Yitzy Klor found a new pool of investors to save a Gold Coast condo deconversion deal that an affiliate of his firm previously lost in foreclosure.
The venture of Klor’s Skokie-based firm Strategic Properties of North America paid $21 million to buy back 1211 North LaSalle Street from the court-appointed receiver who took possession of the 68-unit building through a foreclosure lawsuit initiated last year by Irvine, California-based lender CoreVest.
The deal, funded with a $21.3 million ($313,000 per unit) loan from Boston-based Offset Capital, resolves financial distress the building encountered under the ownership of a separate affiliate of Strategic. CoreVest initiated foreclosure proceedings against the landlord early last year, after the previous Strategic venture fell into default on a $26 million loan that the firm took out on the building after converting it from individually owned condos to a traditional rental asset controlled by one landlord.
Strategic, CoreVest, and the court-appointed receiver Chris Neilson of Dallas-based Trigild didn’t return requests for comment.
Strategic’s play to rescue the building and maintain its ownership could be a sign of turning tides for the firm, which also was partnered with Mirae Asset Securities in the ownership of the 480-unit building at 400 McClurg Court that last month landed a $110 million loan.
Amid these deals, Strategic has also endured difficult legal battles and had two massive condo deconversion purchases fall apart in 2023 and 2024 due to its inability to obtain financing.
The condo board for the 467-unit 10 East Ontario Street called off its long-planned $190 million deconversion sale to Strategic in 2023 after years of the firm delaying the closing and eventually failing to get a loan for the deal. A similar situation played out last year at 200 North Dearborn, a 310-unit property Strategic offered to buy for $95 million before that transaction also disintegrated.
Strategic also got into hot water with its partners, affiliates of the firm Jos. Cacciatore & Company real estate, in a condo deconversion deal at 21 East Chestnut Street in the Gold Coast. Lender HIG seized that property due to a loan default while Jos. Cacciatore sued, alleging financial and operational mismanagement against Strategic in an attempt to hang onto the property that so far hasn’t been successful.
CoreVest hired Tyler Hague and Lauren Stoliar of Colliers to market the LaSalle Street building for the sale.
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