2-tower plan surfaces for Scottish Rite block

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BY DAVID ROEDER

The winning bidders for the Scottish Rite block on the Near North Side are showing development plans to the neighbors. The scenario calls for two condo towers on the block's parking lot and preservation of the buildings that occupy the rest of it, including a former cathedral at 929 N. Dearborn.

Mike Skatulski, senior managing director at Mesirow Financial Real Estate, said the towers would be about 30 stories tall and together include 450 to 520 units. Lower floors would be set aside for commercial space and for parking that can't be seen from the street, he said.

The Mesirow division, run by veteran developer Richard Stein, has joined with Enterprise Cos. in agreeing to pay more than $50 million for the block, bounded by Walton, Delaware, State and Dearborn. The seller is the Scottish Rite, a fraternal organization.

Skatulski said the project won't be as tall or dense as others being added to the Near North Side. He hopes the somewhat reduced scale and a commitment to preserve the existing structures, all of which go back to the 19th century, will ease the way politically. The cathedral could be donated to a nonprofit group, and one prospect Skatulski identified is the Newberry Library, which is immediately west of the site.

Representatives of some community groups were briefed about the plans Tuesday night. Skatulski said Chicago's Pappageorge/Haymes Ltd. will provide the architecture.

PITTSFIELD PLAN: Add the landmark Pittsfield Building, 55 E. Washington, to the list of downtown office edifices whose owners are considering new uses. Sources said the building, popular with doctors and dentists, is relocating tenants on seven or eight floors to free space in hopes of landing a hotel. Those floors could be sold while ownership keeps the rest of the building.

Built in 1927, the Pittsfield has undergone recent renovations to its lobby and elevators. It was running about a 25 percent vacancy rate before the hotel idea came along. But one wonders how many boutique hotels downtown can stand. The building owner, Miami Beach-based investor Robert Danial, could not be reached.

LEGAL LEASE: The law firm Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum Perlman & Nagelberg LLP has leased the top six floors at 200 W. Madison, taking 97,000 square feet in the building owned by Tishman Speyer Properties and Transwestern Investment Co. The firm signed a 15-year lease and is moving from 333 W. Wacker.

LINCOLN LODGE: Spiffier rooms and higher prices are in the offing for the old Days Inn of Lincoln Park, 1816 N. Clark. WexTrust Capital bought it last January for $15.5 million and plans a renovation to take it upscale. The first part of the project is ditching the Days Inn tie. It is being renamed, inaccurately, the Gold Coast Hotel and management has been turned over to Portfolio Hotels and Resorts. WexTrust is looking for a prestigious restaurant to take the ground-floor space.

LOCATION, LOCATION: Duke Realty Corp. is starting construction on an 88,000-square-foot industrial building at 11501 W. Irving Park in Chicago. It's just outside O'Hare Airport's south cargo entrance, and Duke believes it won't be long before its first building inside city limits will have tenants.

"With more than 1 million square feet of industrial product being condemned in the O'Hare Modernization Program, demand for first-generation space near the airport is increasing," said Andy James, senior vice president at Duke. Completion is due in the spring. Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc. is the leasing agent.

EAST LOOP LIFE: The British-style pub and grub chain Elephant & Castle is taking ground-floor space in Village Green Cos.' renovated apartment building at 185 N. Wabash. It will be the chain's third Chicago location and expands the drinking and dining options for the growing residential district of the East Loop.

DOING THE DEALS: Maurice Fisher, known for his involvement with major malls in the Chicago area, heads a partnership that has purchased the old Ethan Allen Furniture building at 820 E. Roosevelt, Wheaton. The 20,000-square-foot building will be converted into a retail and office center. Champion Realty Advisors LLC brokered the sale. . . . TCB Development Co. acquired a 21-acre business park at 600 Territorial Drive, Bolingbrook, for $7.2 million. The deal includes a 97,000-square-foot building and two 7-acre sites suitable for development. The campus, formerly owned by Molex Inc., can accommodate up to 300,000 square feet. . . . CB Richard Ellis Inc. represented Kester, a supplier of electronic connectors, in its relocation from Des Plaines to 64,000 square feet at 800 W. Thorndale in Itasca, where the company signed a 10-year lease. . . . Owners of the Inn of Chicago, 162 E. Ohio, will re-light the hotel's rooftop sign July 20 as part of a party heralding a planned renovation.