Just days after the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families ceremonially broke ground on the $7 billion 1901 Project surrounding the United Center, a bitter real estate battle is boiling over within the megadevelopment’s shadow.
The financial collapse of the Great Central Brewing Company, run by father-son duo David and Dwight Avram, has triggered a multi-front foreclosure war, revealing the intense friction brewing in one of Chicago’s hottest development corridors.
This lender collision is tied to the future evolution of the Near West Side. The 1901 Project promises 9,500 apartments and upsized entertainment infrastructure, thus supercharging land speculation. Yet the brewery properties sit within the Kinzie Corridor Planned Manufacturing District, an area heavily protected by zoning laws intended to preserve blue-collar jobs. As commercial lenders rush to liquidate distressed assets and developers circle the area, the Great Central Brewing foreclosure serves as a bellwether for the future of the neighborhood’s industrial real estate.
The distress began in May 2026 when Harvest Commercial Capital filed a $4.7 million foreclosure lawsuit targeting the main brewery building at 221 North Wood Street. Now, Wheaton-based T2 Capital has launched its own legal strike.
Neither T2’s CEO Jeff Brown nor the Avrams returned requests for comment.
Earlier this week, T2 filed a separate $2.1 million foreclosure against the adjacent lot at 1745 West Walnut Street, personally naming developer David Avram, whose firm Avram Builders has also has interests in west suburban commercial properties.
Court documents reveal this T2 debt stems from a $1.85 million “compromise deficiency” note meant to settle a previous $12 million foreclosure in 2023. Shockingly, Avram defaulted on the workout agreement immediately, missing the very first $12,500 payment in March 2025, according to T2.
Rather than simply joining Harvest’s lawsuit as a subordinate defendant, T2 is executing a tactical offensive. Acknowledging that a stripped industrial warehouse loses significant value, T2 is petitioning the court to force a joint, bulk sale of both the real estate and the specialized brewing infrastructure, effectively tethering its recovery to Harvest’s momentum.
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United Center redevelopment could re-ignite an old turf war
Great Central Brewing owners face second foreclosure, this time for nearly $5M on Near West Side
Reinsdorfs, Wirtzes break ground on $7B 1901 Project