Two Chicago apartment buildings have changed hands for a combined $60 million, pairing a major Wirtz family sale in Lakeview with Becovic’s latest North Side acquisition. The deals put two very different pieces of Chicago’s rental housing market under new ownership at a moment when apartment investors are circling well-located buildings again.
Public records show the Wirtz Corporation sold its 171-unit tower at 422-424 West Melrose Street for $34 million, while Spirit Investment Group sold The Vivian in Rogers Park for $26 million. The transactions were first reported by The Real Deal.
Wirtz Sheds A Long-Held Lakeview Apartment Tower
The Wirtz family sold the 15-story Melrose building to local investors Aris Sulejmani and Mexhit Sulejmani, who are based in Glenview. At $34 million, the sale works out to roughly $199,000 per apartment, a substantial bet on a mature Lakeview rental property rather than a ground-up development site.
The Wirtz Corporation oversees a residential portfolio of more than 80 properties, so the sale does not suggest the family is abandoning real estate. Instead, it gives the company another sizable disposition as it remains involved in major development efforts across the Chicago region.
Becovic Adds The Vivian To Its North Side Portfolio
Becovic acquired The Vivian, a 160-unit building at 6807 North Sheridan Road, for $26 million. The property includes 104 studios, 56 one-bedroom apartments and about 9,900 square feet of ground-floor commercial space; Spirit had purchased it for $19 million in 2016, according to public records cited by The Real Deal.
The Vivian deal follows Becovic’s purchase last year of a 96-unit Edgewater building for $17.4 million. In its own announcement about that acquisition, Becovic said its management operation would take over the property, reinforcing the company’s strategy of buying and operating apartment buildings in familiar North Side neighborhoods.
Chicago’s Apartment Market Is Giving Buyers More To Chase
The transactions arrive as Chicago’s multifamily market benefits from strong renter demand and a relatively limited construction pipeline. CBRE’s 2026 outlook said Chicago apartment rents rose 4.6% year over year in the third quarter of 2025 and forecast another 3% increase in 2026, citing a shortage of new construction.
That backdrop helps explain why established buildings in Lakeview, Rogers Park and Edgewater continue to attract buyers even as financing remains more complicated than it was a few years ago. The two deals also show the split personality of the market: one long-time owner is cashing out of a legacy asset, while a local operator is expanding its footprint through a building it can manage directly.
Wirtz’s broader development ambitions remain visible in the planned 1901 Project near the United Center, a proposed $7 billion mixed-use transformation that the family is pursuing with the Reinsdorfs. Hoodline previously reported on the project’s growing impact around the Near West Side, but these apartment sales are a quieter piece of the same larger Chicago real estate story.
