Spire inches closer to reality
Developer secures backup financing for 150-story project, but he needs more
Garrett Kelleher, developer of the planned 150-story Chicago Spire, has acquired some financing, said his publicist. It's a start, but don't look for cranes right away at his property, 400 N. Lake Shore Drive.
Kim Metcalfe, spokeswoman for Kelleher, said the developer has gotten backup financing in the form of bridge loans and a mezzanine loan, which is similar to a second mortgage. She said the financing would kick in if Kelleher can secure about $170 million to restart the project, potentially the tallest building in North America. Metcalfe declined to provide any details of the financing.
Kelleher has been busy soliciting union pension funds as primary investors with the promise of putting their members to work. The investment, secured by title to the property, could come from the Union Labor Life Insurance Co. and two trusts of the AFL-CIO. I've heard these groups are skeptical, but Metcalfe and sources close to Kelleher insist they are in the final stages of a long review of the deal.
Working in Kelleher's favor, Metcalfe said, is the $194 million he has personally put into the project. Kelleher's Shelbourne Development Ltd. has reported about 30 percent of the building's 1,200 units have been sold, although it's getting little action lately. Metcalfe said the sales center is open by appointment only.
IT'S ALL GREEN: The city of Chicago is riding to the rescue of the proposed Green Exchange, an incubator for businesses connected to eco-friendliness, at 2545 W. Diversey. The property is the old Cooper Lamp Co., which closed in 2005 and is now in the hands of an affiliate of Baum Development LLC.
Mayor Daley's Community Development Commission approved a $10 million subsidy from tax-increment financing. The note is supposed to help the developer get a federal loan that, with the city's help, would make up for the loss of private financing. The 276,000-square-foot building is about a third leased.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: With each new week, things get murkier with the proposed film studio on the West Side site of the Ryerson Inc. headquarters. At first, Nick Mirkopoulos, chairman of Cinespace Studios in Toronto, said he had a contract to buy the 48 acres at 16th and Rockwell. Then he said he would just be the manager and that the buyer would be a new company, Chicago Film Studios, that includes property investor Alex Pissios. Now Pissios has e-mailed to say he is not an owner of Chicago Film Studios but that he, too, would manage the studio with Mirkopoulos, who Pissios said is his uncle.
He also said a relative, Nick Pissios, owns Chicago Film Studios. But Ryerson has yet to acknowledge it has an agreement with anybody to sell its property. And Mirkopoulos said he isn't sure about loans to back the project.
ACCOLADE LADLE: Congratulations to the firm of (takeabreath) NagleHartrayDankerKaganMcKayPenney Architects Ltd. on winning the 2009 firm of the year award bestowed by the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Known for sanity's sake as Nagle Hartray, its local work includes Harpo Studios, the Evanston and Oak Park public libraries and the Latin School of Chicago. Also, AIA Chicago honored Brian Vitale, 38, as the year's top young architect. Vitale is design director at Gensler and handled the six-story Barneys New York store at 15 E. Oak.
DOING THE DEALS: Transwestern represented Adler School of Professional Psychology in its 15-year lease of 100,000 square feet at 1 N. Dearborn. The school will double its space from its current home at 65 E. Wacker Pl. . . . Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. negotiated a revised lease of 25,000 square feet for Dearborn Capital Corp. at 6250 N. River Rd., Rosemont, which gives the firm the site's top floor. . . . Component Management Group LLC bought a 20,000-square-foot building at 1315 Paramount Pkwy., Batavia, for $1.1 million.