Solomon Buys Third Suburban Chicago Multifamily Project

The Solomon Organization is targeting the Chicago suburbs with three major multifamily deals in the past few months, after spending the last decade buying up apartments throughout much of the upper Midwest.

The Summit, New Jersey-based firm paid $76 million for a 292-unit apartment complex in Romeoville, as the firm aggressively scales its regional portfolio, public records show.

Prolific Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based developer Continental Properties sold the Springs at Weber Road, at 700 South Weber Road. The deal marks the first time the garden-style community has changed hands since it was completed in 2016. Continental Properties, led by CEO James Schloemer, has built multifamily communities throughout the Chicagoland area and elsewhere in the U.S.

To fund the acquisition, Solomon secured a $50.4 million Freddie Mac-backed loan arranged by Baltimore-based M&T Realty Capital Corporation, records show. Solomon will rebrand the community The Reserve at Romeoville.

The transaction represents the largest property sale in Romeoville since 2023, when the California State Teachers’ Retirement System dropped $114 million on the Weber55 Logistics Park. It looks to be the largest Romeoville multifamily sale since at least 2013, which is the earliest public records are searchable online.

Zach Solomon, principal of the Solomon Organization, said the firm’s first three Chicagoland purchases total 1,156 units, with the other two properties in Naperville that it bought for a combined $179 million in August and earlier this year.

“In the last 10 years, we assembled a notable Midwest portfolio … that now exceeds 10,000 units, and we are equally enthusiastic about Chicago,” he said in a statement. The firm’s other properties are in northeast Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan, he said.

The Romeoville deal comes as the suburban multifamily market outpaces its downtown counterpart. While Chicago’s central business district contends with a cooling development pipeline due to struggles with equity fundraising amid higher interest rates, markets in the suburban collar counties like Romeoville in Will County, outside the Cook County property tax system, are drawing demand from buyers.

Landlords on the outskirts of Chicagoland are emboldened to hike rents based on little new oncoming supply, and they have more certainty over tax costs than closer to the urban core, where some sellers have still taken losses in property value even with rents rising.

Northmarq’s Alex Malzone, who represented the seller alongside Dominic Martinez, Parker Stewart and Jake Lamb, said the property drew more than 20 offers.

“Capital is seeking opportunities in suburban Chicago due to strong fundamentals, including limited new supply and superb rent growth,” Malzone said in a statement.

The Romeoville property, along the I-55 corridor, features studios through three-bedroom units and amenities including pool and pet spa.