CHICAGO-Locally based KTC Properties has reportedly paid about $60 million at auction to acquire about $101 million in outstanding loans on the 484,000-square-foot office tower at 225 W. Washington St. The company now owns the deed to the West Loop building, and minority partner Golub & Co. will continue to manage the 28-story tower.

A joint venture of Golub and Dublin, Ireland-based Quinlan Private Capital Ltd. purchased the building in 2005, when it was valued at $86 million. However, Anglo Irish Bank Corp. foreclosed on the loans and sold them at the auction, represented by Stephen Livaditis with Eastdil Secured. Avestus Capital Partners, also based in Ireland, took over Quinlan’s business.

The buyer is a secretive company, and doesn’t disclose its current real estate holdings, says KTC vice president Nick Thomson. The Chicago-based firm is a subsidiary of Kinship Trust Co., which represents the holdings of the family of the late Chicago drug maker Gideon D. Searle.

“This was a very complex transaction, and it is a fantastic trophy property,” Thomson tells GlobeSt.com, adding that more than 10 parties had bid for the loans. “It was a good opportunity for us to add this property at the bottom of the real estate cycle, we feel pretty good about it. We see this as a great time to be adding properties, and plan to make more acquisitions in the next 24 to 36 months.”

Part of the complex portions of the deal was that the US headquarters of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, an insurance firm with a parent in Munich, Germany, could have canceled its plans to double its space in the building if a sale was completed. However, Thomson says KTC was able to continue the contract to expand Allianz to 73,242 square feet at the building. With the renewal, the 23-year-old property is 85% leased.

Chris Wood, SVP and managing director of UGL Equis, was part of the team that represented Allianz in its renewal. He tells GlobeSt.com that KTC made the firm feel safe to stay at the property. “We wanted to feel that there would be stable ownership in place,” he says.

As part of its new long-term lease deal for floors 18 through 21, Allianz gained naming rights to the building. KTC has also reportedly agreed to pay about $9 million in improvements for Allianz and other tenants, including DeVry University.

Wood says his client consolidated space held throughout the Chicago area into the new Allianz building, an action that is consistent with large companies in today’s economy. “Every firm out there is trying to find efficiencies with space,” he says.