Menashe Properties takes a chance on West Loop’s elusive revival

The office building at 230 W. Monroe St. has been acquired for $45 million, a fraction of its worth in 2014 when it sold for $122 million. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

With the downtown property market ranging from torpid to downright depressed, a bit of news about the sector in September had a “man bites dog” importance.

Menashe Properties bought a 29-story office building at 230 W. Monroe St. The family-owned firm, based in Portland, Oregon, and making its first investment in Chicago, took the plunge as other property moguls talk about tax rates, high crime and the still-uncertain comeback from COVID-19 as reasons to shun deals here.