January 2016

While one high profile downtown Chicago hotel is currently being planned, another is now being listed for sale. According to reports from Crain’s, the 261-room Hotel Palomar at 505 N. State Street is now being listed on the open market at a time when hotel values in the Windy City seem to be at all-time highs. 

Although a price has not yet been disclosed, the likely value of Hotel Palomar has almost certainly gone up since it first opened up back in 2010, likely netting its owners a fairly substantial profit. 

 One of four hotels run by Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the boutique Hotel Palomar occupies the lower floors of the 36-story tower at 505 N. State, which of course is a prime location in one of the city’s hottest and trendiest

With 1K Fulton now open, which of course is the dynamic new office building that Chicago’s Google office and various other high profile companies call home, Fulton Market is continuing its rather robust development boom with reports now surfacing about a significant new hotel project possibly moving forward.  

Being planned by Jeff Shapack of Shapack Partners, the new 11-story hotel was just presented to Fulton Market residents earlier this month, which if approved, will be located at 200 N. Green Street, just a block south of The Publican.  

According to the developer, the hotel will include approximately 170 rooms, 1,200 square feet of retail space, and two floors of additional office space. For now, the plan is to include a restaurant on the

Big apartment news hit downtown Chicago yesterday as reports have now surfaced that Atlanta-based Investco has acquired the 398 apartment units atop the Loews Hotel at 340 E. North Water Street, which was only just finished last year.

As first reported by Crain’s, Investco paid $240.3 million for the units, which comes out to roughly $604,000 per unit, or about the third-highest price-per-unit ever paid for an apartment building in Chicago.

Not long ago, 111 W. Wacker, another of downtown Chicago’s premier newer construction apartment towers, also sold for a hefty price, which is an encouraging sign for developers of new construction apartment towers who may be on the fence about selling sometime in the near future.

Along with 340 E. North Water, Investco

The hotel market in downtown Chicago is growing, and earlier this month, ground was broken on the newest hotel project to hit the Streeterville neighborhood at 226-228 E. Ontario. Being developed by Scott Greenberg, this particular hotel project is unique, however, because it’s being financed using the controversial EB-5 program, which allows international investors to become U.S. residents if they invest in qualified business ventures, like large-scale real estate developments for example.

As first reported by Crain’s, the new Streeterville hotel project combines 40 international investors who all put up $500,000 each for the development, which will eventually become a branch of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection once finished.

Also

With the holiday season now behind us and the new year in full swing, those thinking of buying a new home in 2016 shouldn’t waste too much time looking for something that fits all their needs and wants. Interest rates are expected to increase at some point in the near future and with rents in Chicago also at all-time highs, there seems to be no better time to finally make that transition from renting to owning than right now.

Even though this may seem like the perfect time to buy, however, affordability is also a key component in purchasing a home for many of today’s home buyers, especially the first-timers. But luckily for many out there looking for that perfect combination of style and affordability, downtown Chicago has many different options

While 2014 and 2015 were in many ways defined by high-profile rental developments as it pertains to the local real estate market, we could finally be seeing a shift that brings more new construction condos to downtown Chicago, which is a welcome sight to those out there still looking to buy.

Last month, the Chicago Plan Commission approved plans that could bring another impressive looking condo tower to River North, one in which stands 23 stories high and houses 55 individual condo residences. According to reports, the development site is located at 800-820 North Wells, which stretches from Chicago Avenue over to Institute Place—a space that’s almost right in the center of one of Chicago’s liveliest and most vibrant neighborhoods.

The unique and