Downtown Evanston Apartment Complex Pending Sale Could Set Local Benchmark: Report

EVANSTON, IL — A pending apartment deal in downtown Evanston could bring one of the suburb's biggest multifamily sales to date, according to a report from Crain's Chicago Business.

Chicago-based Draper & Kramer is under contract to buy the 268-unit Albion Evanston at 1500 Sherman Ave. from Oak Brook-based investor and developer Albion Residential for about $126 million, Crain's said.

If the sale closes at the expected price, it would be the largest apartment sale in Evanston since the E2 complex sold for $148 million in late 2024.

The pending transaction would continue a recent run of high-dollar apartment trades in the Chicago area. It also would mark another local acquisition for Draper & Kramer, a Chicago firm founded in 1893 that returned to the Chicago-area acquisition market in November 2025 with its $88.5 million purchase of a large apartment building in Oak Park.

Albion Residential completed the Sherman Avenue complex in 2020, according to its website. The apartments are about 99% leased, according to real estate information company CoStar Group.

Read more from Crain's Chicago Business: Evanston apartments under contract in what would be one of the suburbs’ largest-ever deals