Chicago & Midwest + Downtown + Apartments | April 21, 2023

Condo Deconversions in the South Loop, Lakeview Test the Investment Sales Market

A pair of developers that turned big condominium buildings into apartments over the past several years have put them up for sale, reported Crain’s Chicago Business. They’re hoping to defy what has become a difficult market to sell almost any kind of real estate.

In the larger of the two, an entity led by Chicago-based investors Marc Realty and Wolcott Group intends to sell the 448-unit River City Apartment complex at 800 S. Wells St. in the South Loop. Separately, a venture of real estate firm Strategic Properties of North America has put the 207-unit Wave Lakeview apartment high-rise at 420 W. Belmont Ave. on the market. Both owners have hired the Chicago office of JLL to market the properties.

The sellers are part of a trove of developers that have taken on so-called condo deconversion projects in the city in recent years as condo popularity faded and rents in apartment buildings reached record highs. Now they’ll find out whether those conversions will pay off as they hoped, Crain’s reported.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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