Wilson Yard developer lands financing for Uptown project
(Crain's) — After years of delays, Chicago developer Peter Holsten has finally nailed down the financing to complete his long-awaited $151-million Wilson Yard project in Uptown.
The city of Chicago has already agreed to provide Mr. Holsten with $51 million in tax increment financing for the Target Corp.-anchored project on Broadway between Montrose and Wilson avenues. And Minneapolis-based Target is contributing about $33 million.
But with the credit markets in near lockdown, Mr. Holsten scrambled to piece together the remaining $67 million to finance the mixed-use project that's been slow to get off the ground. The Aldi Inc. store that opened in June is all that stands at the 5.7-acre site, formerly a massive Chicago Transit Authority train repair shed.
On Wednesday Mr. Holsten closed at least two loans totaling $40 million with community and affordable housing lenders Alliant Capital Ltd. and Enterprise Community Investments Inc., according to spokeswomen for both firms.
The remaining $27 million comes from a group of lenders, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Local Initiative Support Corp., a New York-based non-profit community development organization, the Enterprise spokeswoman says. The individual amounts of the loans couldn't be determined.
Mr. Holsten, president of Chicago-based Holsten Real Estate Development Corp., who was selected as the project's master developer in 2003, did not return a call requesting comment.
A spokesman for Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America says his company is also one of the project's financiers.
Woodlands Hills, Calif.-based Alliant, a specialist in financing affordable housing projects, is providing $30 million for the project's 178 affordable and senior housing units. The $10 million new-markets tax credit from Columbia, Md.-based Enterprise is earmarked for the construction of the Target store, says the spokeswoman.
Mr. Holsten in April said construction could begin in June, but that start date was delayed until financing was secured.
