Baker Development sweetens multifamily deal with low-interest loan

There’s an irony in the twist that a would-be multifamily seller is putting on the contemporary lament about higher interest rates, shortcutting complaints by offering an assumable fixed-rate loan from the good old days in the bargain.

And the address of the 191-unit building, at 930 West Altgeld Street, doesn’t just put the property in the upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood. The name of the thoroughfare — which means “old money” in German — also could be taken as a reference to the loan.

Baker Development has put the 11-story building on the market, with JLL serving as its broker, CoStar reported.

The building came on line six years ago, firmly in the era of rock-bottom interest rates, and it’s hitting the market with rates on the rise and demand among multifamily investors down from peaks during the pandemic years.

Baker Development is in position to offer a buyer the chance to assume a $78.6 million loan from Fannie Mae at a fixed rate of 3.78 percent. Terms call for interest-only payments and maturity in five years.

A price has not been publicized for the property, and CEO Warren Baker has not commented. The complex, called Elevate Lincoln Park, is 98 percent leased, according to JLL. It has a 162-space garage and nearly 17,000-square-feet of retail space.

Several recent sales in Chicago have reflected the down market, including one for the 500-unit tower at 1326 South Michigan Avenue that sold for $144 million, less than its cost to develop. A 198-unit building at 850 North Lake Shore Drive sold for $80 million, about a third off its prior price in 2016.

Assumed loans helped seal the deal on a couple of other sales, including the 78-unit MODE Logan Square complex that fetched $31 million.

The Lincoln Park complex, meanwhile, might appeal to the superstitious for its location on Altgeld Street. But the name probably traces to John Peter Altgeld, a one-time governor of Illinois remembered for his controversial pardon of a number of people convicted of crimes related to the Haymarket Riot, a turning point in the history of the American labor movement.

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