Can I take the blue line to One Prudential Plaza?

[ChicagoMeO]

Pedway is nice for when its raining and snowing out!

also when you're in the subway, there are exits on both sides, one will take you to Randolph and the other Washington, for example, just watch the directions painted on the walls also some have stairs, and some escalators and some elevators. I dont remember what has what right now since i take the bus 99.9% of the time.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

A generic google map, how helpful! How brilliant! How asinine

Yep, totally asinine...except for the part where it shows every Chicago train line, every building, and gives you perfect directions for using public transit to get anywhere you need to go in the city. Other than that, toooootally asinine.

My apologies for posting the most helpful link on the entire internet for answering the poster's question.

[ChiNaan]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to nearnorth again.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

Pedway is nice for when its raining and snowing out!

also when you're in the subway, there are exits on both sides, one will take you to Randolph and the other Washington, for example, just watch the directions painted on the walls also some have stairs, and some escalators and some elevators. I dont remember what has what right now since i take the bus 99.9% of the time.

It's awesome. Story goes it was originally driven by a demand by the wealthy set, who didn't like walking in their fancy clothes on streets covered with horse crap and overflowing gutters.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by nearnorth

Yep, totally asinine...except for the part where it shows every Chicago train line, every building, and gives you perfect directions for using public transit to get anywhere you need to go in the city. Other than that, toooootally asinine.

My apologies for posting the most helpful link on the entire internet for answering the poster's question.

You must have posted the wrong link. When opened it just showed a map of the United States; so yes quite asinine. If someone wanted vaguely familiar they wouldn't post here looking for SPECIFIC help. So I suggest you, 1) re-post the specific, helpful map you claim to have provided or 2)admit posting a generic link to Google maps wasn't helpful and take your lumps.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

You must have posted the wrong link. When opened it just showed a map of the United States; so yes quite asinine.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that he assumed people would be capable of typing the place they want to go into the directions box all by themselves like big boys and girls.

[Lucky Clover]

Nice to see One Prudential Plaza doing well again.

Prudential Plaza, downtown Chicago's largest zombie office property, has returned to the ranks of the living with an injection of more than $100 million of fresh capital from New York investors.

A venture of Mark Karasick of New York-based 601 W Cos. and Michael Silberberg of Nanuet, N.Y.-based Berkley Properties LLC on Thursday completed the long-anticipated deal to gain control of the 2.2-million-square-foot office complex overlooking Millennium Park.

The debt restructuring breathes new life into the two towers at 130 E. Randolph St. and 180 N. Stetson Ave., which have been in “zombie” mode — a financial limbo in which an owner is unable to fund new leases, thus assuring its eventual demise — under Los Angeles-based owner BentleyForbes Holdings LLC.

Mr. Silberberg and the Chicago office of HFF Inc., which brokered the deal, confirmed it closed today. Mr. Silberberg said new ownership will spend more than $100 million.

“It was a tough deal to get done,” Mr. Silberberg said. “You have to deal with a seller, a first (lender) and a second. It was putting a puzzle together. At the end of the day, I think the senior lender realized that between the cash infusion and our record in Chicago, they were comfortable working with us. Now the fun begins.”

Chicago-based leasing brokerage Telos Group LLC, which has relationships with several office investors from New York, has the leasing assignment. The repositioning will include redeveloping the retail, modernizing One Prudential Plaza, which was built in the 1950s, and adding amenities, as well as tenant improvements and leasing commissions, Telos President Brian Whiting confirmed.

Under the recapitalization, the building's lenders and BentleyForbes agreed to restructure about $470 million of debt on the property, including $410 million that was sold off to investors in a 2006 commercial mortgage-backed securities offering.

The CMBS debt was split into a $336 million senior loan and $74 million junior loan. Under the recapitalization, the new investors sit behind the senior loan but ahead of the junior loan, a $60 million mezzanine loan from New York-based NorthStar Realty Capital Finance Corp., as well as BentleyForbes, Mr. Whiting confirmed. That means the Karasick-Silberberg venture gets paid first when the property is sold and the senior debt is paid off, reducing the likelihood the investors behind it will be repaid in full.

The Karasick-Silberberg venture has acquired and repositioned several Chicago office properties, including 180 N. LaSalle St. and 111 W. Jackson Blvd. Mr. Karasick and representatives of BentleyForbes, NorthStar and LNR Partners LLC, a CMBS loan servicer, did not immediately return calls Thursday afternoon.

Concerns about a potential loan default at Prudential Plaza surfaced last October, as the building faced the loss of big tenants including Baker & McKenzie LLP and Integrys Energy Group Inc., the parent of Peoples Gas, rendering its owner unable to generate enough cash flow to make monthly loan payments. Not long after that, BentleyForbes stopped making loan payments on the CMBS debt, which matures in 2016, according to a loan report from Bloomberg L.P.

The building's poor performance has depleted reserve funds for upfront costs such as tenant improvements and leasing commissions, making it hard for BentleyForbes to attract new tenants. The recapitalization solves that problem.

“The opportunity is that we have large blocks of space in one of the city's most recognizable buildings, in what is becoming a 24-hour live-work-entertainment area,” Mr. Whiting said. “It has tremendous views and the potential to put unique amenities within that. As a result, it will appeal to traditional tenants but also open it up to be more relevant to a more progressive user that is recruiting a younger workforce.”

After Integrys leaves next year, the property will be about 40 percent vacant, mostly in One Prudential, with blocks of up to 350,000 square feet available.

The owners plan to add restaurant and entertainment space in the Lake Street plaza, add more retail and amenities to the lobby and add huge rooftop areas, including a 30,000-square-foot tenant common area on a 10th-floor setback, Mr. Whiting said. A 40th-floor setback will provide outdoor seating for a restaurant on that floor.

Plans also include replacing the small, older windows in One Prudential to improve the views, and making basic building improvements such as modernizing elevators, he said. The redevelopment is expected to take 12 to 18 months.

“Virtually all of our vacancy is in One Prudential,” Mr. Whiting said. “It's an opportunity to go in and completely reset the building, then come out and offer multiple large blocks of trophy-class space with new finishes.”

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.co...mbie-no-longer