Mormon Church buys 40-story South Loop apartment tower

The Mormon Church bought a 40-story apartment tower in the South Loop, its first foray into Chicago’s multifamily market.

Chicago-based Golub & Company and Los Angeles-based CIM Group sold the 40-story, 397-unit high-rise at 1001 South State Street to an investment arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to Crain’s.

The firms did not reveal a sale price for the two-year-old high-rise, but the Golub/CIM venture refinanced the building in December with a $148.8 million loan from an affiliate of Salt Lake City-based Property Reserve that sources said was actually part of a deal to transfer ownership of the property to the Mormon Church.

None of the firms responded to requests for comment.

Golub and CIM are behind the redevelopment the former Tribune Tower complex, which includes plans for what would become the city’s second-tallest building. Last month they landed $58 million in financing for an Old Town condo project.

Rents at recently-built downtown apartments in the first quarter of this year rose 2.3 percent year over year for an all-time high of $3.08 per square foot, even after developers in 2017 completed more than 4,300 apartments downtown, the most in a year, according to a report from consulting firm Integra Realty Resources.

But a second-quarter report from Marcus & Millichap showed apartment vacancy rates inching up, in part because of all the new inventory being delivered.[]

Property Reserve owns 31 assets around the world with a value of $912 million, but none in Chicago, according to Crain’s. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien