JLL has arranged the sale of Clybourn Center, a 33,140-square-foot unanchored retail strip center in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, with Curbline Properties acquiring the asset. The property is positioned as a neighborhood retail destination within one of Chicago’s densest and most established urban corridors.
JLL’s Capital Markets Investment and Sales Advisory team represented the seller in the transaction. The team was led by Managing Director Michael Nieder and Director Brian Page, who were responsible for marketing the asset and overseeing the disposition process. Leasing at the property has been driven by Steve Schwartz and his team, who have been responsible for tenanting the center.
Clybourn Center is located at 2029-2073 N. Clybourn Ave., directly across from Foundry Park, a transformational mixed-use redevelopment with a projected cost exceeding $1 billion. The scale of Foundry Park is expected to significantly reshape the immediate area, positioning Clybourn Center to serve both existing neighborhood demand and the additional traffic that may be generated by the redevelopment.
Upon completion, Foundry Park is planned to deliver approximately 3,700 residential units, indicating a substantial increase in local housing density. The project also calls for roughly 350,000 square feet of office space, 420,000 square feet of retail space, and 250,000 square feet of hospitality space, along with 12 acres of open space. This concentration of uses is designed to create a large, mixed-use environment immediately adjacent to Clybourn Center.
The retail center being sold is currently 91.2% occupied, reflecting strong in-place tenancy. The property offers 86 surface-level parking spaces, a feature highlighted as unusual for street-front retail in such a dense urban setting. This on-site parking is positioned as a competitive amenity relative to other nearby retail properties that typically rely more heavily on street parking or structured facilities.
Clybourn Center’s tenant roster is anchored by medical and wellness users. According to JLL, medical tenants account for approximately 38% of the gross leasable area at the center. This concentration of healthcare-oriented uses provides a degree of service-based tenancy that can be less sensitive to e-commerce pressures than traditional soft-goods retail, while aligning with demand drivers in an established infill neighborhood.
The transaction underscores ongoing investor interest in well-located, necessity- and service-focused retail within urban neighborhoods that are benefitting from large-scale mixed-use redevelopment nearby. With the buyer identified as Curbline Properties, the sale adds to investor activity in Chicago’s Lincoln Park corridor at a time when major projects such as Foundry Park are reshaping the local urban environment.
