Joy Jordan, a former Sterling Bay leasing broker, is planning an office building in the Fulton Market District. The property is located on a half acre site at 415-417 N. Sangamon St. and has been marketed for sale since last fall.
Crain's Chicago Business states that Joy Jordan is under contract to purchase the property in the former meatpacking district and will file a zoning application with the city in the weeks ahead to develop an office building as large as 200,000 square feet.
The project would be her first since launching her own development firm last year and would add to the building frenzy in Fulton Market. Kimberly-Clark, Deere, Tock and Calamos Investments are among those that have signed new office leases in Fulton Market since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jordon will still need to get City Council approval and land financing for this project. She will also have plenty of competition for tenants from established developers, including Sterling Bay and Trammell Crow, that have drawn up other plans for new office buildings in the neighborhood.
Another 150,000 square foot office building at 1045 W. Fulton St. was recently completed by developer Fulton Street Cos. without any tenants signed, but is close to finalizing a deal with law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
Jordon has raised some equity for the project from local high-net-worth real estate investors and would develop the building on speculation, or without any tenants signed in advance, given Fulton Market's proven corporate draw.
Jordan stands out in a local development scene whose major players are mostly led by men and is one reason why she has named her firm Fortem Voluntas, a Latin phrase meaning "strong will."
"Any time you start a company, especially in a heavily male business, you have to have strong will behind it. A lot of women are just too scared and don't feel they have the support from capital (investors). It's a very male, buddy-buddy business where the capital knows the capital and women are just not part of that community."
Developer & Owner of Fortem Voluntas | Joy Jordan
Jordan has partnered with Chicago real estate veteran Howard Blair as a development consultant to oversee construction aspects of the project. Blair, who has had a hand in construction of some of the most prominent new office buildings in the city over the past three decades, recently left Sterling Bay after almost four years with the firm.
According to Showcase, the site is located just blocks away from Google's regional headquarters at 1K Fulton and in the midst of a huge influx of new retail, office and residential developments.
Crain's Chicago Business reports that Jordon stated that she expects the entire project would cost around $100 million, including the cost of land acquisition.
LOOKING FOR MORE OFFICE PROJECTS IN THE CHICAGO AREA?
The property at the northeast corner of Sangamon and Kinzie streets today includes a 43,378 square foot building and an adjacent vacant lot, which is all owned by a venture led by investor Grey Bernis-Kelley, according to Cook County property records. The ownership venture hired the Chicago office of Cushman & Wakefield last fall to market the property for sale. The listing did not include an asking price, but a source familiar with the offering expected bids would come in north of $11 million, or more than $500 per square foot, based on prices paid for nearby development sites.
The site that Jordan is betting on is immediately north of a long-vacant railroad terminal building that is being redeveloped into a Guinness brewery. Fulton Market developer Shapack Partners owns the property immediately east of Jordan's potential development site, while New York-based Vita Property Group last year bought the Morgan Manufacturing property to the west and other development sites nearby.
Jordan had helped market Willis Tower to new office users as private-equity giant Blackstone Group began its massive renovation of the skyscraper, brokering a big new lease at the building with financial services firm Morgan Stanley. Jordan also helped Telos win a leasing assignment for the redeveloped upper floors of the Marshall Field building before departing for Sterling Bay.
