A joint venture led by developer Sterling Bay has received $82.6 million in debt to recapitalize 121 W. Wacker Drive, a 41-story office building in Chicago’s Central Loop neighborhood.
Mesa West Capital provided the financing, which included a first mortgage loan originated out of its open-ended Mesa West Core Lending Fund, and mezzanine debt provided by Pearlmark Real Estate on behalf of its Pearlmark Mezzanine Realty Partners, IV, L.P.
The joint venture, which owns the 1930’s vintage Art Deco building, has recently completed an extensive renovation of the building. Improvements include a new lobby and retail level, updated building systems and new tenant amenity floor overlooking the Chicago River.
The Holabird & Roche-designed building is located at the southeast corner of Wacker Drive and Lasalle Street, and currently stands at 88 percent leased.
“We continue to build a strong relationship with Sterling Bay as they continue to successfully reimagine the significant buildings of Chicago’s past to meet the current and future needs of today’s tenants,” said Mesa West Vice President Matthew Snyder who leads the origination effort out of the Chicago office.
In February 2015, Mesa West provided Sterling Bay with a $220 million floating rate loan to refinance 1KFulton, the redevelopment of a cold storage warehouse in the Fulton Market district into a 530,000-square-foot creative office building that now serves as the new regional headquarters for Google.
The subordinate financing was arranged and structured by Matthew Cohen, principal of Capital Markets for Mesa West.
