Veteran developer J. Paul Beitler is testing the market for a new office tower on the northeast corner of Franklin and Randolph streets.
The proposed building would be more than 32 stories tall, with roughly 500,000 square feet of office space and five levels of parking, said Beitler, the co-developer of Bank One Center, the 1.3 million-square-foot tower completed last year at 131 S. Dearborn St.
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Beitler’s latest development would be designed by Chicago-based architectural firm Gonzalez Hasbrouck Inc.
Whether the project moves ahead depends upon a long-term lease with an anchor tenant, said Beitler, president of Chicago-based Beitler Co.
The site of nearly 32,000 square feet is a combination of several parcels, including a two-story corner building with a Walgreens drugstore, a large parking lot and Eat and Drink, a Chinese restaurant formerly named C-Food Express.
If Beitler signs up an anchor tenant, he said he must still make a deal with the landowner, a subsidiary of Chicago parking garage operator Interpark Holdings Inc.
“We feel we can meet their expectations from a price standpoint,” he said.
West Adams foreclosure: Wells Fargo Bank has filed a foreclosure lawsuit on 318 W. Adams St., an 84-year-old tower, seeking to collect $14 million in principal, past-due interest and other charges.
Despite the slow leasing market, foreclosure actions on downtown office buildings have been rare.
The 156,750-square-foot building is 71 percent leased, according to real estate research firm CoStar Group.
In late 1999, the 19-story building was acquired for $11.4 million by a venture comprising Chicago real estate executive Steve Byers and Craig Walker, a real estate investor and president of Walker Component Group Inc., a Denver electronics distributor.
Three years later, the venture borrowed $11 million at 6.76 percent interest, according to the complaint filed last month in Cook County Circuit Court. The mortgage payments allegedly stopped in July.
The bank is the trustee for investors who bought securities backed by the mortgage.
When the building’s vacancy rate rose last year, Walker, with an 80 percent stake, declined to contribute additional capital that would have staved off a default, said Byers, president and chief executive of Wextrust Capital LLC.
Byers said he has offered to buy out Walker or advance money in exchange for a larger ownership stake, but has not reached a deal. Walker could not be reached for comment.
Solomon Cooper site: The U.S. subsidiary of Puma AG has signed a letter of intent to lease the former Solomon Cooper Drugs store at 1051 N. Rush St., sources said.
A spokeswoman for the Westford, Mass.-based subsidiary said the firm is looking in the Chicago area, but hasn’t signed a lease.
The German sports apparel and athletic shoe company has been gradually rolling out retail stores since 2001. Its 11th North American store opened in December in San Jose, Calif.
In Chicago, the two-level, 5,000-square-foot store is owned by a venture that includes Evanston investor Ralph Marol, according to property and corporate records. Chicago-based Northern Realty Group Ltd., which represented the landlord, declined to comment.
Archibald Candy factory: Archibald Candy Corp. on Wednesday is expected to ask for bankruptcy court approval to hire real estate firm Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc. to market Archibald’s former factory at 1137 W. Jackson Blvd., court records show.
Vernon Schultz, senior vice president with the Rosemont-based real estate firm, declined to comment. CBK would receive a 2 percent sales commission on a sale up to $20 million and 3.5 percent on the amount over that price, a standard agreement for such a transaction, according to the motion filed by Archibald.
The 175,000-square-foot site includes two multistory warehouse structures that are more than 70 years old and more than 280,000 square feet in size.
Naperville lease: Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies US Inc. said it is nearly doubling the size of its local offices, taking 19,000 square feet of space in the Metrowest I building in Naperville. It is moving from Lisle.
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CB Richard Ellis Inc. represented Ryan and the landlord, the pension fund advisory arm of the Los Angeles-based real estate firm.