Crain’s Chicago Real Estate Daily reported last Friday that Onterie Center, 441 E Erie St, sold for $188 million. The 60-story tower, which includes 615 apartments and more than 100,000 square feet of office space, hit the market last June. Back in December a source told Crain’s that the building was “ripe for a rehab.”
The iconic white building with the striking cross-bracing was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill‘s Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan. Khan has been called the “Einstein of structural engineering.”
Onterie Center originally contained 583 apartments, but a portion of its office space was converted to loft-style apartments several years ago.
You can see a recap of the active market for multi-family buildings in downtown Chicago in the Colliers 2012 Investment Market Report. According to the report, downtown Chicago rents are expected to continue rising and vacancies are expected to fall further despite the expected completion of 2,300 additional units in 2013.
Rental rates in the downtown Chicago apartment market increased 4% on average in 2012 with Class A apartment rents soaring as much as 7.5% in some downtown luxury high-rises. With vacancies expected to follow a downward trend for several quarters to come, overall rent increases are not expected to subside. Rental rates for downtown multi-family properties are expected to rise an additional 4% in 2013 while overall vacancy is forecasted to fall to 3.5% by the end of 2013.
Consult YoChicago’s at-a-glance list of new downtown Chicago apartment projects for the status of the more than 16,000 units that have been recently completed or proposed in the area. Head for Flickr to see more of YoChicago’s aerial photography.