Fifield Co CEO Steve Fifield is completing K2, the fifth building in the $750M K Station. At 4% vacant, the complex has transformed an abandoned industrial area into a hot new neighborhood. But Fifield’s train isn’t lingering at K Station for long; next stop is a super luxury residential high-rise in the Gold Coast. | |||
| Steve and his partner Randy Fifield recently topped out at K2, which will deliver the last of the 2145 luxury rental apartments at K Station. It’s easy to forget that when the company began the project in ’05, the 6.5-acre site was a scruffy, abandoned rail yard. It's now a vibrant live/work/play community that’s walking distance to downtown offices and River North clubs. Fifield and Prudential Real Estate Investors delivered the Left Bank, the first 452-unit, 36-story tower, in ’06. Steve kept building residential high-rises and a park with Pacific Life Insurance, and others developed a 50k SF Jewel Osco there. A well-kept secret, Steve says, is that it’s easier to develop raw industrial land than in a marginal residential neighborhood. | |||
| The $175M K2, which Fifield is co-developing with Wood Partners and CBRE Global, is slated for April occupancy. It has plank flooring rather than carpet, Grohe fixtures, and nine-foot ceilings. (They should recruit some basketball players. Or at least some kids standing on each others shoulders inside a trench coat.) Many apartments will feature unencumbered views of the river and the city. The rent for a two-bedroom will go up to $2.95/SF from $2.25/SF when the Left Bank opened in '06. It's been reported that Crescent Heights paid Fifield $102M for the 350-unit Echelon, which was developed for $75M. | |||
| Fifield’s principal in charge of development, Alan Schachtman, is spearheading the next charge, which the company hopes will be a super luxury rental towerin the Gold Coast at Clark and Division. The team is in the early stage of developing the first new rental product in the neighborhood in 20 years, Alan says. They’re now setting up neighborhood meetings after months of discussions with the alderman. |
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