HFF has secured $220 million in financing for 1KFulton, a 531,194-square-foot, Class A mid-rise office and retail development to be anchored by Google in Chicago’s West Loop.
Working on behalf of Sterling Bay, HFF placed the floating-rate loan with Mesa West Capital. Loan proceeds were used to retire existing debt and fund remaining project costs.
Originally constructed in 1923, 1KFulton is a 10-story office building that is being converted from the Fulton Market Cold Storage facility. The conversion was substantially completed by the end of 2014. Building amenities include an on-site fitness center, rooftop deck, on-site ZipCars, secure bike room, on-site auto detailing, on-site bicycle detailing/repair and a 156-space basement parking garage featuring electric car charging stations. Committed tenants include Google, which has leased 357,928 square feet; SRAM; Sandbox Industries and BOKA restaurant group. The building is located at 1000 West Fulton on approximately 1.737 acres and occupies an entire city block in the Fulton Market District, which is experiencing rapid growth. 1KFulton is on the north side of West Fulton bounded by West Carroll Avenue to the north, North Carpenter Street to the west and North Morgan Street to the east. The asset is one block north of the Chicago Transit Authority’s Morgan/Lake station. The HFF debt placement team representing the borrower was led by senior managing director Mike Kavanau, managing director Timothy Joyce and real estate analyst Christopher Knight.
“1KFulton is a truly transformative asset for the West Loop,” Kavanau said. “In fact, it showed up on every real estate player’s radar screen when talking about any asset within a radius of a few miles. Google’s significant commitment to the location was noted in nearly every offering memorandum and committee presentation in the past couple of years.”
“This is an exceptional physical asset, and the tenancy is second-to-none in Chicago,” Joyce added. “As a result, the loan opportunity was hotly competed, with interest from a dozen marquis lenders.”