Poetry Garage Investors Beat $10M Personal Judgment

The previous owners of a downtown Chicago parking garage were cleared of paying nearly $10 million tied to a foreclosure, after a Cook County judge eliminated a previous deficiency judgment against the investors.

The surprise reversal unwinds the final piece of a large foreclosure lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court tied to the 10-story, 1,157-space Poetry Garage at 201 West Madison Street that concluded last fall. The borrowers argued in January that the loan agreement prohibited any personal liability against them after the judge ordered them to pay an additional $9.6 million to the lender.

Swiss Re Life and Health America, a subsidiary of global reinsurance firm Swiss Re, seized the property with a $21.5 million credit bid at an October 2025 sheriff’s sale. The previous owners, a group of investors controlled by Chicago-based Syndicated Equities’ Richard Kaplan and John Hammerschlag of Chicago-based Hammerschlag & Company, defaulted on the $33.2 million loan when it matured in March, Swiss Re alleged.

After offsetting the property value and about $2 million in cash held by a court-appointed receiver, Swiss Re argued it was owed an additional $9.6 million to cover the full loan amount. Judge Debra Ann Seaton agreed, and entered a deficiency judgment against the borrowers in December.

But in January, the defendants brought a motion asking the court to cancel that ruling and argued the loan agreement expressly prohibited the personal liability that Swiss Re sought. The filing pointed to a non-recourse clause in the loan agreement that stated the lender would “neither seek nor take any monetary judgment or deficiency judgment” against the borrowers personally in the event of a default.

The defendants said in the January filing they attempted to raise this issue with Swiss Re before the judge ordered an approval of the property’s sale that included the deficiency judgment.

“Unfortunately, Plaintiff chose to proceed with the motion and has not responded to subsequent requests to vacate the improperly entered Judgment Order,” the filing said.

On Feb. 20, Seaton granted the motion and modified the previous order to erase the $9.6 million deficiency judgment, leaving Kaplan and Hammerschlag with no further liability.

Syndicated Equities declined to comment, citing confidentiality. Hammerschlag and attorneys for Swiss Re did not respond to requests for comment.

The Poetry Garage takes its name from the literary tributes — dedications to poets including Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost — that mark each of the building’s floors. The 385,310-square-foot property includes 19,312 square feet of retail.

The property faced financial distress as the pandemic wiped out office occupancy and foot traffic in the Loop. According to court records, the owners secured three separate loan modifications between June 2020 and March 2021 to keep the loan afloat.

Swiss Re retains the property following the October foreclosure sale. The judge’s order says the lender’s attorneys filed no response to the borrowers’ motion to cancel the judgment, indicating Swiss Re is not challenging the decision.