The news follows a city report that finds that an illegal alternation of the drive-thru in the mid-1990s means it is no longer a grandfathered use, which is what attracted McDonald's to the property in the first place. The would-be buyer is Alan Kravitz, part owner in and former project manager of Paul Brenneke's Avalon Hotel project on Southwest Macadam.

Kravitz, who also owns an interest in several area senior housing projects with another partner, recently formed his own company, Aiyana Group, the tagline for which is "progressive real estate solutions." Kravitz tells GlobeSt.com he also is buying up the 40,000-sf block bounded by Broadway and Weidler and 17th and 18th in the Lloyd District en route to another mixed-use project.

Kravitz says the Hawthorne project will likely have 20,000-sf floor plates, with the first floor dedicated to retail, and the upper floors built out as moderately-priced condominiums, the design of which has not been finalized. Retail rents are expected to be in the $18 per sf to $20 per sf range, which is consistent with new development in the district.