Connor Group eyes exit from big Wheaton apartment complex

Connor Group is looking to cash in on a large multifamily asset in a supply-constrained western suburb of Chicago.

The Ohio-based real estate investor has hired CBRE to sell Wheaton 121, a 306-unit luxury apartment complex at 121 North Cross Street in the DuPage County suburb about 25 miles west of Chicago.

The listing describes the property, which was built in 2013, as “a stable and predictable performer” but advises potential buyers to consider light to moderate renovations to garner more rental income. The complex’s average in-place rent is $2,045, lower than Wheaton’s $3,547 average monthly cost to own, the listing said.

The suburb is also a market lacking supply, especially new construction, with just one multifamily property set for completion in Wheaton over the next five years. 

While the price the asset might fetch is unclear from the listing, Connor Group bought the property from Atlanta-based Invesco for $72 million in 2018. That was a big loss for Invesco, which paid almost $99 million for the complex in 2015.

It sold for less in part because of a large property tax increase, Crain’s reported at the time — the 2018 bill jumped 47 percent from 2016 to $2 million.

Listing brokers didn’t return requests for comment. A spokesperson for Connor Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The offering is coming on the market as Chicago leads the nation in rent growth for the first time in over two decades.

Rental rates have risen 3.6 percent since August 2022, triple the national average of 1.2 percent and surpassing 20 major metropolitan areas, according to commercial real estate data platform CoStar.

That’s higher than the Chicago market’s all-time average of 2.3 percent, but lower than 20 months ago when rents were soaring across the country.

Connor Group took out $49 million in debt against the Wheaton asset from CBRE’s lending arm when it bought the property in 2018, DuPage County records show.

Another large apartment complex that recently hit the market is the 1,675-unit Prairie Shores property in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, which could sell for around $200 million.

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