Beal Properties buys Lakeview condominium in city’s latest deconversion

Beal Properties bought a 117-unit condominium building in Lakeview in the city’s latest big deconversion.

The building at 445 West Wellington Avenue was acquired for $30 million, according to Crain’s. The property was built as apartments in 1953 before getting converted into condos in the late 1970s. It will now return to rentals.

Interra Realty’s Joe Smazal, whose firm arranged the deal, said the Wellington property was the sixth deconversion he has brokered in Chicago. Interra received about eight offers on the Wellington building.

Beal Properties paid about $256,000 per unit for the property, about 60 percent more than the average price paid recently for individual condo units in the building, Smazal told Crain’s

Condo deconversions have become increasingly common in some downtown neighborhoods and on the North Side in the last 15 years. Developers looking to address the market of those who don’t want to commit to a purchase — or can’t afford to buy a home — have actively been looking for more rental inventory, and condo buildings often now are worth more as rentals.

A 250-unit building on North LaSalle hit the market as a deconversion and Golub recently paid $60 million for a 292-unit at 182 West Lake Street that it’s converting into apartments.

Meanwhile, MCZ development is vowing to block a deconversion plan on North Lake Shore Drive. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien