1-Apr-15 – The 193-unit residence proposed for West Hubbard Street and North Wells Street will be rental property. It was about the only thing to which anyone objected at a presentation Tuesday by Centrum Partners LLC. The developer wants to build an eight-story office building and 22-story residence in the southwest corner of Hubbard & Wells. The project would be next door to the building in which Centrum’s office is located.

About 100 people, including representatives of nearby condominium associations, attended the presentation. Many condo owners believe rental property attracts a relatively transient crowd but John McLinden, one of three founders of Centrum Partners, says rental properties are more attractive to investors.

“You’ll notice that all the projects being built today, with two exceptions, are apartment projects, not just in this neighborhood but throughout the city, and the reason is really economics,” said McLinden (left). “A lot of banks got burned with doing condo projects and they don’t want to finance a condo but they’re much more apt and willing to finance an apartment project.”

Institutional investors, says McLinden, prefer apartment projects and on a per-unit basis, rental properties have more value.

“The only way to get a project like this financed and built is as an apartment.”

That could change, he says, and he predicts that within ten years, the residence at Hubbard & Wells will be a condominium. (Right) About 100 people attend a presentation Tuesday on a mixed-use complex proposed for Hubbard & Wells in River North.

River North Residents Association and 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, whose office is working with Centrum Partners to get the project approved for construction, hosted the presentation.

“I think most people would agree we can do better than the existing condition that’s there today,” said Reilly, “which is a couple of beat-up surface parking lots and an unsightly L track structure and frankly not a very well-lit corner.”

(Above) Imagined by architects at Hirsch Associates LLC, the view under the L tracks from the southeast.

Centrum Partners has a contract to purchase from Chicago Transit Authority land below the S-shaped tracks. What it can’t buy from CTA, Centrum will pay to improve. The company says it will contribute $1,166,000 to CTA to help it make improvements.

Each building would have commercial space on its ground floor. Centrum officials say they would try to find “great restaurants” for each building, preferably a full-service restaurant and a fast food place. A sculpture would be displayed prominently on the site.

275 construction jobs would be created if the proposal is approved, according to Centrum, followed by as many as 130 jobs at the two restaurants.