Younan Agrees to Buy 180 N. LaSalle for $124M

The sale is supposed to be complete by mid-October, and if it doesn't go through, Younan has agreed to pay the trust a non-refundable deposit of $5 million. Prime Group officials said in a statement that after closing adjustments, costs and necessary payments to defease the existing first mortgage loan on the property, the seller will receive net proceeds of about $53.7 million. Jeffrey Patterson, president and CEO of the Lightstone Group-owned trust, could not be reached for comment.

Zaya Younan, chairman and CEO of the self-named firm, tells GlobeSt.com that the time is ripe to buy more into Chicago. He says he was able to get the property at a 7% cap rate and 75% financing. "I think there's a lack of liquidity and buyers in that market," he says. "I'm bullish on occupancy increasing."

At his building next door, occupancy has shot up to 96% occupancy. Younan sold his only other Downtown property, 211 E. Ontario, to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for $35.7 million last month, for an almost $12 million profit since buying it in May 2006, he says. "There's been significant absorption in this market in the past 12 months," he says. His company owns about three million sf in the Chicago area, "and we're looking to increase that," Younan says.

He says the credit crunch has created many opportunities for his firm, which he says has tremendous equity and liquidity and a track record that makes finance firms feel comfortable. "With the drop in the credit markets, we don't see the competition we used to see, and we're able to execute deals on favorable terms. That's why in the third and fourth quarter, we plan to close more than $600 million in acquisitions," Younan tells GlobeSt.com.

The annual rent averages $16 per sf. The building was built in 1972 and renovated in 1999. Current tenants include Accenture, Career Builder; Schwartz Cooper Chartered, Lanier Worldwide Inc. and Chicago Equity Partners.