Farpoint, Golub Selling Huge Bronzeville Apartment Complex

A massive Bronzeville apartment has hit the market for the second time in its 60 year history, and it could sell for a price that rivals the biggest multifamily deals in Chicago this year.

A venture led by Scott Goodman’s Farpoint Development and Golub & Co, both Chicago-based firms, has hired JLL brokers Kevin Girard, Mark Stern and Zachary Kaufman to market the 1,675-unit Prairie Shores complex at 2937 South King Drive, CoStar reported.

An official asking price has not yet been revealed, but bids could hover around $200 million, the outlet reported, citing a person familiar with the property. If it traded near that amount, it would mark the second priciest multifamily deal in Chicago this year, only behind the $232 million sale of the 492-unit, 45-story apartment complex at 727 West Madison Street, which occurred earlier this month.

It’s not certain that even a $200 million sale would bring a profit to the Farpoint and Golub venture. The investment group bought the Prairie Shores property for nearly $177 million in 2019, and, along with equity partner Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, spent another $40 million on renovations.

Next door to the property on the shore of Lake Michigan, Farpoint is leading the effort to redevelop the former Michael Reese hospital site into a multi-billion dollar mixed-use campus featuring multifamily housing, retail and commercial office and lab space. It held a groundbreaking for the project earlier this year.

The Prairie Shores complex spans 20 acres and comprises five 19-story buildings. Rents range from roughly $1,000 to $6,400 per month.

JLL is marketing the property as a value-add opportunity, giving investors a chance to renovate about 75 percent of the units and raise rents. The current owners have upgraded one quarter of the units, which led to rent increases of $250 per unit, or 20 percent, the outlet reported. The property also has an additional five acres that’s suited for future development.

Elsewhere in Bronzeville, Antheus Capital paid $161 million for the 1,869-unit Lake Meadows apartments in June. That sale price was nipping at the heels of a Streeterville complex that traded for $173 million around the same time.

— Quinn Donoghue