Under pressure from striking hotel workers, the ownership of the Congress Plaza Hotel has hired real estate investment bank Eastdil Realty Co. LLC to test the market for a sale of the 840-room property, sources said.
The hotel has been locked in a nearly 8-month-old fight with Local 1 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union.
Shlomo Nahmias, president of hotel owner 520 S. Michigan Avenue Corp., could not be reached for comment. Offices sold: Metropolitan Properties of Chicago LLC has sold the office portion of 332 S. Michigan Ave., a $29 million deal that marks the end of an exit strategy begun nearly six years ago.
Louis D’Angelo, president of Metropolitan, declined to identify the buyer, which sources said was U.S. Realty and Investment Co. It’s the first Chicago acquisition for the privately held New York firm.
The building’s 319,250 square feet of office space is 93.5 percent leased, according to real estate research firm CoStar Group.
Oak Brook-based real estate firm NAI Hiffman advised Metropolitan in the deal, which was complicated by an $18.75 million mortgage, at 8.5 percent interest, that doesn’t mature until 2029 and couldn’t be prepaid.
In 1997, Chicago-based Metropolitan announced plans for a 75-unit condominium conversion on the top six floors of the building. The $24 million redevelopment was completed three years ago.
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6 N. Michigan default: A group of lenders led by CIB Bank has taken back the stalled luxury condominium project at 6 N. Michigan Ave., with plans to complete the troubled redevelopment, after a default on a $44.8 million construction loan.
The bank has hired Chicago-based Magellan Development Group Ltd. to finish the project, a redevelopment of an historic office building, a bank spokesman confirmed.
As part of a settlement with the developer, Chicago-based Global Real Estate Investors LLC, CIB also took title to another antiquated office building, at 59 E. Van Buren St., and an adjacent parking lot. Global’s principals are Romel Esmail and Bassam Haj Yousif.
The CIB loan is junior to a $30 million loan held by Cosmopolitan Bank that is partly secured by the property, records show. In November, general contractor Amec International filed a $2.4 million lien for unpaid construction bills.
CIB’s parent, Pewaukee, Wis.-based CIB Marine Bancshares Inc., has delayed reporting third-quarter earnings because of a “significant increase in non-performing loans.”
Kirkwood in deal: Kirkwood Partners Ltd. has plans for a 404,000-square-foot retail center in the rapidly growing Kenosha area, said Gene Ventura, president of the Chicago-based firm.
Kirkwood has a contract to acquire a 61-acre site, located on Wisconsin Highway 50 east of I-94 in Pleasant Prairie, from V.K. Development Corp. The retail complex would be one of the last phases of a 412-acre, mixed-use development called Prairie Ridge that Brookfield, Wis.-based V.K. began in 1996.
Thor equities buys mall: New York-based Thor Equities said it has acquired a large neighborhood shopping center at 159th Street and Kedzie Avenue in south suburban Markham from Oak Brook-based Inland Real Estate Group. The 260,000-square-foot center is just 82 percent leased. But Thor plans to reposition it and rename it the Gallery at Canterbury. The price was $11.2 million.
Walton Street sells building: Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. purchased 1300 Higgins Road, a nearly 96,000-square-foot office building in Park Ridge, said Mitchell Loveman, a vice president with Rosemont-based real estate firm Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc., which represented the seller, Chicago-based Walton Street Capital LLC. The price was more than $12.2 million, sources said.