CHICAGO—Student housing in downtown Chicago just got another boost. Aries Capital just arranged for $10 million of historic tax credit financing to fund Campus Acquisitions' redevelopment and conversion of the landmark Gibbons and Steger buildings at 20-28 E. Jackson Blvd. into student housing. Chairman and CEO Neil Freeman and Assistant Vice President Joshua Krueger of Aries' Chicago office handled the transaction.
The Chicago-based CA will use the funds to help transform the 16-story Gibbons and 19-story Steger buildings, as well as the tiny Pickwick Stable sandwiched between the two at 22 E. Jackson, into 194,000-square-feet of new student housing. The development will feature 135-units with 483 beds and 10,500-square-feet of ground level retail. CA will finish the project in August 2014 and open it to many of the colleges and universities that have populated the downtown with students. Although the company operates thousands of student housing units at major universities such as the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, Purdue University, and many others, this is their first foray into downtown Chicago.
“Downtown Chicago is home to one of the largest collection of college campuses in the nation including DePaul University, Roosevelt University, Columbia College, the Art Institute, and Loyola University among others,” says J.J. Smith, executive vice president of development for CA. “The site's proximity to a large student base, along with the property's eligibility to benefit from historic tax credits made it an attractive project for our firm.”
“Given the outstanding reputation of Campus Acquisitions and the great urban location of this property, we were able to secure more than 50% of the required equity through historic tax credits which provides low cost equity capital for the borrower,” says Freeman of Aries. “The funding of HTCs will drastically improve the IRR for the developer and the equity partner, and preserve two beautiful historic buildings.”
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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.
