PILSEN / CHICAGO / COMPLETED SALE / 2019
Lacuna Lofts: a $25M investment sale
An established creative office asset with multiple uses and a community of businesses required a sale strategy that understood the whole property.
- Transaction
- $25M · completed 2019
- Property
- Approx. 220,000 SF · Pilsen
- John’s role
- Seller representation & buyer sourcing
The value was in the whole property.
According to John’s account of the engagement, established commercial real estate industry leaders throughout Chicago’s Central Business District (CBD) placed the asset’s value around $17 million. John brought experience from outside that conventional perspective and a precise, asset-level analysis of the property’s individual revenue streams. His calculations demonstrated a higher supported value across office income, event operations, coworking, parking, and additional land. The buyer verified that analysis and relied on it in making the acquisition decision.
LACUNA / RECOGNIZING THE WHOLE ASSET
$8M above the industry opinion · approximately 47.1%
*The approximately $17M expert opinion of established CBD commercial real estate industry leaders, John’s asset-level revenue analysis, and the buyer’s verification and decision basis are presented from John’s account of the engagement. Published coverage supports the $25M sale price. Percentage calculated as ($25M − $17M) ÷ $17M; it is a sale-price comparison, not an investment return.
Understand every component.
Connect recurring income, event operations, occupancy, land, and parking with the buyer’s investment model.
Find the right counterparties.
Identify buyers able to understand the asset’s mix of uses and move through its diligence requirements.
Protect what the owner values.
The seller’s community and business ecosystem mattered alongside price. Buyer fit was part of the strategy.
The challenge
Position a roughly 220,000-square-foot property whose appeal extended beyond conventional office occupancy. Creative workspaces, events, coworking activity, and additional land each mattered to how buyers assessed the opportunity.
John’s role
Represented the seller, sourced buyers, and moved the transaction through negotiation and diligence. The seller’s priorities included finding ownership suited to the property’s existing community and business ecosystem.
The result
The property sold for $25 million in 2019 to a venture of Ameritus and JBG Property Holdings. Published transaction coverage identifies John as the broker who arranged the sale.
What this experience brings to your decision
A property with several uses requires a buyer strategy grounded in both income and operations. Paladin connects those considerations with the owner’s objectives and the work required to close.
Facing a similar decision?
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