George Armoyan Buys Ravelin Chicago Office Portfolio

Canadian investor George Armoyan’s corporate chess match is working him on both sides of the game: He took some lenders for Chicago office towers off the board while assuming full control of the properties’ ownership.

The head of Nova Scotia, Canada-based Clarke Incorporated consolidated control over three Chicago-area office properties, including 120 South LaSalle and 20 South Clark streets in the Loop and 275 North Field Drive in Lake Forest, as part of the firm’s $1.1 billion takeover of Toronto-based Ravelin Properties real estate investment trust, formerly called Slate Office REIT.

The sweeping transaction caps a dramatic period for the troubled REIT, which had been evaluating alternatives to address financial difficulties, Ravelin’s public financial statements show. In February, it said it had defaulted on $33 million it owed to the holders of long-term financial instruments known as debentures. That followed a period of intense boardroom friction that saw Armoyan — whose private firm G2S2 Capital was Ravelin’s largest shareholder — abruptly exit the Ravelin board in January.

The culmination of the deal brings the potential for new leasing momentum to the tower at 20 South Clark Street, a 31-story, 400,000-square-foot building which was just 54 percent leased earlier this year but will now operate entirely debt-free, according to a person familiar with the matter. The building, which was bought by Ravelin’s predecessor Slate in 2018 for $86 million, joins a small but growing group of Chicago office buildings whose landlords are using their own capital to compete for tenants. A Stream Realty brokerage team replacing Cushman & Wakefield as leasing agent for 20 South Clark Street, according to a marketing flyer.

Before the Ravelin takeover, Armoyan’s G2S2 in December also struck a deal to buy the loan note for 120 South LaSalle Street — a 23-story, 655,000-square-foot building — from the original lender CIBC, after Ravelin had fallen into default on the debt, according to the former REIT’s financial disclosures. There was $84 million still owed to CIBC on the loan note at the time of the transaction, though G2S2 may have snagged it at a discount to its face value.

Clarke declined to comment on its moves regarding the Chicago-area office building loans.

While it remains relatively rare for major office landlords to operate entirely debt-free, a growing trend has emerged among well-capitalized owners electing to play the long game. Rather than attempting to refinance pre-pandemic loans amid punishing interest rate hikes and sluggish tenant demand, some landlords are paying off their mortgages entirely to maintain a competitive edge. This debt-free strategy allows them to offer flexible, aggressive lease terms and unrestricted concessions without the pressure of fulfilling lender mandates.

Landlords like Morgan Stanley at 155 North Wacker Drive and Metropolis Investment Holdings at the NBC Tower, at 455 North Cityfront Plaza, have used their debt-free status to aggressively court tenants shaking up the central business district. Deep-pocketed institutional giants are writing massive checks to wipe out their liabilities entirely rather than face a challenging refinancing market, a tactic seen when the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio retired a $150 million balance at 77 West Wacker Drive, and when billionaire Don Bren’s Irvine Company paid off a staggering $431 million mortgage at its 60-story riverfront trophy at 300 North LaSalle Street.

“We believe Chicago remains one of the most compelling office markets in the country for well-capitalized owners who are willing to invest, lease aggressively and take a long-term view. We see this portfolio as an excellent platform for future growth,” Clarke’s David Shahinian said in an email.

The 197,500-square-foot Lake Forest property was just 52 percent leased as of earlier this year, and fetched just under $20 million from Ravelin when its main tenant Pfizer sold it in 2022 according to Ravelin disclosures.

Ravelin originally bought 120 South LaSalle in 2019 for $156 million from a joint venture between Lincoln Property Company and the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System. To fund the purchase, it took out the mortgage with CIBC, a deal that slipped into default in 2024 due to Ravelin’s growing levels of debt compared to the value of its assets. Initially, CIBC issued a notice of default and entered into a forbearance agreement while Ravelin scrambled to find a rescue plan.

Behind the scenes, a boardroom civil war was brewing. Tension over management of the REIT led to the resignations of Slate founders Blair and Brady Welch from the board in October 2024. With the founders out, Armoyan stepped into the vacuum. His private investment vehicle, G2S2 Capital, began aggressively buying up Ravelin’s distressed debt — eventually swallowing roughly $430 million of it.

By late 2025, CIBC had exited the equation with the LaSalle loan note sale to G2S2 while the Loop property was 76 percent occupied — though its tenant Legal Aid last year was reported to be leaving its 55,000-square-foot space in the building for 200 North LaSalle Street ahead of its 2027 lease expiration. Armoyan, now acting as Ravelin’s lender, granted the cash-strapped REIT forbearance until March 31. With the clock ticking on his own defaults, Armoyan used his public vehicle, Clarke Incorporated, to strike the final $1.1 billion corporate takeover, which involved a portfolio of properties in Canada as well as Ireland, with the deal announced March 27 — just four days before the forbearance window slammed shut.