A 294-unit apartment complex located on Easton Street west of Chicago has sold for just over $72 million, adding to a string of recent large deals in the suburbs.
Chicago-based Laramar Group on Jan. 31 bought the ReNew Downers Grove complex at 2845 Easton Street in Downers Grove, Illinois, from an affiliate of FPA Multifamily, according to DuPage County property records.
Those two early-2025 deals follow a flurry of sales in the suburbs in the final months of 2024, including the record $148 million sale of the E2 Evanston complex just north of Chicago in December.
Late-2024 deals in the western suburbs included a $109 million deal for the 417-unit Railway Plaza complex in Naperville in October and a $101.2 million sale of the 306-unit Wheaton 121 building in November.
Recent deals provide hope for an uptick in transactions after a slowdown in 2023 and 2024 amid high borrowing costs and other challenges.
JLL brokers marketed the approximately 17-year-old, nine-building complex as an opportunity to modernize all the units to achieve higher rents. The Chicago firm’s acquisition was backed by a nearly $46.9 million Freddie Mac loan from JLL Real Estate Capital, according to property records.
The 16-acre complex is just over 6% vacant, with asking rents of $2,161 per unit and $2.17 per square foot, according to CoStar data. It’s unclear what Laramar has planned for the property, which includes a swimming pool, sun deck, fitness center and lounge.
FPA has been one of the most active buyers and sellers of apartments in the Chicago area in recent years. Last year’s acquisitions included one of the largest in the suburbs, when it paid just over $102 million for the 642-unit Reserve at Hoffman Estates complex, and in the city, when it paid $144 million for the 500-unit Paragon tower in Chicago’s South Loop.
Those properties were rebranded as ReNew Poplar Creek and Arrive Michigan Avenue.
