Zara billionaire Ortega buys Chicago apartment tower for US$232mil

NEW YORK: Amancio Ortega, the billionaire founder of the Zara clothing chain, snapped up a luxury apartment building in Chicago for US$232mil to add to his growing US property portfolio.

Ortega’s family office Pontegadea acquired 727 West Madison from a joint venture of Ares Management and F&F Realty, according to a company spokesperson.

The purchase added the 45-storey building to a growing roster of Ortega-owned landmark US properties including Meta Platforms Inc’s headquarters in Seattle and Manhattan’s Haughwout Building.

The striking oval tower contains 492 high-end apartments, with rents from about US$2,200 a month for a studio to up to US$6,000 for a three-bedroom unit.

Jones Lang LaSalle was hired in 2020 to sell the building in the trendy neighbourhood of West Loop, where Google has its Chicago offices. It was expected at the time to fetch US$250mil, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

Ortega is worth US$75bil, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, largely based on his controlling stake in Spanish clothing retailer Inditex SA. Ortega has accumulated a property portfolio valued last year at 18.1bil euros (US$19.7bil).

Spain’s richest man spent about US$1bil in 2022 buying up US warehouses as he diversifies beyond his traditional focus on landmark office and retail space.

Some of Pontegadea’s latests acquisitions include a logistics hub some 60 miles east of Los Angeles, a warehouse in the Netherlands and an office building in central London. The purchase of 727 West Madison was published earlier by The Real Deal.

He owns stakes in energy and telecommunications infrastructure operators and renewable power generators, including stakes in Portuguese power and gas grid operator REN-Redes Energeticas Nacionais SGPS and in Spanish electricity transporter Redeia Corporacion. — Bloomberg