CHICAGO—The Missner Group has decided now is the perfect time to jump into the burgeoning West Loop office market. The Des Plaines, IL-based developer has just acquired 1220 W. Van Buren St., and plans to redevelop the seven-story, 115,000 square foot manufacturing building into a class A, loft office property. Its new acquisition is a bit to the south of the Fulton Market neighborhood's core, where Google and other high-profile firms recently settled, but demand and interest in the surrounding blocks has also been quite strong.

“We're typically not the pioneers in a new neighborhood, but we're also not the last guys to get in,” Missner's Ed Adler, senior vice president-development, acquisitions, tells GlobeSt.com. And for some time the company has been looking for a good building in the neighborhood that some now call Fulton Market South. “It's not an area where people can come in and pick up property for a steal; there is not a lot of inventory of this type left.” Still, the neighborhood also can't be called mature. “We think it has a long way to go.”

The seller, Oxxford Clothing, a 100-year-old manufacturer of men's clothing currently occupies the property. The firm has occupied 1220 W. Van Buren for 67 years, and at one time manufactured 35,000 suits per year out of the facility. After a short term lease-back, Oxxford will move to a new facility near Midway Airport.