Kuba and Opus add big properties to Chicago multifamily listings

From Gold Coast to suburbs, apartment players are looking to cash in

CIM Group's Shaul Kuba and The Opus Group's Dave Menke with Chestnut Place at 8 West Chestnut Street in Chicago, Vantage Oak Park at 150 Forest Avenue in Oak Park, and Ellison at 1555 Ellinwood in Des Plains (CBRE, The Opus Group)
CIM Group's Shaul Kuba and The Opus Group's Dave Menke with Chestnut Place at 8 West Chestnut Street in Chicago, Vantage Oak Park at 150 Forest Avenue in Oak Park, and Ellison at 1555 Ellinwood in Des Plains (CBRE, The Opus Group)

Shaul Kuba’s CIM Group and Chicago-based Golub are joining the wave of multifamily players testing the market for large apartment complexes in the Windy City and its suburbs.

A partnership between the two companies is among a pair of owners that added big properties to a flurry of listings that have hit the market in recent weeks. Golub and CIM have hired CBRE to market the 30-story, 280-unit Chestnut Place at 8 West Chestnut Street in Chicago’s Gold Coast that the partnership bought in late 2017 for upwards of $80 million. And an LLC tied to Opus Group, developer of the 113-unit Ellison at 1555 Ellinwood Street in suburban Des Plaines. has also hired the brokerage to market that property for sale.

Those listings comes on top of Goldman Sachs’ assignment for Chicago’s CBRE multifamily team to sell Oak Park’s Vantage, a 270-unit property at 150 Forest Avenue in the western suburb, as well as a trio of other apartment buildings in downtown Chicago that Newmark was hired to market this week.

The listings don’t include sale prices. The Oak Park property marked one of Cook County’s largest sales of 2018, selling for $102.8 million to Goldman and its partner at the property, Chicago-based Magnolia Capital Management.

This year has seen a surge of large apartment complexes trading hands at high prices in the Chicago area. Newmark brokers are also seeking buyers for buildings in the Near North Side, Streeterville and the West Loop neighborhoods totalling 795 residential units. And in the western suburbs, two multifamily owners recently sold off long-held assets, with a broker citing a strong market making it the right time for them to sell.

Golub’s and CIM’s Gold Coast property was built in 1982 while the other buildings are newer. Vantage was constructed in 2016. The Ellison in Des Plaines is three years old, and this is its first sale since Opus developed the property, records and the company’s website show.

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The Des Plaines property’s occupancy rate is more than 97 percent and it’s retained more than half its tenants so far this year. Its units are 894 square feet on average, and the average monthly market rent is $2,344 and $2.62 per square foot.

The Oak Park complex has a mix of two-bedroom and den units averaging 889 square feet. It’s almost 93 percent occupied, with an average market rent of $2,286 and $2.57 per square foot. The listing notes that a lack of new development in Oak Park has created pent-up demand.

The Gold Coast property was recently renovated and has units that average 769 square feet. It’s nearly fully occupied with an average market rent of $2,327 or $3.03 per square foot.

CIM made another multifamily sale in May, striking a deal with a Swiss investor for $73 million for a complex in Los Angeles.

The Goldman-owned property in Oak Park received relief on its tax bill after its assessment was appealed and won a lower valuation from the Board of Review, causing Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi to question the reduction.