In 1992, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sold the 628-unit Marshall Field property to a venture of investors with a bid requirement that the property remain for low-income tenants for 25 years. Fourteen years later, Related Midwest is set to acquire a Chicago-based affordable-housing landlord whose 4,000-unit portfolio includes the Metroplex and Marshall Field complex.

The sale price and the exact size of the entire portfolio could not be determined, but Metroplex has about 4,000 units in the midwest, according to the source.

With a 2017 expiration date on the bid requirement for the $10.2 million Marshall Field sale, there is speculation surrounding Related Midwest’s redevelopment plans. Peter Holsten, president of Chicago-based Holsten Real Estate Development, commented on community pressure to keep the affordable housing.

“However, there will be a lot of community pressure to preserve the affordable housing,” said Holsten, who is not involved in the deal. “It’s unlikely they’ll be able to say, ‘OK, the contract is up. We’re going to throw everybody out and do condos.’ I think they would have an uphill battle.”

Already the owner of nearly 5,600 affordable units in the Midwest, according to a spokeswoman, it is more likely that Related Midwest’s redevelopment plan would call for a mixed-income project in which some existing residents would move back in and other units would be rented at market rates, said Holsten.

Related also is leading an effort to redevelop the former Lathrop Homes public housing complex with a mix of market-rate, public housing and affordable housing units. That 32-acre site is at Diversey, Damen and Clybourn avenues on the North Side.