Pre-leasing has kicked off for Rohe House, a 72-unit residential conversion of the historic Pelouze Building at 230 E. Ohio in Streeterville. The project is transforming a century-old office building into apartments, with first move-ins planned for January 2027.
The building was erected in 1917 and first housed the offices of William Nelson Pelouze's scale-making company, according to Urbanize Chicago. The Pelouze Building later served as the longtime office of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the architect whose name now graces the new residential project. Concord Capital and partner Wildwood Investments planned Rohe House, with NORR serving as the project's designer, per the same outlet.
The conversion will rehabilitate vacant office space into 72 residential units, split between six studios, 54 one-bedroom apartments and 12 two-bedroom apartments. Units will average 811 square feet, with 12 apartments planned per upper floor, and the report notes the apartments will feature open-concept layouts, downtown views through oversized windows, and elevated interiors.
No Car Parking, But Plenty of Bike Storage and Amenities
Notably, Rohe House will have zero car parking spaces while providing 50 bike parking spaces, the pre-leasing report states. The ground-floor retail space and its existing tenants will remain in place, preserving some continuity at street level even as the upper floors are completely reimagined.
Residents are set to get a rooftop deck with a sports court, an outdoor games area, a dog run, and lounge seating with fire pits and grilling stations. A lower-level amenity floor is planned with a fitness center, resident lounge, business center, tenant storage and bike room, while the lobby will include a dedicated mail and package room, according to the same account.
Rohe House is pre-leasing in tandem with leasing partner Velocity Group, with first move-ins planned for January 2027, per the report.
Financing and a Quick Flip Preceded the Conversion
The project's financing came together last fall, when Associated Bank announced it had finalized a $21.14 million construction loan for Wildwood Investments and Concord Capital. The bank's October 22, 2025 release also projected construction completion in December 2026, ahead of the January 2027 move-in target. Associated Bank described the building at 230 East Ohio Street as 93,707 square feet, while a separate account from The Real Deal put the figure at roughly 65,000 square feet — the two sources have not been reconciled.
The Real Deal also reported that Horizon Realty Group sold the Pelouze Building to affiliates of Wildwood Investments for $9.75 million last fall, after Horizon had paid $5.6 million for the property just a year earlier. The outlet attributed slower overall development activity to rising borrowing and construction costs that have limited new supply.
Part of a Citywide Shift From Offices to Apartments
Rohe House joins a wave of similar projects reshaping downtown Chicago. Construction Dive has reported nearly two dozen private office-building conversions in the city's pipeline that are expected to create close to 4,000 new residential units. Chicago's Department of Planning and Development is separately eyeing six office conversions under the LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative, aiming to create 1,765 mixed-income housing units, per the same report.
Among completed examples, Construction Dive has described the Bellwether as the first completed office-to-housing conversion in the Loop, turning 11 floors of unused office space in a 14-story building into 117 residential units, 41 of them earmarked for households earning an average of 60 percent of area median income. A separate report from United States Real Estate Investor has cited downtown office vacancy at 28 percent, with vacancy on LaSalle Street near 25 percent, underscoring the kind of underused office stock that conversions like Rohe House are designed to absorb.
