last week bought the 26-story Flair Tower at 222 W. Erie St., according to online property records.
It was the exact sale price that Boston-based seller GID Investment Advisors paid for the tower in 2011.
Flair Tower is changing hands at a time of conflicting data in the downtown Chicago apartment market, with most recent sales coming at a discount to previous valuations or for prices lower than the cost to build them.
Pricing has been shaky despite Chicago continuing to outperform the nation’s major markets in rent growth, because of a historically low level of new units being developed in recent years. The slowdown has accompanied national factors such as rising borrowing and construction costs and local worries such as property taxes.
Chicago-area multifamily sales volume was $5.3 billion last year, up from about $4 billion each of the previous two years, according to CoStar data.
Some investors have looked to capitalize on the discrepancy between rent growth and sale prices. Another national investor based in Chicago, Cedar Street, has paid more than $222 million to scoop up three recently constructed buildings in the city since the middle of last year, most recently paying $66 million for the Avra West Loop tower.
Last September, Waterton paid $89.5 million for The Mason, a 263-unit apartment tower in the city’s Fulton Market neighborhood.
Waterton’s latest purchase represents the second-highest price for a Chicago apartment building in early 2026, trailing only the $126.1 million that two investors paid for the 332-unit tower at 73 E. Lake St. near Millennium Park in January.
GID put Flair Tower on the market for sale last summer.
The firm bought the tower in 2011, after it was completed. GID refinanced the property with a nearly $60 million loan in 2016, according to Cook County property records.
Completed in 2010, Flair Tower was 97% leased when it went on the market for sale, according to CBRE materials.
The property includes 184 parking spaces, an outdoor pool and deck with skyline views, along with a fitness center, clubroom and refreshed lobby, according the CBRE brochure.
GID and Waterton did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CoStar News.
Waterton, which owns apartments throughout the country, has $9.7 billion in assets, according to the firm’s website.
Its holdings in Chicago include the four-tower, 2,346-unit Presidential Towers complex along the Kennedy Expressway.
For the record
The seller was represented by CBRE brokers John Jaeger, Justin Puppi, Jason Zyck and Pete Marino.