The new owner of the Block 37 shopping center has acquired the rights to develop hundreds of new hotel rooms and apartment units above the Loop structure, a step toward fulfilling the original vision for a dense mixed-use project at the star-crossed property.
A venture of Los Angeles-based CIM Group bought the rights from an affiliate of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank N.A. in late September for $5.8 million, county records show. The bank took over the development rights August 2011, a little more than year after filing a $16.8-million foreclosure suit against their previous owner, Chicago-based Joseph Freed & Associates LLC, the developer of the mall across from Macy’s.
