Optima, Inc. has received final village board approval for Optima Lumina, a 128-unit luxury residential building in downtown Wilmette on Chicago’s North Shore.

The six-story building features one- to three-bedroom residences of up to nearly 3,000 square feet, almost 5,900 square feet of retail space, a large public plaza, and a robust amenity package. Replacing the long-vacant former Imperial Motors car dealership located at 720-739 Green Bay Road, the transit-oriented development is located directly across from Wilmette’s Metra rail commuter station.

It is also immediately north of Optima’s 100-unit, high-end rental community, Optima Verdana. “The success of Optima Verdana has demonstrated the high demand for luxury new-construction multifamily housing on the North Shore,” said David Hovey, Jr. AIA, president of Optima, Inc. “Optima Lumina builds on that demand by offering the option for current residents looking to downsize from single-family homes as well as would-be North Shore buyers struggling to find a home due to the area’s low inventory of available housing.”

West Shore, with the help of Newmark, refinanced nine Class A, Garden-style multifamily properties across the Sunbelt. Three properties were in South Carolina, two in Florida, and one each in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Texas. The portfolio includes 2,806 units and was arranged by Newmark’s Purvesh Gosalia on behalf of West Shore.

The financing will retire existing bridge debt and return capital to equity partners. Citigroup, utilizing a Single Asset, Single Borrower loan structure, was the lender.

West Shore owns and operates a portfolio of 15,200 units at 48 multifamily properties across seven states, with a total market value of more than $3.5 billion, which identifies contrarian markets and sub-markets. The group also says it identifies areas with a specific growing confluence of “Gen X” and “Millennials.”