Joshua Krueger, assistant vice president, from Aries Capital‘s Chicago office has arranged a $4.1 million loan for two commercial condominium units in Chicago’s River North neighborhood.
The two vacant, commercial units are located within 225-233 W. Huron, a six-story timber loft building consisting of 100 residential condos and 29,000 square feet of commercial space. Aries Capital was selected to arrange a loan for the two condos which total 13,320 square feet. The condos were left vacant due to the closings of the previous occupants, the restaurant Graham Eliot and a Sears “Craftsman Experience” showroom.
The borrower is an entity managed by an affiliate of The Lord Companies, LLC. The Lord Companies, LLC is a diversified real estate corporation that specializes in urban infill and adaptive re-use brokerage, design and development. The firm’s President and General Partner, Keith Lord and Executive Vice President Scott Fithian are well-versed in Chicago’s mixed-use and commercial markets and are long-time clients of Aries Capital.
The property is in the heart of River North, which has grown rapidly due to new residential developments and conversions of old industrial buildings into residential or office lofts. Lord has already secured a new restaurant tenant, Oak + Char for the old Graham Eliot space. Chef Joseph Heppe, the former executive chef at Untitled will run the kitchen.
“While the vacancies made this transaction challenging,” said Krueger of Aries Capital, “the excellent River North location, combined with the borrowers’ proven track record of being able to quickly lease up Chicago properties, alleviated the lender’s concerns and resulted in an advantageous loan.”
“The Aries Capital team was fantastic to work with in a very difficult situation. They understood the property, our abilities, and found a lender to allow us to reach our goals. Their expertise and success rate is why we keep using Aries Capital,” said Lord.
