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Condominium sales are under way at the 100-unit Huron Street Lofts, a vintage timber-beam
condominium conversion at 225 W. Huron St. in the Gallery District of Chicago's River North
neighborhood.

"Built in 1896, the six-story Huron Street Lofts building is a vanishing species. It's River North's
last great timber-beam loft condominium conversion," says developer John M. Mullen,
principal of Huron Street Associates LLC. The joint venture is comprised of three veteran real
estate development partners - The Morgan Group, The Lord Companies, RSC & Associates...

Smithfield would acquire the building from a partnership that includes investor Robert Berliner Jr., Neumann Homes Inc. and retail broker Keith
Lord. That group would retain vacant property to the west of the Van Buren building, where in 2003 they obtained zoning rights to put up a 29-story
tower. The zoning was adopted despite community complaints that it would be too tall for the environs.

CHINN OUT: Last week's column quoted commercial broker Keith Lord as saying Bob Chinn's Crabhouse, 315 N. La Salle, is one of several
downtown restaurants that might not survive 2005. Then a letter arrived purportedly from Salvatore Ferrara, partner in the restaurant. It said Chinn
is no longer in the venture and the place will now be called Ferrara's Fish & Chop House.

Into this comfortable little ritual comes Keith Lord, president of the Lord Cos. LLC, a commercial brokerage for the city and the suburbs. He likes to
shake things up by offering what he calls his "dead list," retailers who he believes are declining and shouldn't be looked at as reliable long-term
tenants or owners.

In various forums in the past, Lord occasionally has caused discomfort with his list. He correctly foretold the end of the bagel store fad and the
misbegotten strategy of Boston Market. He has questioned the proliferation of storefront banks that do nothing but take deposits and issue
home-equity loans. One of the leading storefront operations, Washington Mutual, has started retrenching. And Lord's been wrong, too, having
fingered McDonald's before it rediscovered the virtues of consistency, speed and price.

It seems that everywhere you look in the urban Chicago retail market-place, retailers large and small are
throwing out conventional wisdom – and their rulebooks – to stay in the game of obtaining locations and
market share in this vibrant city.

For example, blockbuster Video, Aldo Shoes, Einstein Bagels and an oversized Starbucks Coffee on Chicago’
s North Side all have sites without parking. In addition, Banana Republic, Express, Victoria’s Secret,
Restoration Hardware and Z Gallerie – all in the same area- have two-story street entrance stores that are
well outside of their standard store plans.

DEVELOPER DREAMS: Sun-Times' City Hall writer Fran Spielman noticed that developers filed plans to convert an old office building at 1001 W. Van
Buren, just north of the University of Illinois at Chicago, into 490 homes. Co-developer Robert Berliner Jr., who owns the property with a group that
includes retail leasing specialist Keith Lord, emphasized that plans are in the early stage and that he's not about to test a slow market.

With Holy Name Catholic Cathedral in the background, construction commences on The
Fordham Tower at 25 East Superior. The residential tower, which is offering 13,775 square
feet of retail space, is in the middle of the Cathedral District.

Lord, president and managing partner of The Lord Cos. L.L.C, is the leasing agent for the
13,775 square feet of retail space available on the first floor of the tower. There is no question
about it; Lord is looking for tenants that will compliment the tower.

“Unfortunately may projects’ designs are driven by the residential component and in the process you destroy what makes your
project desirable for a retail tenant,” says Lord. Pantazelos also added that many banks will not finance retail projects now
without a signed lease for the retail space, and Lord suggests that the developers get a retail consultant on board early with any
mixed-use project.

“Chicago now has the highest grossing Target store, Home Depot and Starbuck on their respective chains,” says Lord. “It’s very
difficult to backfill retail and retail is now coming back big in the city. Many retailers are now scrambling to get into Rogers Park
and Uptown before the prices get too high,” he said.

High-tech center: A partnership that includes veteran developer Robert Berliner and John Mullen has plans to renovate a five-building complex at 1001 W.
Van Buren Street into office space for high tech tenants, said Keith Lord, president of Chicago-based Lord Cos. and the partnership's third member. The
group aquired the property, to be called Premier Center; from Chicago-based Kenard Corp., which sold it to focus on other projects.

"Take (Krispy Kreme) into Lincoln Park, and it would clean up," said Keith Lord, president of the retail brokerage firm Lord Companies LLC.

Lord already has two perfect Krispy Kreme sites in mind: at Clark and Ohio streets in Tourist Central, and in the Lincoln-Belmont-Ashland area, across
from Whole Foods Market.

Keith Lord, president and managing partner of the Lord Companies LLC, the retail broker re-leasing the Service Merchandise space, declined to confirm
those reports.

"We have a ton of interest from both local and national retailers," Lord said. The vacant site shares parking with Whole Foods' 180-car parking garage,
and sits within two blocks of the CTA's Brown Line and four city surface parking lots. The site also is served by three city bus routes.

"The Chicago Association of Realtors presented its annual awards to property owners and developers at its Good Neighbor Ceremony. Winners
include Bill Moran of Dearborn Development for 33 W. Huron; Bruce Fogelson of Paramont Homes for 2475 N. Lincoln; ...Keith Lord and Robert Berliner
of the Lord Companies for 844 W. Diversey..."

"The mayor wants more prudent retail and better shopping centers," says Keith Lord, president of Lord Cos. and a long-time urban developer. Lord
helped steer the city's Department of Planning and Development in creating the design codes. "Daley wants better building materials, which would
make the city a much better looking place. So the department will raise the bar by increasing requirements for planning and developing the look for a
retail center."

Lord Says the ordinances will leave some retail developers “bellyaching,” but adds that the overall effect of the ordinances will go a long way in making
Chicago a more attractive city to live, visit and to do business in. He says surburban communities have their own design ordinances…

They can rent for a period of time, then maybe go back into the market to buy," McKinney said. "They can downsize to a rental or maybe a smaller unit
without the tax consequences."

Lord agreed, saying some couples are selling their large suburban homes, buying a vacation home and renting downtown. Most of the city's elite
apartments are, as one would expect, along the Gold Coast

Finding the best use. Commercial typically is the highest and best use of real estate, as it brings in the most rent, assuming the location is viable.
Developers more frequently want retail in their projects to help defray the high costs of land, said Keith Lord, of Lord Cos., a consultant to developers on
the retail aspect.

In contrast to the past, retail today is being given equal footing in design considerations so that it rents or sells quickly, said Lord, who noted that he's
working with 20 different developers on mixed-use projects.