CHICAGO—Sterling Bay Companies began buying up properties in the Fulton Market area several years ago, and has made itself into a leader in the effort to transform the former industrial district into a top-flight office hub. And yesterday it took another step toward that goal by entering into a joint venture with institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Sterling Bay will contribute the Fulton Market assets it has acquired to the venture and J.P. Morgan will co-invest and co-develop the properties with Sterling Bay. As reported in GlobeSt.com, in March Sterling completed the $22 million acquisition of Fulton West, a portfolio of existing and partially completed office, retail and parking facilities.
That property includes three loft-style office buildings with about 165,000-square-feet of space. Also included is a four-story concrete superstructure at 1332 W. Fulton that information technology company Whittman-Hart began developing during the 1990s Internet boom. It was meant to help transform the neighborhood into a high-tech center, but the bursting of the dot.com bubble left it empty and unused.
The empty superstructure on Fulton could eventually have about 270,000-square-feet of office space and a 750-space parking facility. Sterling officials said they would not go spec on the project, but did see it possibly as a build-to-suit corporate headquarters.
“Partnering with an investor of J.P. Morgan's caliber provides Sterling Bay with increased credibility and capacity in the marketplace as we continue to build the company in a purposeful manner,” said Sterling Bay principal John Gavin. “We have been seeking a strategic partner for several years and have known J.P. Morgan to be a formidable firm with a heritage of disciplined real estate investing.”
Sterling Bay is best known for purchasing the Fulton Market Cold Storage building at 1000 W. Fulton in 2012, converting the 550,000-square-foot structure into modern office space and then signing Google, Inc. as its anchor tenant.
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