Chicago-based Structured Development today announced it has purchased a 40,000-square-foot loft office building at 855 W. Blackhawk St. in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The property is adjacent to a property at 1450 N. Dayton St. – formerly home to Big Deahl Productions – that Structured Development acquired in 2015. Comprising 2.5 acres, the sites will be redeveloped as The Shops at Big Deahl, a 200,000-square-foot mixed-use complex.
The transaction continues to reinforce the value of real estate in this enclave of Lincoln Park. The area – from Division Street to North Avenue and Larabee Street to Elston Avenue – has seen unprecedented demand for new commercial and residential options in recent years; over 2 million square feet of commercial space and 1,000 new residential units have come online since 2012, according to Structured research.
“The Big Deahl site represents one of the few remaining large sites just east of the North Branch Industrial Corridor,” said J. Michael Drew, founder of Structured Development. “We recognized the incredible potential of this site over a decade ago when we started NEWCITY, just one block to the east. Not long after NEWCITY was underway, we began laying the groundwork for The Shops at Big Deahl with our purchase of the building at 1450 N. Dayton. At the time, it was an investment driven by the shifting demographics of the area as well as the anticipated modernization of the North Branch Industrial Corridor.”
The acquisition of 855 W. Blackhawk raises the profile of The Shops at Big Deahl by incorporating the remainder of the block Between Dayton and Kingsbury streets and adding retail frontage along Blackhawk Street. Upon completion, the project will also improve parking functionality and architectural continuity with an open-air parking structure and rotated cube design.
Structured Development is in advanced negotiations with key anchor tenants and has begun demolition of the building at 1450 N. Dayton. Construction of The Shops at Big Deahl is scheduled to begin in early 2018.
Including NEWCITY, which was completed in 2015, Drew has developed over 1 million square feet of real estate in the Clybourn Corridor. Earlier this year, a partnership managed by Drew completed the sale of a 100,000-square-foot building at 1333 N. Kingsbury – about two blocks south of the Big Deahl site – following a conversion of the property to loft offices. Structured also developed Blackhawk on Halsted, a 224,000-square-foot mixed-use project at 1460 N. Halsted St. – a block east of Big Deahl – that was sold to a German investment fund in 2016.
For more information, visit www.strdev.com.
About Structured Development:
Structured Development is a Chicago-based real estate development company formed in January 2002 to pursue unique real estate development opportunities. The company thrives on engaging in complex real estate transactions encompassing a range of property types, including retail, residential, mixed-use and industrial. Whether working with partners or independently, Structured Development strives to unlock and enhance the unseen value of real estate, simultaneously enriching urban and suburban landscapes through sustainable and innovative development practices. For more information, visit www.strdev.com.
The Shops at Big Deahl will bring 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space to Chicago’s Clybourn Corridor. (Rendering courtesy of CallisonRTKL)