CLK Properties closes on massive condo deconversion in Des Plaines

CLK Properties has closed on the latest condo deconversion deal in the Chicago area, this one at a massive suburban complex in Des Plaines.

The investment firm paid $94 million for the 924-unit Heritage Village Pointe, according to Crain’s. The deal works out to $102,000 per unit, about twice what condo owners had been getting for each unit in recent sales, according to the report. It marks the largest deconversion, by unit count, in the Chicago area. Heritage Village was built in the 1970s and is comprised of 154 buildings, with six units per building.

CLK entered the Chicago market about five years ago and now owns over 2,000 apartments in the area. The New York-based company acquired four residential buildings in 2018 for $36 million near Northwestern University.

The condo deconversion wave in recent years took advantage of the booming local rental market.

In Chicago, the pace has slowed considerably, particularly after city officials in the fall upped its condo deconversion requirement to 85 percent of owners needed to approve a bulk sale. The statewide threshold is 75 percent.

Still, deconversions have not dried up altogether. Last month, two Oak Park condo buildings sold for a combined $12.4 million.

ESG Kullen also recently closed on the priciest condo deconversion in Chicago history, paying $107 million for a 391-unit Gold Coast building. [Crain’s] — Jacqueline Flynn