search

The Real Deal Logo

Trending

Brickell office slump? Nearly 3M sf planned, zero preleasedBrickell office slump? Nearly 3M sf planned, zero preleasedFriend or foe? Here’s what the new tax break means for office-to-resi conversionsFriend or foe? Here’s what the new tax break means for office-to-resi conversionsMassive Bronx Post Office building back on marketMassive Bronx Post Office building back on marketAfterpay co-founder buys $65M mansion in priciest LA deal this yearAfterpay co-founder buys $65M mansion in priciest LA deal this year
Development
Chicago

T2 Capital smacks Near West Side brewery owners with $12M foreclosure suit

Father-son owners of Great Central Brewing business have personal assets on the line, complaint claims

T2 Capital Files $12M on Great Central Brewing owners
Great Central Brewing Company's David Avram and T2 Capital's Jeff Brown (Facebook/Great Central Brewing Company, T2 Capital, Getty)

A Near West Side foreclosure fight that’s been fermenting since April has come to a head in a lawsuit filed late last week by a debt fund known for being able to seize and reposition troubled properties.

Great Central Brewing owners Dwight and David Avram, the father-son duo with a Naperville-based real estate development business who launched and built the brewery that opened at Wood and Walnut streets in 2016, are facing a foreclosure complaint from Wheaton-based T2 Capital, a debt fund whose CEO is Jeff Brown.

The landlords are also at risk of having other, personal assets taken away to help repay T2 the more than $11.6 million it says it’s owed in principal and interest. T2 loaned the Avrams more than $9.3 million since 2015, with the property serving as collateral. The debt matured in April, and the Avrams have yet to settle it, according to T2’s lawsuit.

The suit threatens to derail Great Central Brewing’s business, which relies on contract brewing for other breweries looking to scale their production. 

It’s possible that the lender gets repaid if the Avrams sell the property, which consists of a taproom and the brewing facility within a 36,400-square-foot brick building completed in 2016 at 221 North Wood Street, slightly west of the booming Fulton Market district and steps south of Goose Island Taproom.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

“I’m hopeful that the dispute is resolved amicably,” Brown told The Real Deal. “Likely via a liquidity event at the property, but maybe other assets. For better or worse, the Cook County foreclosure process affords borrowers ample time to resolve their issues.”

The Avrams didn’t return requests for comment.

A separate business entity tied to Dwight Avram, the father, appears to have pledged to T2 its interest in a portion of the Brookdale Gateway Office Campus, a series of single-story Naperville office buildings built along Bond Street by Avram’s company that secured a $13.8 million loan issued to the landlord in January by Blackhawk Bank, based in Beloit, Wisconsin, according to public records.

The Avram Builders website claims the Naperville office complex spans a collective 285,000 square feet, and it had previously secured a $14 million loan that was paid off earlier this year. It’s unclear if T2 could target seizure of that property to help resolve the dispute over the debt associated with the brewery property.

Read more

Companies and People
T2 Capital
Tags
breweriesForeclosureIndustrial MarketOffice MarketReal Estate LawsuitsRetail Market