Leopardo Parent Buys West Loop Office and Warehouse Property

The family that owns Leopardo Construction has purchased a vintage West Loop office and warehouse building to serve as the contractor’s new Chicago home after leasing downtown workspace in recent years.

A venture of Alexander West Capital paid nearly $7.5 million earlier this month for the 48,500-square-foot building and an adjacent parking lot at 1100 W. Monroe St., according to Cook County property records. The holding company of the Leopardo family acquired the property from an affiliate of baby products maker Kolcraft Enterprises, which will move its longtime headquarters out of the building at the end of this year.

The deal shows the value some companies see in buying, not leasing, downtown workspace amid widely depressed commercial property values. Hoffman Estates-based Leopardo had previously rented a Chicago office on Wacker Drive and in the Fulton Market District, and will relocate to the Monroe Street building from its current space at 120 S. Riverside Plaza, according to Justin Parr of LCI Development Partners. LCI is the real estate investment and development arm of Alexander West, which serves as the parent company to both LCI and Leopardo.

Parr said the new building will allow Leopardo to consolidate its Chicago office and some warehouse and storage space it leases on Grand Avenue. Leopardo will house its Chicago workspace on the top floor of the three-story building and use the first floor as storage and warehouse space, with the second floor available for other Alexander West-related entities, he said.

The surface parking lot along the building’s eastern edge also gives Alexander West a potential ground-up development site, though the company has no immediate plans to build anything on the lot. Property records show an Alexander West Capital venture took out a $12.1 million loan from Busey Bank to finance the acquisition, which Parr said will also be used to build out the brick and timber building’s interior.

“Our family has been building in Chicago for nearly 50 years. This move represents far more than a change in address — it’s a continued investment in our construction business and a signal of our substantial growth and long-term commitment to the city,” Alexander West Capital President AJ Leopardo said in a statement.

A Kolcraft spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The family owned company, which was founded in 1946 and is known for making products such as baby strollers and crib mattresses, has used the West Loop property for product testing and photography, among other uses.

A Kolcraft-led entity bought 1100 W. Monroe in 2002 for more than $3 million, according to property records.

The Monroe Street building is a few blocks south of an office property Leopardo built for developer Sterling Bay at 210 N. Carpenter St. in the nearby Fulton Market District. Leopardo was the first tenant to sign on at that building, which today is anchored by Google.

Leopardo generated $315 million in revenue in 2023, according to industry publication Engineering News-Record.

Greenstone Partners Managing Partner Jason St. John negotiated the purchase on behalf of Alexander West Capital. Transwestern’s Andy Davidson, David Kimball and Jay Beadle represented Kolcraft.