Developer Looks To Old North Pier Terminal Apt Conversion

The former North Terminal Pier, now River East Center, at 401-465 E Illinois Street isn't making it as an office/retail building. And so, the new investment group owner with William O'Kane at the helm is planning a loft apartment conversion for the nearly 550,000-square-foot. O'Kane and co paid $48M for the 1905 structure, after the bank-assessed value had plummeted to $21M following a 2011 foreclosure. Given the property has underperformed in the commercial sector since the 1980s, the residential option is clearly what the new owner shelled out for. No word on the redevelopment's impact on upscale grocer Fox & Obel, the building's current anchor tenant. A number of big high-rise rentals are under construction in Streeterville (see here, here, and here), but the loft aspect of this plan—a rarity in the neighborhood—should help shelter the development from competition. O'Kane and the seller bother declined to speak to Crain's. We'll keep an eye out for more reports and renderings.
·Apartments Planned at Streeterville's Former North Pier Terminal [Crain's]