RIG Capital Snags 2026-Record Deal for O’Hare Area

R.I.G. Capital is shelling out $167 million to purchase a 1,115-unit apartment complex close to O’Hare International Airport from Brookfield Asset Management, marking the largest Chicago apartment deal of 2026 so far.

The sale punched close to last year’s biggest Chicago multifamily sale of $175 million sale of a tower in Streeterville in November, according to Crain’s. The five-building Pavilion Apartments complex sits at 5441 North East River Road in Chicago’s Far Northwest side, placing it in a unique spot: it can technically rival suburban apartment complexes.

According to CoStar Group, the complex is over 95 percent occupied, and its average monthly rent was $1,573 as recently as 2023. Chicago-based R.I.G. Capital also owns residential properties Waterford Estates in Chicago’s Hazel Crest suburb, West Loop Tower, Sterling Tower, Mergenthaler Lofts, as well as multiple other properties in and around Chicago.

“It’s a rare opportunity to acquire an asset of this scale in such a strategic location, especially with the significant capital Brookfield has already invested into the property,” R.I.G. Capital Principal Ari Tessler said in a statement. Pavilion Apartments is just down the street from Chicago’s notable Park Ridge suburb, and a mere ten minutes by car from O’Hare.

The deal isn’t the only property the Toronto-based alternative investment giant has sold recently. In early May, Brookfield dumped the 233-room Homewood Suites hotel to a company with ties to investor Prakash Patel. In 2021, Brookfield snagged the hotel as a small part of a large, 100-hotel portfolio acquired from Hospitality Investors Trust in 2021 following their Chapter 11 bankruptcy stemming from the pandemic, according to the outlet.

On the other side of the coin, R.I.G. Capital appears to be systematically snapping up apartment complexes as part of a suburban area push. They also own several other complexes, including units in Tampa, Florida, and Naperville, Illinois. In 2024, they purchased a 579-unit apartment complex in Elk Grove Village for $89 million as part of a suburban Chicago portfolio expansion.

— Hunter Cooke