Developer John Buck’s deal could tie-in to Hard Rock hotel

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Updated: December 2, 2011 2:11PM

Developer John Buck, best known in Chicago lately for building office towers along Wacker Drive, is turning his focus to the East Loop.

His firm, the John Buck Co., has acquired a stake in a six-story building at 200 N. Michigan, the northwest corner of Michigan and Lake. Property records report that a Buck-affiliated fund paid $7.5 million to enter a partnership with the site’s owner, Becker Ventures LLC of Grosse Pointe, Mich.

The building holds 137,000 square feet, said Lori Healey, Buck’s director of development, calling it a “well-performing asset.” It’s home to a Chase bank, a Starbucks and a Fred Astaire dance studio.

But it’s not the kind of asset the Buck firm specializes in. It’s partial to 50-story glass towers. Healey said no definitive plans for the property have been set and she noted her company has a “longstanding relationship” with the Becker firm.

And that raises an interesting possibility for 200 N. Michigan, a property that has Millennium Park within view. The Becker firm, led by industrialist Charles Becker, also owns the adjoining Hard Rock Hotel Chicago at 230 N. Michigan.

The 200 N. Michigan building, or something that goes up in its place, could become an add-on for the hotel, perhaps for ballroom space. Healey would not comment on that possibility.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said the Buck firm has apprised him that it is eyeing a mixed-use high-rise on the site, but that nothing more specific was discussed.

If a development goes forward, it would be Buck’s first push on Michigan Avenue since his North Bridge hotel and retail project of the 1990s, where he had long fights with preservationists. He wouldn’t face that at 200 N. Michigan, which is just beyond the boulevard’s historic district.

SO LONG TO SROs: The Park Ridge-based investment firm BJB Partners has acquired two single-room occupancy hotels in Lakeview and is clearing them out for renovation and conversion to market-rate apartments. One of the SROs, Sheffield House Hotel at 3834 N. Sheffield, is under a court order to be vacated by Saturday, said Bennett Lawson, aide to Ald. Tom Tunney, whose 44th Ward includes Lakeview.

Property records show that BJB went on a buying binge in August, spending $3.7 million for Sheffield House and $7.4 million for the Belair Hotel at 424 W. Diversey. BJB principal James Purcell could not be reached for comment, but Lawson said Sheffield House is getting a gut rehab, and the Belair work that’s a little less extensive.

The alderman is working to place some residents in public housing or in Section 8 units that BJB owns elsewhere.

The Lakeview SROs, like many of their kind, were buggy and shabby, so the neighbors will be glad to see them go. Advocates for low-income housing don’t like old-style SROs either, but they are worried about where people who need the shelter can get it.

The loss of the SROs adds urgency to the fate of the Lawson House YMCA. As I reported Sept. 2, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago has put it up for sale, although it insists it will sell only to someone who will keep operating it as SRO housing with support services and high standards. The Y said Lawson House is the largest SRO building in the Midwest.

YOU PICK IT: World Business Chicago has started offering a tool on its website to help companies find a place to do business here. Called Site Selector, it draws in data from City Hall and Rofo.com, a listing service for commercial property, to show potential development sites in the city. Searchers can look for locations that offer incentives, and can find those in proximity to universities, transit stations and the like.

Check it out at WorldBusinessChicagop.com/site-selector.

ON THE MOVE: Property tax expert Myer Blank has joined True Partners Consulting LLC as senior manager. He had been executive director of the Chicago Tax Assistance Center, the City Hall agency that helps people understand their property taxes. The office faces the axe under Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

DOING THE DEALS: Catching up here on some notable news that accumulated the last two weeks while I took a break. … Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP represented the seller, a New York-based investor group, in the $390 million sale of 600 W. Chicago to CommonWealth REIT. … Saddle Creek Corp. leased 415,000 square feet at CenterPoint Properties’ intermodal center in Elwood. … The marketing firm Maritz Holding Inc., represented by Paine/Wetzel Oncor International, leased 17,000 square feet at 8600 W. Bryn Mawr in a move from Oakbrook Terrace. … Lululemon Athletica leased 4,000 square feet for a store at 3550 N. Southport. … Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of a 34-unit apartment building at 285 N. Richmond, Clarendon Hills, for $2.1 million. … Thermos LLC is moving its headquarters from Rolling Meadows to 475 N. Martingale Road in Schaumburg, where it leased 21,000 square feet with the help of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. represented the building’s owners.