Chicago developer Cedar Street has purchased a six-story office building in River North for $12M and plans to convert it into 114 apartments. The 60k SF building at 676 N LaSalle St will undergo renovations over the next 10 months. Plans call for a gut rehab of the existing building and expansion into the next door parking lot, ultimately increasing the building’s size to 132k SF, reports Crain’s. The building will remain six stories and is likely to have studio and one- and two-bedroom units. Existing tenants at the building are on a month-to-month lease and will move out. Soaring rents downtown have spurred a new wave of development in River North, where several low-slung structures are making way for apartment towers. Cedar Street has a portfolio of 4,500 apartments on the North Side and downtown, built mostly by converting existing structures into apartments. [Crain's]