A German investment firm is looking to cash out of one of Chicago’s most exclusive retail properties.
Hamburg-based Union Investment Real Estate put its fully leased luxury retail building at 57-65 East Oak Street on the market, according to marketing materials from Newmark. The 28,800-square-foot property is home to Chanel, Moncler, Van Cleef & Arpels and Le Colonial, and represents one of the premier trophy assets on the city’s Gold Coast shopping corridor, Crain’s reported.
Union paid $120 million for the property in 2021 — the highest price for a Chicago retail building since 2016 — marking one of the most expensive single-asset retail deals of the past decade. The company declined to comment on why it’s selling or what it expects to fetch, but the move could be an early test of investor appetite for high-end retail after two years of muted transaction activity driven by higher interest rates and economic uncertainty.
The offering is rare for Oak Street, where turnover is infrequent and tenants skew ultra-luxury. Recent trades include the roughly $17 million sale of a Bottega Veneta–leased property late last year and Razny Jewelers’ $16.4 million purchase of 107 East Oak in February.
Built in 2018, Union’s property is among the newest on the street and one of its few modern multi-tenant buildings.
“65 East Oak epitomizes best-in-class construction, elite tenancy and stands as one of the most coveted luxury retail assets in the nation,” Newmark Senior Managing Director Keely Polczynski told the outlet. She is marketing the listing.
Polczynski described Oak Street as among the top five highest-rent retail corridors across the country, often compared to Fifth Avenue in New York and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
Oak Street has bucked broader retail trends in recent years. While other downtown Chicago corridors — including the Magnificent Mile — continue to grapple with vacancies and rent stagnation, Oak Street remains near full occupancy. It’s also lured a new wave of tenants such as French handbag brand Polène and Lugano Diamonds, which both opened boutiques there in the past year.
— Eric Weilbacher
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