Real estate investment firm Concord Capital plans to convert a River North loft office building into apartments, the latest in a string of proposed adaptive reuse projects in the neighborhood.
Salesforce’s former River North office and the nearby building at 116 W. Illinois St. are slated for a conversion from office to residential.
If the property gets rezoned by the City Council, the project would create 66 apartments while retaining the building’s ground floor retail.
The building at 223 W. Erie St. is one of many whose office occupancy rate slumped after the COVID-19 pandemic and never fully recovered.
“Between an office climate that’s really suffering and a multifamily [market] that needs the supply, it marries these two at a perfect time,” Drew Millard, principal of Concord Capital, said.
Chicago-based Concord Capital purchased the building for $6.8 million in May, property records show.
The firm plans to invest $11.5 million into converting the building into housing. Millard said Concord is in the process of applying for historic tax credits, though they aren’t essential to finishing the project.
The 1897 building is the former J.P. Smith Shoe Co. factory and was designed by architect John H. Wagner. An addition was made in 1899.
Wagner was known for industrial-designed buildings like the Erie Street structure, which is considered a “daylight factory” with its exposed steel framing. Its streamlined features make it look more modern than other 19th century architecture in the city, according to Concord’s historic tax credit application.
The seven-story building has 24 office suites, according to Concord. The office space was about 50% vacant when the firm purchased the building, Millard said. The remaining tenants should be out of the building by the time demolition starts in early 2026.
Designed by Kennedy Mann, the property will have 11 units on each of the building’s upper floors, with a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units, in addition to two-bedroom units with dens. The basement will be repurposed as an amenity space, with plans for a fitness center and coworking lounge.
Millard’s firm wants to brand the apartments around the building’s roots as a shoe factory.
One of Concord’s focuses is repurposing distressed office buildings. Millard said the company has a few other buildings under contract in River North.
“A lot of these [buildings] fit conversions really, really well, as opposed to the Loop buildings,” Millard said. “That’s where we’re concentrating — Streeterville, River North, Gold Coast. We love it there. There are definitely opportunities that we’re looking at right now.”
Concord was drawn to the conversion because of the building’s “good bones,” including its operable windows, building layout and masonry that’s still in good shape.
“It’s a lot of things that you don’t have to come in and spend millions of dollars reconstructing,” Millard said.
If given approval, Millard said the firm plans to start work in the first quarter of 2026. Construction would take about a year, with Concord targeting spring 2027 occupancy.