CRER is pleased to announce the execution of a five-year lease at 4621 S. Ashland Avenue in Chicago, bringing an established regional healthcare operator to the Ashland corridor in Back of the Yards
CRER Senior Director Timothy Keenan represented both the landlord and the tenant in the transaction. The tenant, Blue Island Medical, S.C., operates under the La Clinica brand and will occupy approximately 1,750 square feet within the 30,000-square-foot building, where it plans to open an injury care, chiropractic, and physical therapy clinic.
The deal was structured on modified gross terms at the full asking rate, with a five-year initial term and a five-year renewal option — giving the ownership term certainty and the clinic a ten-year runway at the location if it chooses to exercise.
La Clinica has served Chicagoland since 2005 and now operates locations across Cicero, Little Village, Melrose Park, Aurora, Waukegan, Elgin, Blue Island, Rockford, and both the North and South Sides of Chicago. The clinic specializes in work injury, auto accident, sports, and personal injury care, with a multidisciplinary model that brings physicians, physical therapists, and diagnostic imaging under one roof. The new Ashland Avenue location extends that footprint deeper into the South Side neighborhoods the group already serves.
Why the deal worked
Ashland Avenue is one of the South Side’s highest-traffic north-south arterials, with strong bus ridership, dense surrounding rooftops, and a customer base that values care within walking or short driving distance. For a healthcare user whose patients come from the immediate neighborhood, the location does real work — visibility, accessibility, and proximity to the residential density that drives patient volume.
For the landlord, the outcome was a long-term commitment from a proven multi-location operator at the full asking rate, with the modified gross structure protecting ownership from future increases in taxes and insurance. Medical users tend to invest heavily in build-out and stay put, which makes them among the most durable tenants a neighborhood retail building can attract.
Representing both sides
Keenan handled both the landlord’s and the tenant’s representation in the transaction — a structure that requires a broker to move a deal forward without either party losing ground on the terms that matter to them. Getting from LOI to a fully executed lease meant coordinating the delivery condition, build-out responsibility, exclusive use protections, and the operating expense structure so that both the ownership and the clinic could sign with confidence.
“This one came together because both sides wanted the same outcome — a long-term tenant in a space that fits their model,” said Keenan. “We held the asking rate, kept the structure clean, and got a five-year deal with a five-year option out of it.”
Have space to lease or a location to find on the South Side? Contact Timothy Keenan at Chicago Real Estate Resources.
