A developer’s plan to pay $190 million for a River North condo tower, which would be converted into apartments, scored the approval of the tower owners.
If the deal for 10 E. Ontario Street closes, buyer Strategic Properties of North America would set the record for the priciest condo deconversion in Chicago, according to Crain’s. It would break the current record of $107 million that was set in late 2019, when ESG Kullen bought a 391-unit condo in the Gold Coast.
Strategic Properties also developed the 51-story Ontario Place condo tower.
The owners of Ontario Place approved the sale in a vote on Sept. 10. The deal still faces some opposition from a small minority of owners who claim the entire sales process has been rigged, according to the report.
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In 2019, Chicago enacted an ordinance aimed at slowing what had been a rush of condo deconversion deals. Under the measure, at least 85 percent of owners had to approve a building’s bulke sale, up from the previous 75 percent.
Ontario Place owners had rejected an August 2020 offer from Strategic of $188 million. At that time, only 74 percent of owners voted to approve the deal.
The latest vote had just under 90 percent of the owners voting to approve while a little under 9 percent voting against.
The opposition, led by Mark Silverberg, claims the building’s condo board acted “improperly” by pushing for the sale, Crain’s reported. He and a group of supporters sued the board last year over the planned deal.
Silverberg also contends the condo board improperly extended the voting deadline, which allowed more owners time to vote. That ended up raising the percentage of owners in favor of selling, from nearly 84 percent.
An attorney representing the board said it was not the board’s decision, but the condo owners themselves who chose to extend the voting deadline.
[Crain’s] — Victoria Pruitt