Ashkenazy Acquires Chicago Retail Asset

The property is 93.4 percent occupied.

Gateway Center Plaza

Gateway Center Plaza. Image courtesy of Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp.

Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. has purchased Gateway Center Plaza, a 200,000-square-foot retail property in Chicago’s Uptown submarket, from Stockbridge Capital Group.

CBRE Executive Vice President George Good brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller, while the new owner handled the deal in-house.

According to CommercialEdge information, Stockbridge purchased the property in 2007. The previous owner refinanced the asset in 2015 with a $17 million loan that matured in 2022, provided by Citizens Financial Group.


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Gateway Centre is situated on 15 acres in an infill retail corridor at 7507 N. Clark St. and overlooks Lake Michigan. The retail asset is nearly 3 miles from downtown Evanston and 9 miles from Chicago’s central business district.

The property was 93.4 percent occupied at the time of sale, anchored by LA Fitness. The tenant roster also includes Jewel-Osco, Marshalls, Citi Trends, Associated Bank and Starbucks.

The location offers connectivity to the Howard CTA Station, enabling customers to travel to the location by car, train, bus or on foot. Additionally, the Paulina Street Shops are located directly above the Howard CTA Station, providing access to the CTA Chicago “L” Red, Yellow and Purple train lines, as well as several CTA Bus and Pace Bus routes.

Experiential tenants regain popularity

According to a report by JLL, experiential tenants such as theaters, fitness centers and entertainment venues had significant boosts in foot traffic throughout 2022. Year-over-year, traffic was up 28.7 percent, with theaters/music (51.8 percent) and fitness venues (26.5 percent) recording the highest increases.

Transaction volume of both single-asset and portfolio retail sales was just above $70 billion, as of the fourth quarter of 2022, with approximately 4,700 deals taking place, the same report shows.

Earlier this year, PMAT Cos. acquired Wind Point Shopping Center, a 274,282-square-foot, grocery-anchored retail asset in Chicago’s Randall Road corridor. Last year, AmCap also invested in the market with the acquisition Liberty Square, a Jewel-Osco retail center in the Wauconda suburb of Chicago.

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