Elite Street | By Bob Goldsborough | Former Chicago Blackhawks right winger and defenseman Dustin Byfuglien on Monday sold his five-bedroom, 4,200-square-foot stucco and stone house in Chicago’s Roscoe Village for $1.08 million. Get the full story »
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Pending home sales unexpectedly rise in February
Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly rose in February, a trade group said on Monday, pointing to a modest pick-up in home sales. Get the full story »
Census: 13% of all U.S. homes are vacant
A vacant home in Ford Heights, Ill., April 27, 2009. (David Pierini/Chicago Tribune)
The national vacancy rate crept up to just over 13 percent according to last week’s decennial census report. That’s up from 12.1 percent in 2007.
Maine had the highest proportion of empty housing stock, at 22.8 percent. Other states with gluts of empty houses included Vermont (20.5 percent), Florida (17.5 percent), Arizona (16.3 percent) and Alaska (15.9 percent). Illinois was among those states with the lowest vacancies. Get the full story »
Number of tainted foreclosures in question
A Reuters analysis raises doubts about a widely cited statement by U.S. Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh that only a “small number” of wrongful foreclosure sales have occurred despite widespread misdeeds by banks that are the leading mortgage loan servicers. Get the full story »
Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage rises to 4.81%
Fixed mortgage rates edged up this week, but even 30-year rates below 5 percent have done little to boost home sales. Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 4.81 percent from 4.76 percent the previous week. It hit a 40-year low of 4.17 percent in November. Get the full story »
Michael Jordan-branded restaurant coming to Chicago
Michael Jordan at a golf tournament last year. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/MCT)
A Michael Jordan-branded restaurant is returning to Chicago after a 12-year absence.
Michael Jordan’s Steak House will open in late summer in the second-floor dining room and ground-floor bar area of the InterContinental Chicago on North Michigan Avenue.
Chicago-based Strategic Hotels & Resorts, which owns the hotel, will own the restaurant. InterContinental will manage it, while licensing the Michael Jordan name from Jump Higher LLC, which is based in Chicago and managed by The Cornerstone Restaurant Group. Get the full story »
Block 37 sold to Bank of America
Pedestrians pass Block 37 in the Loop. (Antonio Perez/Tribune)
Block 37, the star-crossed shopping center in the Loop, was sold at a sheriff’s auction Wednesday to Bank of America for $100 million.
The sale means Bank of America will take title to the four-level mall at 108 N. State St., officially ending Chicago-based developer Joseph Freed and Associates’ ownership of the property.
In December, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Ann Brennan ordered Freed to surrender the retail center to a group of lenders led by Bank of America, bringing to a close a more-than yearlong effort to foreclose on the mall. Get the full story »
New home sales plunge to record low in February
New U.S. single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in February to hit a record low and prices were the lowest since December 2003, showing the housing market slide continues. Get the full story »
Fox & Obel may face eviction in Streeterville
Baked goods at Fox & Obel, May 12, 2008. (Candice C. Cusic/Chicago Tribune)
From Chicago Real Estate Daily | Gourmet grocery store Fox & Obel could face eviction from its Streeterville location after falling more than four months behind on rent. The receiver for the former North Pier Terminal filed a petition in Cook County Circuit Court on Jan. 26 seeking possession of the nearly 22,600-square-foot space occupied by Fox & Obel, alleging the grocer had missed rent payments totaling about $330,600. Get the full story>>
Disbarred Chicago lawyer convicted of fraud
A disbarred Chicago lawyer faces the possibility of a lengthy prison term after a jury convicted her this week in a mortgage fraud case.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago says jurors convicted Lorie Westerfield on three counts of wire fraud and acquitted her of an additional fraud count after a weeklong trial. Each count carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Westerfield remains free on bond as she awaits sentencing on Aug. 4. Get the full story »
Wirtz Beverage gets $9.7M in TIF funds for Cicero warehouse, office
Cicero town President Larry Dominick (center) talks with a staff member (left) as Cicero project manager Craig Pesek adjusts a drawing at a Cicero town meeting in January. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
By Joseph Ruzich | A beverage company planning to build a 600,000-square-foot distribution center on the former Sportsman’s Park racetrack site in Cicero will receive $9.7 million in tax increment financing funds, according to an ordinance approved by Cicero trustees at Tuesday’s town board meeting.
Cicero officials said Wirtz Beverage Illinois, one of the state’s largest beverage-alcohol distributors and part of the family-run corporation that owns the Chicago Blackhawks, will receive the funds from the town through rebating a portion of the company’s taxes. Get the full story »
Adjustable rate mortgages making a comeback
Adjustable rate mortgages are back.
After accounting for nearly 70 percent percent of all mortgages issued during the boom, ARMs vanished during the bust, totaling just 3 percent of the market in 2009. Now they make up 5 percent of all mortgages issued, and Freddie Mac predicts 10 percent by December.
Behind the comeback is a simple fact: ARMs are a great bargain right now. The most common ARM loan currently has a rate of 3.5 percent compared to 5 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Get the full story »
Carson’s parent sues Freed over missed payment
The former Carson Pirie Scott building on State Street. (Heather Charles/Chicago Tribune)
Carson Pirie Scott’s corporate parent is suing Joseph Freed and Associates, accusing the developer of breach of contract for missing a $3 million payment promised to the retailer for exiting its flagship State Street store in 2007.
McRIL LLC, an entity associated with Carson parent Bon-Ton Stores Inc., claimed in a lawsuit filed Friday in a Chicago federal court that Freed and One South State Street LLC missed the final payment of a $22 million lease termination fee that was due March 1. Get the full story »
Georgetown Company acquires 35 N. State Street
From REJournals.com | 35 North State Street, the 60,000-square-foot building on the corner of Washington Street in Chicago, has been acquired by The Georgetown Company for $23 million.
