CMK Acquires Second Vacant Lot on Chicago River

Vacant lot on Chicago River just North of Roosevelt (via Crains)

Is it us or does it feel like CMK Cos. is playing a real life game of Monopoly in the Sloop?

From Crains:

After dropping nearly $8 million on one vacant riverside parcel in the South Loop, Chicago residential developer Colin Kihnke is poised to pay triple that for a bigger property next door. 

A group led by Kihnke has agreed to pay about $26 million for a parcel just north of Roosevelt Road on the east side of the Chicago River, according to people familiar with the transaction. At 5.1 acres, it's one of the largest development sites in greater downtown, with zoning for more than 1,000 homes.

The acquisition is an aggressive move for Kihnke, one of the city's busiest condominium developers, who just paid $7.8 million for a 1.8-acre lot immediately to the north. It's unclear what Kihnke, president of Chicago-based CMK Cos., plans to build on the two properties—he didn't return calls—but given their location and his skill set, condos or apartments are a good guess.

While we were curious to see what CMK had in store back in November, our interest has now been piqued.  YoChicago makes a good point in a post on this topic and notes that the city announced plans to build the Wells-Wentworth connector (which we've also posted about) which should provide much better access to these lots.  As they sit now, these lots are some of the most inaccessible in the Sloop.

Anyway, back to our Monopoly reference.  According to their website, CMK has already developed four buildings in the South Loop (1430 S. Michigan, 1620 S. Michigan, 1720 S. Michigan and 1845 S. Michigan).  They're also in the process of developing 1345 S. Wabash.  Needless to say they clearly are bullish on the area.

While Michigan Avenue developments have fancy addresses, developing something on the Chicago River seems like it could be a very interesting proposition.

We're excited to see what they have planned.

(Hat tip:  SB!)