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A rooftop club beyond Wrigley Field's left-field pole has gone up for sale, even as a dispute between the rooftop owners and the Chicago Cubs remains in extra innings.
Aidan Dunican, who operates Wrigley View Rooftop Inc. at 1050 W. Waveland Ave., confirmed he hired Conlon Commercial to seek a buyer. Listed without an asking price, the three-story building includes three leased apartments topped by a rooftop bar, mezzanine, bleachers and rooftop deck with room for 220 customers, according to Chicago-based Conlon Commercial.
It is the first rooftop put up for sale since 2011 and comes at a time of uncertainty for the 16-property Wrigleyville Rooftops Association, a group that includes Wrigley View.
The association is engaged in a protracted battle with Cubs owner Tom Ricketts regarding the baseball team's plans for a $500 million redevelopment of the ballpark and neighborhood.
The dispute with the rooftops hinges on the Ricketts family's plans for a video board in left field and an advertising sign in right field, which the rooftop group maintains will block their customers' views of games. Rooftop owners have threatened to sue, saying blocked views would violate an agreement in which rooftop clubs share 17 percent of their revenue with the Cubs. The agreement runs through 2023.
Despite the often-heated public battle, Mr. Ricketts will be approached as a potential buyer, said Marcus Cook, a managing director at Conlon Commercial.
“We'd certainly welcome an offer from the Ricketts family,” Mr. Cook said. “They're no strangers to real estate.”
A spokesman for Mr. Ricketts said he is not interested in owning the building and described talks with the rooftop owners as ongoing. He declined to comment further.
Unless a resolution is imminent, the dispute is likely to give pause to potential buyers, said apartment investment sales broker Lee Kiser, principal at Chicago-based Kiser Group, who is not involved in the deal.
“All of the questions in the market about the interaction with the Rickettses adds a risk factor that will have an impact on the value,” Mr. Kiser said.
Mr. Dunican, who has owned the property since the 1990s and built the current structure there in 2001, did not explain his timing or specify a target sale price. “It's a business decision. I just want to move on,” he said.
Bids will be accepted until March 14, Mr. Cook said.
“The seller is confident they'll reach an agreement with the Cubs that will have a positive impact on the value of the building,” Mr. Cook said.
Wrigley View is the westernmost building of the Waveland rooftops, next door to the Chicago Fire Department's Engine 78 firehouse.
It is believed to be the first Wrigley rooftop formally placed on the for-sale market since the Lakeview Baseball Club, 3633 N. Sheffield Ave., sold out of bankruptcy for $4.8 million in early 2012.
The pricing of any rooftop building is difficult for traditional real estate investors to gauge, Mr. Kiser said.
“The value is determined much more by the concessions operations than the real estate,” he said.
The rooftop association's members paid the Cubs $3.5 million in 2011, meaning their total revenue for that season was just over $20 million. More current numbers were not available from a spokesman for the association, who declined to comment on the 1050 W. Waveland listing.
Revenue likely was down in 2013, when Wrigley's attendance fell to its lowest point since 1998. But offseason concerts from the likes of Pearl Jam, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Elton John, Jimmy Buffett and the Dave Matthews Band have continued to bolster revenue in recent years, Mr. Cook said.
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