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Skokie residents battle condo conversion plan

Village will consider policy to make conversions more difficult

The Optima Old Orchard Woods Apartments and Trilogy's Jesse Karasik (Optima Old Orchard Woods, LinkedIn)
The Optima Old Orchard Woods Apartments and Trilogy's Jesse Karasik (Optima Old Orchard Woods, LinkedIn)

Residents of a Skokie housing complex are trying to sway local officials to impose a new hurdle on an investor’s plans to convert condos into apartments for rent.

The Skokie Village Board will vote next week on a proposal that would make it more difficult for investors to convert condo buildings into apartment complexes, Crain’s reported.

Condo deconversions can be controversial as the condo owners who don’t want to sell their units for the conversions can be forced to do so under state law, if owners controlling 75 percent of a building’s value vote to support a bulk sale of the whole property.

Trilogy Real Estate shared plans to buy all 277 units in one of the Optima Old Orchard condo complex’s three towers.

A group of Optima residents against selling their units have asked the Skokie Village Board to increase the area’s minimum threshold to 85 percent in an effort to derail Trilogy’s plans. The move would follow the lead of Chicago, which passed an 85 percent requirement for deconversions in the city three years ago, setting a higher bar for buyers to meet than the state regulation.

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One resident of the complex’s Maple Tower, Rabbi Ralph Ruebner, said Trilogy’s attempted buyout is a “hostile takeover” that would result in elderly and other residents unwilling to sell unwillingly losing their homes.

Trilogy owns 172 units in Maple Tower that remained unsold after the 660-unit complex was completed. Trilogy spent $44 million on the units with a goal to rent them, or sell them individually as condos once the market recovered. The recovery never happened and Trilogy has grown tired of waiting. It chose to buy the rest of the units in Maple Tower to convert the entire building into rentals.

Jesse Karasik, Trilogy’s chief investment officer, told the outlet the property has been mostly rentals for the past decade and that it would likely be targeted for a deconversion into apartments by another investor if his firm is unsuccessful.

The Skokie Village Board will vote on the matter at Monday’s meeting.

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— Victoria Pruitt

Tags
Condo DeconversionsCondo MarketSkokieSuburban Chicago