Crain's Chicago Business

Page 1

REAL ESTATE: Will the downtown apartment market come back? PAGE 3

CRAIN’S LIST: Chicago’s largest money managers. PAGE 7

North State Parkway, $9.95 million

Burton Place, $11.988 million

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT THE GOLD COAST In a city where the real estate market is super tight, Chicago’s ritziest neighborhood has a glut of homes for sale RON CHEZ LISTED HIS ASTOR STREET MANSION in December for the third time. Chez has owned the home, which overlooks the grounds of the historic archbishop’s mansion, since 2000, when he paid a little over $8.1 million for it. Chez is asking nearly $11 million, a million more than he was asking before. That’s despite the fact that the recent high-water mark for home prices on the leafy, mansion-lined blocks of the Gold Coast is $7.5 million, which buyers paid for a home on Bellevue Place in 2017. “I’m not looking at what other people are doing. What the rest of the market is doing doesn’t concern me very much,” Chez says, speaking from his oceanfront mansion near Big Sur, Calif. “It’s a very special home, and fortunately I can wait. I don’t have to sell it, which is always good with illiquid assets.”

Astor Street, $11.888 million

PHOTOS BY SCOTT SHIGLEY

CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 29, 2021 | $3.50

BY DENNIS RODKIN

Astor Street, $10.995 million

Astor Street, $7.785 million

See GOLD COAST on Page 19

Fortune reels in deals as COVID roils waters BY ALLY MAROTTI COVID-19’s devastating impact on restaurants hasn’t dampened seafood supplier Fortune International’s appetite for acquisitions. Backed by private-equity money and intent on building a $1 billion business within five

years, Bensenville-based Fortune bought three companies last year, even as restaurant closures rocked the industry. Fortune is on track to post $425 million in revenue this year, up from $275 million in 2020. Dealmaking has extended Fortune’s reach from its Chicago-area base into 20 states, on its way to

JOHN R. BOEHM

Seafood distributor aims for $1 billion in revenue

Fortune International CEO Sean O’Scannlain launched the company in 2001. building a nationwide presence. Fortune also expanded its operations to include more retail and See FORTUNE on Page 21

How Chicago is doling out the doses

Allocations of vaccines show city’s wide-net strategy BY A.D. QUIG AND STEPHANIE GOLDBERG The Chicago Department of Public Health regularly reports how many COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, as well as the age, race and other demographic data of people vac-

cinated. But one very important aspect of the city’s vaccination campaign has been shrouded in secrecy—until now. Crain’s has the first look at how doses have been allocated among various health care See VACCINES on Page 20

NEWSPAPER l VOL. 44, NO.13 l COPYRIGHT 2021 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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CHICAGO COMES BACK

MADELEINE DOUBEK

The city’s strength lies in its authenticity. PAGE 4

With help on the way, the state has to help itself. PAGE 2

Lau of t

3/26/21 2:31 PM


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