Investment Firm Buys Historic Belden-Stratford Building
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The historic Belden-Stratford building on Lincoln Park West has been sold to a Chicago investment firm.
As WBBM Newsradio's Felicia Middlebrooks reports, Crain's Chicago Business says the Laramar Group is buying the 297-unit apartment hotel, located at 2300 N. Lincoln Park West, at the northwest corner of the intersection with Belden Avenue.
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The Laramar Group is paying just under $60 million for the landmark 1923 building, which was had been part of a six-building local portfolio owned by IRMCO Properties & Management Corp., Crain's reported.
The Belden-Stratford and the other IRMCO buildings went on the market in June, after company founder Leonard D. Richman died, Crain's reported.
The Belden-Stratford offers long-term rental apartments, which go for as little as $999 per month for a studio to $4,454 per month for the most expensive two-bedroom units.
The building also offers hotel suites, going for between $209 and $221 per night at standard rates.
About 25 percent of the building is composed of hotel rooms, while the rest is rental apartments, Crain's reported.
Laramar might convert the remaining hotel units might be into long-term apartments to increase the value of the building, Crain's reported.
The 16-story Belden-Stratford is an example of pre-Depression Beaux Arts architecture. It was designed by architect Meyer Fridstein, who also designed several other lakefront apartment hotels.
In the 1920s, the Belden-Stratford was one of several apartment hotels built on Lincoln Park West, all constructed by the firm G.H. Gottschalk & Company and operated by the Lott Hotel Corporation. The others were the Parkway Hotel, now the Pierre condo building at 2100 N. Lincoln Park West; and the Webster Hotel, now the Webster House Apartments at 2150 N. Lincoln Park West.
The Belden-Stratford also houses L2O, Chef Laurent Gras' highly-regarded seafood-centered restaurant, and Mon Ami Gabi, a French bistro that is part of Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain You empire.
The Belden-Stratford has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992.
