A 509‑unit workforce housing complex in Mount Prospect sold for $75.3 million, marking a profitable exit for seller Monument Capital Management in the resilient suburban rental market.
A joint venture of Bender Companies and Eastham Capital bought The Element apartments, at 1550 Dempster Street, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. Monument originally purchased the property for $68 million in 2017.
The Element is classified as workforce housing, offering rents affordable to tenants who earn too much to qualify for subsidies, but struggle with full market‑rate pricing. The complex’s average asking rent is $1,658 per month, or $1.69 per square foot, according to CoStar. By comparison, suburban Chicago’s median net rent reached $2.15 per square foot in the third quarter, a 3.2 percent year‑over‑year increase, Integra Realty Resources reported.
The Bender‑Eastham partnership financed the Mount Prospect acquisition with a $60.8 million, seven‑year Fannie Mae loan arranged by Northmarq Managing Director Brett Hood. In January, the two companies jointly acquired a Hoffman Estates apartment complex for $75.8 million.
Both Bender and Eastham have experience in the Chicago suburban multifamily market, where projects generally trade at higher valuations as people avoid homebuying due to high interest rates, Crain’s noted, with Mount Prospect a particularly active market.
Chicago-based Bender Companies is an owner-operator of multifamily properties in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan, according to its website. Principal Kurt Bender founded the company in 2011. Earlier this year the company sold a suburban apartment property in Carol Stream for $54 million.
Bender told Crain’s in an email that suburban Chicago is the company’s strongest market for occupancy.
Boca Raton, Florida-based Eastham Capital is a private equity firm specializing in multifamily and working with both market-rate apartments and affordable housing. It usually takes an equity stake in exchange for a $5 million to $25 million investment, according to its website.
Miami-based Monument Capital did not comment on the sale.
— Joel Russell