Nuveen Snaps Up Chicago Shopping Center for $100M
The suburban asset fetched a much higher price than in its previous sale.
Nuveen Real Estate has purchased a 548,000-square-foot shopping center in Algonquin, Ill., from Red Mountain Group Inc. The suburban Chicago asset, called Algonquin Commons, traded for $100 million, according to Yardi Research Data.
The price reflects a significant increase over what Red Mountain Group paid when it purchased the site in 2021, which Yardi Research Data shows was $33 million. Since then, the firm has implemented several initiatives to revitalize the asset.
Occupancy, for example, has grown from 60 percent to more than 90 percent, with the firm adding new anchor tenants. Other changes included moving several shops around the property for better cross-shopping and adding more dining and beauty options.
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Newmark Vice Chairman Bill Bauman represented Red Mountain Group in the sale.
According to Shaw Local, Algonquin Commons underwent foreclosure in 2013 and was subsequently owned by U.S. Bank, who then sold it to Red Mountain Group.
The shopping center is anchored by grocery stores Trader Joe’s and The Fresh Market, along with other notable tenants such as Nordstrom Rack, Bob’s Furniture, Ulta Beauty and Barnes & Noble. Dining tenants include Bonefish Grill, On the Border and Tap House Grill.
Algonquin Commons is located at 1900 S. Randall Road, within 50 miles of downtown Chicago and about 6 miles from Interstate 90.
Chicago retail market holds steady
With little development occurring in the Chicago retail market, the area’s fundamentals are expected to remain solid throughout the rest of the year, according to a report from JLL. Less than 800,000 square feet were under construction at the beginning of the year, with retail development being down 76.9 percent from levels seen from 2015 to 2019.
While the area’s net absorption rate hit a negative 420,000 square feet in the fourth quarter of 2024, the retail vacancy rate only rose by 10 basis points to 4.7 percent in the first quarter of 2025, still much lower than the 6.2 percent recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several shopping centers in Chicago’s suburbs traded last year, including Rice Lake Square in Weaton, Ill., which Core Acquisitions purchased from Grosvenor in June 2024 for $34.2 million. The same month, DRA Advisors sold a 108,412-square-foot asset called Iroquois Center to DRA Advisors for $9.9 million. That shopping center is in Naperville, Ill.
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