March 18, 2008 – LaSalle Hotel Properties, the owner of Hotel Sax and adjacent commercial property at Marina City, has purchased 12 lower floors of 330 North Wabash (formerly IBM Plaza) and will redevelop the property into a 335-room “super luxury” hotel.

The sale took place on Tuesday. Prime Group Realty Trust, a Chicago-based real estate investment trust, sold floors 2-13 to a joint venture, Modern Magic Hotel LLC, that includes LaSalle and two partners, Oxford Capital Group LLC, an investment firm, and Gettys Group Inc., a Chicago-based architectural and engineering firm that will design the yet-unnamed five-star hotel.

The venture paid $46 million for 375,000 square feet of the 52-floor building designed by Mies van der Rohe, considered the father of the Modernist architectural movement. (Left) 330 North Wabash on near north side of downtown Chicago, located across State Street from Marina City.

Prime Group Realty Trust will use the money to refinance an existing loan and renovate the upper floors of the building. The law firm of Jenner & Block LLP will be moving from 330 North Wabash to its new home at 353 North Clark in 2010, leaving 350,000 square feet. The hotel is expected to open around that time.

In a prepared statement released Tuesday by Prime Group Realty Trust, CEO Jeffrey A. Patterson called the neighborhood “the new heart of Chicago.”

“The addition of an on-site super luxury hotel, with a great restaurant, spa and conference facilities, will further enhance the location’s desirability for office tenants, as well as others in the area.”

Completed in 1973, 330 North Wabash was the last building in North America designed by Mies van der Rohe. It was recently awarded landmark status by the City of Chicago.

LaSalle Hotel Properties is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. It will have a 95 percent controlling interest in the new venture. Besides Hotel Sax, LaSalle owns the 751-room Westin Michigan Avenue and 29 other luxury hotels.