Jewelers Building Sells, New Owners Will Redevelop Landmark Building
A landmark Jewelers Row building has a new owner with big plans to reposition the building. Peerless Development principal Michael Cordaro and Honore Development principal Michael Shenouda partnered to buy the Jewelers Building at 15-19 South Wabash from Rany Management. The sale price was $7.2M. Cordaro and Shenouda also paid for associated closing costs, bringing the total price to nearly $7.8M. KM Real Estate Capital Managing Principal Daniel Knorps was the sole broker.
Knorps told Bisnow the new owners will launch a $15M capital improvement plan to the building and have already completed a 24K SF lease with a San Francisco-based hotel group. The hotel will feature 39 micro-unit kitchenettes. The Jewelers Building has been the longtime home to Iwan Reis Cigar Co., downtown's only smoking lounge. Another tenant, Diamonds on Wabash, occupies 1,400 SF of street-level retail. Knorps said ownership is in discussions with several restaurant tenants for the remaining available space, and an announcement for that could come in the upcoming months.
The Jewelers Building was built by Adler and Sullivan in 1882, and is the last known example of the legendary architecture duo's early work surviving in the Loop. It is also known as the "Little Jewelers Building" to differentiate it from the 40-story Jewelers Building built in 1925 at 35 East Wacker.
The Little Jewelers Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 7, 1974. It was designated a Chicago landmark in 1981.
