[SamInTheLoop]

Kudos to the development team if in fact they have landed complete project financing. Looking forward to any details of that.

I think it's worth reiterating that this would be the largest (by no. of units - 421) new construction condo tower developed in Chicago since the global financial crisis/great recession. Unless I'm missing any, the only other tower that would remotely approach the number of units here is Vista. This entire cycle, the condo projects that have been successful are primarily super high-end boutique buildings with few - or even very few - units. There may be a small number of exceptions - for example, 1345 S. Wabash is one that comes to mind for not fitting that mold. But those are the exceptions. I mean, the absolute poster child for a successful product this cycle is No. 9 Walton (which of course fits the above mold to a T). I believe that tower (it's not a tiny building, floor area-wise to be sure) has fewer than 70 units!

So, all of this is to state that the 1000m developer making it this far (and certainly if they've landed financing) is quite a significant achievement given the condo market dynamics in Chicago this decade. It remains to be seen of course whether they have landed complete financing, or GS is just a piece of a larger debt package that has not been finalized yet. I'll retain a healthy skepticism here until there's reporting on the financing being closed.

I will be very curious to learn the details of any debt package. Not much to compare it to, so downtown condo developers - and lenders - will be very interested in having a comp up on the board, if you will. Also, have we even heard a solid stat on the % of units sold? I've seen some inferences from the number of units that are being marketed and what not, but I don't recall seeing a firm stat mentioned recently. Same question actually for Vista. My suspicion is that Vista - despite approaching completion - might still be well under 50% sold - but that's just a guess. I still don't know how they will be moving all of those significant numbers of $5-10 mil+ units at that tower. I think that was prefaced on a poorly thought-out thesis that a lot of foreign capital would be streaming into the Chicago condo market.