Posted 15 months ago in Trending
1 MIN READ – Oregon based real estate investor, Menashe Properties, recently purchased a 29-story office building in the Loop marking the first sale of a major downtown office building in a little over a year, and a notable bet on the central business district’s future.
Danny Ecker analyzes the Loop office acquisition in the following excerpt from Crain’s Chicago Business:
“…Other landlords may see a silver lining from the 230 W. Monroe deal in that it ends a lengthy period of stagnation for big office property sales. Menashe's deal is the first such purchase since July of last year, when the James R. Thompson Center and the office building at 115 S. LaSalle St. were both sold as part of a larger deal that stands to eventually bring Google to the Loop. The last sale of a conventional multitenant office tower downtown dates back to earlier in 2022.
Despite the headwinds for offices overall, Menashe was drawn to its first Chicago real estate purchase by the building's in-place cash flow, as well as the chance to aggressively compete for tenants after buying at such a low price.
‘We're open for business,’ said Jordan Menashe, whose namesake real estate firm owns more than 5 million square feet of commercial properties nationwide. At a time when many buildings are in distress or owned by landlords that are not putting new money into them, ‘we are going to benefit from being a first mover…Anybody that can make decisions and take care of tenants and customers is in a pretty good position right now.’
Menashe said he plans to invest in the building's lobby, build out move-in-ready offices and ‘bring a younger vibe to it.’ He said he doesn't buy into the negative national narrative around downtown Chicago that has kept many institutional investors away over the past few years.
‘I went to Chicago because I was interested to see how bad it was, and I was surprised (it was not),’ he said. ‘I didn't see crime. I saw hustle and bustle and people walking around the streets. It's packed.’”
