DWS, Reva Ditch Deerfield Project

A Deutsche Bank affiliate and Reva Development Partners are parting ways with an approved but still unbuilt multifamily development site in north suburban Deerfield.

DWS Group, led by CEO Stefan Hoops, and Reva have hired CBRE to sell a 10.7 acre parcel next to the 450,000-square-foot Deerbrook Shopping Center at Waukegan and Lake Cook roads, four years after acquiring the site with plans to build a 246-unit apartment, Crain’s reported.

While the reasons for the sale aren’t clear, rising interest rates and fears of an economic downturn have made financing multifamily projects difficult for developers.

The Reva-DWS venture also owns the adjacent shopping center, located next to Interstate 94 and near the Metra station. The property is zoned for 186 apartments and 60 rental townhomes.

The Deerfield Village Board approved the development in 2019, which REVA principal Matt Nix referred to as a transit-oriented community designed for residents who want to walk and live near shops, restaurants and public transportation.

Owners of other big retail assets such as malls, including some in the Chicago area that were struggling to stay competitive with the rise of e-commerce, have embraced developing apartments on or near shopping properties. Such projects inject a new customer base right into the reach of the retail assets, while also diversifying the revenue streams of the property owners. Area malls where such multifamily additions are underway include Westfield Old Orchard in Skokie, Yorktown Center in Lombard and Golf Mill in Niles.

Deerfield has been home to multiple recent attempts to sell commercial properties with significant development potential. In February, Walgreens Boots Alliance put two-thirds of its 40-acre campus up for sale, and Bridge Industrial is exploring paying around $100 million for the 10-building, 646,000-square-foot Baxter International campus, which Bridge aims to to redevelop as a logistics park.

— Quinn Donoghue