Park Evanston Apartment Tower Sold For $127 Million

EVANSTON, IL — A $127 million deal for the 24-story Park Evanston building is the priciest purchase of apartments in the Chicago suburbs so far in 2017, according to Crain's Chicago Business. New York Life Real Estate Investors bought the 283-unit building at 1630 Chicago Ave. for about $450,000 per unit, not counting the roughly 39,000-square-foot retail space on the ground floor currently leased by Peet's Coffee and Whole Foods.

Whether you count it on a per unit basis or look at the total cost of the deal, Crain's reports that the sale is the suburbs' largest this year. Investors are reportedly eager to buy older properties like the 20-year-old Park Evanston, fix them up and then raise rents.

Current rents range from nearly $1,400 for a studio to more than $4,000 for a three-bedroom. A broker for the deal said the building is 99 percent leased.

The new owners plan to spend up to $20,000 per unit – more than $5.6 million – to fix up the building, which had been one of the fanciest on the North Shore when it was first constructed, Crain's reported.

A senior director of the Park Evanston's seller told Crain's in September he expected the "desirable downtown location" would be "sought after by the current capital markets," nothing that its walkability and demand from down and Northwestern's campus "constitute a durable and proven base of tenancy."

The Park Evanston's seller was listed as TH Real Estate, which bought the building for $101 million in 2008 as TIAA-CREF, according to property records. The John Buck Company was the original owner of the building, which includes such amenities as covered parking, a rooftop pool, sundeck, a fitness center, a business center and a community room.

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Top photo: Park Evanston, 1630 Chicago Ave. | Google Street View