Dive Brief:
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Miami-based developer Crescent Heights is set to buy a 45-story, 515-unit residential tower near the Chicago River for an undisclosed price, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
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The building, Coast, is located in the Lakeshore East development and was previously owned by the joint venture of Magellan Development Group, in Chicago, and JP Morgan Asset Management, in New York.
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Elsewhere in the city, Crescent Heights has begun work on the 76-story, 792-unit One Grant Park residential tower, which will be the tallest building in the city’s South Loop upon completion. It acquired the 298-unit Burnham Pointe building in the same area in 2015 and the 600-unit North Harbor Tower, located near Coast, in 2016.
Dive Insight:
Demand for housing in downtown Chicago has surged as a healthy job market fuels in-migration to the city’s core. Relatively lower rates for commercial office space and housing have led companies like Caterpillar, McDonald's, Kraft Heinz and Conagra to shift their corporate operations to the region, in many cases into the city proper.
This has helped spur a construction boom that has seen new residential buildings on the boards and in the ground across the city’s central neighborhoods.
More details emerged this week on the design of a 60-story, 725-foot-tall mixed-used tower that will bring a mix of luxury condominiums, retail space and a hotel to the city’s River North neighborhood. The project is asking for a greater floor area ratio in exchange for contributing $8 million to the city’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund for community development.
Meanwhile, crews have started work on the 479-unit Essex on the Park luxury rental tower in the city’s South Loop, while work kicked off in September on the 98-story, $1 billion Vista Tower in Chicago, which will include more than 400 high-end condos. A $1.5 billion project on Chicago’s riverfront led by Lendlease is set to add 3,600 residential units to the South Loop.
However, Chicago is facing concerns of an oversupply in the upper tier of the apartment rental market, which is putting downward pressure on rents in all categories. Meanwhile, the city, like many other large metros, faces a critical shortage of low- and middle-income housing.
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