CEDARst Companies has secured financing for The Draper at 5050 N. Broadway, a mixed-use development project in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The recent closing allows CEDARst to complete the first of two planned phases on the development. Total project costs for Phase I are estimated at $115,450,000; CEDARst raised $41 million of project equity.
JLL Capital Markets experts secured a $13 million structured finance piece provided by Urbanite Capital as well as a $61.25 million construction loan from Bank OZK. Executive vice president Chuck Johanns and managing director Dave Hendrickson led the JLL team handling the financing on behalf of CEDARst.
“CEDARst is delivering top-quality multifamily into a highly occupied submarket at a great cost basis, and their vision and strategy really resonated with the lending community,” said Johanns.
Slated for a summer 2019 opening, the project will convert a former 400,000-square-foot office building into 342 amenity-rich residential units with more than 10,000 square feet of amenity space including a multi-level fitness center, co-working space and an activated public lobby, all to be managed by CEDARst subsidiary, FLATS. Pepper Construction is serving as the general contractor of record and Booth Hansen is the project architect.
Work is progressing on schedule as installation of the glass curtain wall has started, as has demolition in preparation for an expansive new courtyard. The concrete structural shell of an outdoor pool has been installed on the planned 7th floor rooftop terrace and steel structural work has begun for a 12th floor restaurant. Positioned along Broadway, this building is the tallest in the area, providing unobstructed city and lake views from the 12th floor addition.
“This was a rare opportunity for us to renovate a tired office building into a vibrant apartment community, with extensive amenities and ground floor retail. The building has a great deal of history within the community, we were excited to restore it,” said Will Murphy, CEDARst managing partner.
Phase II of the development will consist of up to 368 units in a 210,000-square-foot, seven-story, ground up development. CEDARst expects to break ground in 2020.
