Chicago's Burnham Center Sold for $95M

Harbor Group International announced that it had sold The Burnham Center in downtown Chicago for $94.63 million to the Shidler Group. Terms of the deal for the 579,778-square-foot office tower were not disclosed.

"When Harbor Group invests in a property, we have a business plan that... will allow us to sell the property in a four- to six-year period," said T. Richard Litton Jr., the company's president. "Our goal was to improve leasing on the larger floor plate, lower floor portion of the building. We generally succeeded in our business plan on the lower floors and felt that market conditions warranted a sale at this time."

The 22-story historic building at 111 West Washington Street was originally built in 1914 and designed by Daniel H. Burnham. Major tenants include Flashpoint, Cook County and GrubHub. Harbor Group originally purchased the property in March 2007 for $79.5 million.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

New Plans Revealed for Downtown Crossing Development in Boston

Millennium Partners unveiled new developments plants this week to build a 600 foot tower, filled with apartments and condominiums, while revitalizing the Burnham Building that once held Filene's, according to a CBS Boston report. Handel Architects designed the new plan for the property, renovating the original 1912 building, conceived by architect Daniel Burnham, and setting it against a new 55 story glass tower.

In February, New York-based Millennium reached a deal to buy into the project — the terms call for Vornado Realty Trust to remain an investor, while other investors would sell their stakes — and come up with a new development plan according to a WSJ article. "The project intends to present the simultaneous and harmonious pairing of new and old, and will consist of uses that will ensure a vital, 24/7 city-sector," Millennium said in a prepared statement.

In a statement Monday, Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston offered support for the new design. "Millennium Partners has always been a real partner of the City of Boston," he said. "They continue to do excellent work leading the way in the building of an exciting new day for the area of Downtown Crossing."

The 1.3 million square foot, $615 million development will be called Millennium Tower/Burnham Building and include 200,000 square feet of office space, 230,000 square feet of retail, 500 condo and rental units plus an underground parking garage. Millennium has held a number of pre-permitting meetings with the Boston Redevelopment Authority to review the proposal, and has already begun the required environmental impact studies for the project under Article 80, expecting to have the results of the studies ready for public review and comment within 60 days, the company said. Millennium says it hopes to start construction by the end of the year, pending approvals.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.