The Cacciatore family has cashed out of a Pilsen loft office building it has owned since the late 1980s, highlighting the neighborhood’s appeal to developers and investors.

A Cacciatore trust sold Lacuna Lofts, a 220,000-square-foot building at 2150 S. Canalport Ave., to a joint venture of two local real estate firms, Chicago-based Ameritus and JBG Property Holdings, based in Highland Park, said Joey Cacciatore, who oversaw the redevelopment of the property. The venture paid $25 million for the building, said John Scuras, a broker at Jameson Commercial who arranged the sale.

Pilsen has become fertile ground for developers and investors over the past several years, as rising prices have allowed many to buy and fix up properties and sell them for big gains. But the trend also has fueled gentrification concerns, with climbing housing costs pushing families out of the neighborhood.

Even though Lacuna Lofts is an office building, the sale of the property could inflame those tensions, offering another data point illustrating how investors are profiting from the neighborhood’s rise.

To Cacciatore, however, the building is the main character in a turnaround story. Built around 1900, it once housed a pasta factory. But it was largely vacant by 2009, when Cacciatore dropped out of college to manage the redevelopment of the property and find tenants to fill it up. At one point, in the depths of the financial crisis, the family even tried to unload the property in an auction, but no buyers were willing to pay the minimum bid of $3 million, Cacciatore said.

Today, the building is more than 89 percent occupied, Scuras said. More than 80 tenants lease space there, including Chance the Rapper’s non-profit, SocialWorks, and tattoo shops featured in the VH1 reality show “Black Ink Chicago.” The building also includes about 20,000 square feet of event space.

“We created a community of really, really great people and built a place that was fun to work at,” Cacciatore said. “We sold it because it’s full.”

JBG CEO Jeffrey Glenner referred a reporter to Ameritus Co-Founder and Principal Jeb Scherb, who did not return calls.

“We are excited to have an opportunity to engage with this dynamic community with this acquisition of Lacuna Lofts,” Scherb said in a statement.

JBG and Ameritus financed the acquisition with a $22 million loan from an unidentified pension fund, according to Cohen Financial, which arranged the loan.

The building sits on about three acres, offering development opportunity for the firms. About two years ago, Cacciatore proposed a 30-story, 208-unit apartment tower next to Lacuna Lofts, but the idea fizzled amid community opposition.