CHICAGO-AREA Property Partners and Martin Capital Group have gained a $12.9 million construction loan to turn Chicago’s former floral industry center into a 70-unit loft building with retail. The cost to transform the three-story industrial building at 1313 W. Randolph, and a smaller adjacent building, will reportedly be up to $15 million.
New York City-based AREA joined with locally-based Martin to join in the revitalization of the West Loop, said AREA Partner James Simmons in a statement. The West Loop has seen a number of multifamily projects in the past two years, including the five-tower complex at K Station, Related’s plan for the failed Waterview condo project and the $140 million AMLI River North going up at North Clark and West Hubbard.
According to the AREA statement, the company will redevelop the building into a mixed-use project containing 70 loft-style apartments, about 27,000-square-feet of ground floor retail and 70 parking spaces. The partnership also intends to refurbish an adjacent 7,500-square-foot building into 2,500 square feet of residential or office space, 5,000 square feet of retail and 35 parking spaces. Construction is expected to be substantially complete by third quarter 2012. Company officials did not return a request for comment.
The building was constructed in the late 1920s as the Wholesale Florists Exchange, and housed businesses such as Kennicott Brothers Co., Poehlman Brothers Co., JA Budlong Co. and Peter Reinberg. The firms had partnered with First Realty Co. to build the three-story structure, designed by Fox & Fox.
The Near West Side location remained a vital floral market through the post-World War II period. However, the advent of air travel effectively ended the region's dominance in the wholesale cut flower industry, according to an application for the building to the National Register of Historic Places. The building is being considered for addition to the register by the National Park Service.
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