“A vintage office tower in the northeast corner of the Loop is poised to become apartments, adding another large-scale, privately-backed project to the wave of conversions downtown.
“Chicago developer Honore Properties bought the 17-story office building at 70 E. Lake St. and plans to convert it to about 170 apartments, founder Michael Shenouda said. The purchase price for the 141,593-square-foot property was $9.2 million, according to Illinois property records.
“‘There’s not as much need for some of this Class B and Class C office space and there is a need for housing, so that is a trade we’ve been making over and over. We’ve been converting these older buildings and turning it into something people need and want, and so far it’s worked out pretty well,’ Shenouda said.
“The planned project at 70 E. Lake St. will be the firm’s largest downtown conversion yet, and among the biggest privately backed conversions taking shape downtown.
“The Lake Street conversion’s project costs are expected to total about $40 million, Shenouda said. Honore is in talks with Wintrust Bank to secure a construction loan of approximately $30 million to finance the project. The firm expects to start work on the project in summer or fall 2027 and complete it in 2028.
“The 99-year old building was about 63% leased to 21 tenants when seller Ansonia Properties put it on the market in February. But all except for two of the tenants have landlord termination rights in their leases, making it easy for Honore to clear the building for a conversion. The property is already zoned for residential use, Shenouda said.
“The property also has relatively small floor plates that average about 8,300 square feet, according to marketing materials from Cushman & Wakefield, a size that’s typically more conducive to residential use than larger office floors because of the access to natural light.” (Herzog, Crain’s Chicago Business, 7/16/26)
Preservation Chicago welcomes the sale of 70 E. Lake Street to Honore Properties and the plan to convert this 99-year-old East Loop tower to approximately 170 residential apartments. This is a preservation outcome achieved without public subsidy, and it deserves recognition and celebration.
Adaptive reuse to residential is a proven strategy to keep these buildings occupied, maintained, and standing. The building’s narrow floor plates help make the conversion feasible. The narrow floor plates of Chicago School commercial buildings, designed in an era before fluorescent lighting and air conditioning when daylight and operable windows were structural necessities, are ideally suited to apartments a century later.
Honore Properties has a proven track record of adaptive reuse, and has completed conversions at 118 S. Clinton Street in the West Loop and 811 W. Evergreen Avenue near Goose Island, with another under construction at 50 E. Superior Street.
Preservation Chicago congratulates Honore Properties and Michael Shenouda, and we look forward to seeing 70 E. Lake Street enter its second century as housing. We’ve been in touch with the development team to support this effort and to encourage the retention and restoration of the building’s historic exterior features and any significant remaining interior elements as the design advances. Additionally, we encourage the developer to pursue a Chicago Landmark Designation for the building.
Read the full story at Crain’s Chicago Business
70 E. Lake may join Chicago Loop residential conversion trend, Crain’s Chicago Business, 2/2026
Downtown office-to-apartment conversions, Crain’s Chicago Business, 4/13/26
Historic offices near Chicago’s Millennium Park for sale as potential conversion, Tower spanning 17 stories could be apartments or hotel, broker says, Ryan Ori, CoStar News, 2/10/26
West Loop office building bought for apartment conversion, Crain’s Chicago Business, 5/3/24
River North site targeted for office-to-apartments conversion, Crain’s Chicago Business, 6/4/25