Condominium owners in River City approved a $90.5 million bulk sale to Marc Realty Capital in the latest deconversion in the city. That makes it one of the most expensive deconversions in Chicago.
The deal to sell all 449 units in the South Loop complex at 800 Wells Street came months after the owners balked when Marc Realty abruptly lowered its offer for the building, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Marc Realty had sought to buy the complex since early 2016, and in December the sides agreed to a $100 million sale. In May, Marc Realty and partner Wolcott Group lowered their offering price to $89 million, saying they’d discovered costly repairs that would have to be made.
Owners rejected that price, and Marc Realty came back with a revised offer of $90.5 million that was accepted Aug. 28, the owners’ attorney Kelly Elmore told the Tribune. The deal was approved by 78 percent of owners, just above the 75 percent required under Illinois law to force a bulk sale.
Marc Realty will add another $1 million if all sale documents are in order within the next three months, Elmore said.
The deal would be the second-highest price in Chicago for a deconversion, behind the pending $112 million sale of the 391-unit building at 1400 N. Lake Shore Drive to New York-based ESG Kullen.
The most expensive deconversion by per-unit price would be a deal in the works for JMB Realty Corp. to pay $36 million for a 68-unit condo tower at 110 East Delaware in the Gold Coast, which works out to more than $529,000 per unit. Most deconversions average in the $200,000s per unit.
Owners at 110 East Delaware still have to approve the deal, brokered by CBRE’s Sam Haddadin. Marc Realty earlier had been offering $30 million, or $441,000 per unit for the building. [Chicago Tribune] — John O’Brien