When Canadian REIT, Adventus Realty Trust, filed for bankruptcy, it was but the first sign of trouble for the firm’s suburban office portfolio spanning much of Chicagoland and the Atlanta area.
Now, a lawsuit filed by the lender-appointed receiver that’s managing one of Adventus’ former buildings near O’Hare International Airport alleges former tenant Interfirst Mortgage owes over $4,000,000 in unpaid rent and other fees after it abruptly exited the property last month.
Receiver Matthew Mason with Riveron Real Estate filed the lawsuit last week against Chicago Mortgage Solutions, also known as Interfirst Mortgage, a former tenant at the Adventus Property at 9525 West Bryn Mawr in Rosemont.
The lawsuit alleges that Interfirst signed a lease at the property in December 2021 and then expanded May 2022 and stopped paying rent about a year later. The company initially signed a three-year lease for about 27,000 square feet in the building and shortly after expanded its presence to another suite that also covered about 27,000 square feet. Rent for each suite began at $17 per square foot the first year and would increase to $17.50 for the second year and $18 for the third, or about $38,000 to $41,000 per month each.
According to the lawsuit, Interfirst vacated its office space this May, about one year earlier than its lease agreement ends. The company allegedly owes over $4,000,000 in unpaid rent and other fees.
Over the same time period that Interfirst stopped paying rent, the company laid off nearly 500 employees. Former employees of Interfirst have said the company succeeded while mortgage rates were low but struggled to plan and adapt as rates rose, according to reporting from Housing Wire.
An attorney for Mason declined to comment and representatives of Interfirst did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Adventus, the office building’s former owner, looks unlikely to make a comeback. The British Columbia-based landlord of seven office complexes in suburban Chicago and five in suburban Atlanta has a series of entities tied to those properties making their way through Canadian bankruptcy courts. The overall picture is bleak, with a cumulative claim of nearly $382 million in liabilities and less than $3 million in assets, bankruptcy records show.
Representatives of Adventus could not be reached for comment.
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