It’s also one of the few big Loop retail spaces to change hands in recent years, a period of general prosperity until the coronavirus pandemic pummeled retailers and their landlords. Not only are more people shopping online, but employees in many downtown offices are working from home, meaning less business at Loop stores and restaurants and more uncertainty for investors.
A spokeswoman for the School of the Art Institute confirmed that Novak paid $24.5 million for the State Street property. That works out to $571 per square foot, a low price relative to those paid for other retail spaces in the neighborhood in the recent past.