Chicago & Midwest + Downtown + Office | July 20, 2022

GK Real Estate has hired CBRE to market an office property in the Chicago Loop, with an eye toward converting it to residential use

Loop Office Owner Markets Property for Possible Resi Conversion

Barrington, IL-based GK Real Estate has hired the Chicago office of CBRE to sell its 22-story office building at 123 W. Madison St. In Chicago’s Loop, reported Crain’s Chicago Business. The developer is joining the ranks of downtown office landlords testing the market for turning their properties into apartments as demand soars for urban housing and dwindles for workspace.

No asking price is listed for the 80,877-square-foot building along the south side of Madison between LaSalle and Clark streets. Property records show that a GK venture paid just more than $10 million in 2015, Crain’s reported.

Although the marketing materials frame the property as a residential conversion opportunity, CBRE also plays up the possibility that a buyer could maintain the building’s office use and add value through capital improvements. The hypothesis that older Loop office properties are in demand for conversion has yet to be proven, according to Crain’s.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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