Pebblebrook sells Marina City’s retail component

The retail space at the twin towers on the Chicago River has a new owner.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has sold the Marina City’s 146,000 square feet of ground level retail space, one of the first examples of combining retail with residential, for $30 million dollars to an unnamed buyer.

A JLL Capital Markets team led by Michael Nieder, Keely Polczynski, and John Dettlaff represented the seller in this transaction.

The Marina City deal, which closed late in December, was the last of seven properties sold by Pebblebrook in 2023 for a combined total of $330.8 million. The Bethesda Maryland-based company stated that those proceeds will be used for corporate purposes that could include reducing the company’s outstanding debt and repurchasing common and preferred shares.

Marina City’s two 65-story cylindrical towers immediately became Chicago landmarks when they were completed in 1968. At that time, they were the tallest residential buildings and the tallest buildings built of reinforced concrete in the world. They were also the first structures erected using Linden climbing tower cranes.  

The project’s lead investor, the Building Service Employees International Union, charged Marina City’s architect Bertrand Goldberg with designing a “city within a city” that might serve as an antidote to urban “white flight.” It was lauded as the first residential complex to feature on-site amenities—a real estate must today—such as fitness facilities, a theater, stores, and restaurants.

It is credited by many urban planners for creating an urban residential renaissance, mingling apartment dwellers with office workers in a high-rise city tableau—a concept that quickly became a standard in cities worldwide.

Ground floor tenants at Marina City include House of Blues, Smith and Wollensky, the Hotel Chicago, 10Pin Bowling Lounge, and and Dick's Last Resort. Two parking facilities adjacent to the Hotel Chicago were part of Pebblebrook’s deal with the buyer.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that claims to be the largest owner of urban and resort lifestyle hotels in the United States. It owns 46 hotels totaling approximately 12,000 guest rooms across 13 urban and resort markets.