CRG, Shapack Move Forward on $441M Chicago Mixed-Use Project

A rendering of the project planned for 170 N. Green St. Image courtesy of CRG and Shapack Partners

CRG, the national real estate development and investment arm of Clayco, and Shapack Partners have closed on the $60 million acquisition of a former food processing facility in Chicago’s Fulton Market District, and are planning to begin construction on a $441 million mixed-use, high-rise development featuring office, residential, hospitality and retail space.

The joint venture acquired the former 156,000-square-foot plant at 170 N. Green St. from Bridgford Foods Corp. and intends to break ground on the 750,000-square-foot development in the fall. The project—which will include 250 apartments, 350,000 square feet of Class A office space, 150 hotel keys and 40,000 square feet of retail—is estimated to take about two years to complete, according to media reports.

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The site is nearly an entire Chicago city block in the most established eastern section of the Fulton Market District. The development will be surrounded by Green Street to the east, Lake Street to the north, Peoria Street to the west and Randolph Street to the south. The site is a short walk to the CTA Pink Line and Green Line station at Lake and Morgan streets. From there, residents, office tenants and visitors can connect to the Loop and the CTA Blue Line station at Grand Avenue and Halstead Street, which leads to O’Hare International Airport.

Richard Bridgford, a member of Bridgford’s team in Chicago, said in a prepared statement the company was deploying the proceeds of the sale into its new state-of-the-art facility at 44th Street in the city.

Project’s team members

CRG’s parent company is the builder on the project and its subsidiary, Lamar Johnson Collaborative, is serving as the architect. The disposition team for Bridgford Foods Corp. was led by Keely Polczynski at CBRE, who assisted throughout the transaction, which was elongated due to the pandemic. DLA Piper provided legal services to Bridgford Foods Corp. Paige O’Neil and Annie Kwasigroch of Shapack Partners are overseeing the leasing of the office and retail space.

The joint venture partners have both been active in developments in recent years in the city’s hot Fulton Market District, with Shapack focusing exclusively on projects in this district in recent years. In December 2020, the company delivered 167 Green St., one of the largest office completions in the U.S. in 2020, according to CommercialEdge. The 17-story project—developed in partnership with Focus—was backed with a $196.2 million construction loan from Odera Capital. In 2018, Shapack delivered a 70,000-square-foot Class A project at 811 Fulton.

Clayco and Lamar Johnson Collaborative served as the design and builder team for Fulton East, a 90,000-square-foot, 12-story office tower at 215 N. Peoria St. that was developed by Parkside Realty for $26 million. The building was completed in 2021 and it was the city’s first post-pandemic workplace, addressing employee health, wellness and safety.

More CRG developments

CRG and Lamar Johnson Collaborative are also working together on Wildhorse Village, a $500 million, mixed-use development planned for the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Mo. Development of a 150,000-square-foot speculative office building was slated to begin this year and be completed in 2024. Residential components are set to be developed by CRG in partnership with other real estate development firms, while commercial offerings will be developed by CRG and constructed by Clayco. Plans for the project call for approximately 800,000 square feet of commercial space, with 700,000 square feet planned as office and the remainder as retail and restaurants.

In other CRG news, this week the firm closed its U.S. Logistics Fund II at $300 million. The fund, in conjunction with co-investment vehicles that are expected to provide an additional $150 million in equity, expects to deliver about $1.5 billion of warehouse and distribution facilities in key logistics markets over the next two years.