Crescent Heights, one of the South Loop's biggest multifamily players, is looking for a buyer for one of its earliest acquisitions in the market. The Miami-based firm retained HFF to sell The Lex, a 332-unit apartment tower near McCormick Place.
The 35-story tower was completed in 2009 as a condo project before a venture of Starwood Capital and TPG Capital bought it a year later and turned the property into rentals. Crescent Heights paid $96M for the property in 2013. The firm is seeking roughly $120M, which may be tough in a softening downtown multifamily market dealing with flat rent growth and a packed construction pipeline. Some owners who can't find buyers for their buildings are choosing to refinance them instead.
Crescent Heights is hoping The Lex's location near the newly christened McCormick Square, the Marriott Marquis Hotel and Wintrust Arena will attract investors at near its ask.
Crescent Heights spent 2016 and 2017 on a buying spree of downtown apartment buildings, and is building one of the tallest apartment towers in the city with One Grant Park.
