CHICAGO—Urban Innovations has just re-acquired two office buildings in the Greektown neighborhood that the firm had sold in 2005. This time around, they paid $14 million for the 60,000-square-foot office building located at 833 W. Jackson Blvd. and the adjacent 90,000-square-foot property at 322 S. Green St.
Company officials say they look upon the two, separated by a parking lot that services both properties, as value-added investments. They plan to renovate the buildings' exteriors, common areas, lobbies, restrooms and vacant spaces.
“We have a strong presence within the high-end, loft-style commercial buildings in Chicago and these properties remain in line with our vision,” says Mike Scilingo, president of Urban Innovations. “River North is a sought after location for our type of property, so our natural progression is to head back into the West Loop. We want to be able to continue to offer our tenants Class A like amenities without the downtown price tag.”
The lower rents have attracted several nonprofit tenants to the buildings. Current tenants include CAN TV, a public access station and the Family Health Network, a Chicago-based nonprofit that occupies nearly 24,000-square-feet. Other tenants include the University of Illinois and Incisent Labs Group. Urban Innovations has also just signed 13,000-square-feet of new leases and renewals, raising the total occupancy of the properties to 76 percent.
Aaron Zaretsky, leasing director of Urban Innovations, represented the firm in the transaction and John Slivka of CBRE represented the seller, Wells Fargo N.A.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
