Condo deconversions aren’t dead, they’ve just moved to the suburbs.
With deconversions expected to taper off in Chicago after last year’s ordinance increased the percentage of condo owners who must agree to a takeover, investors have been looking elsewhere.
North Park Ventures converted a 91-unit condo building in Evanston it acquired for $17 million back to rentals, according to Crain’s. The property at 2730-2766 Hampton Parkway was built in the late 1930s as a rental property then turned into condos about 20 years ago, Crain’s reported. This marks North Park’s second deconversion deal in two years.
Chicago investors had been riding the condo deconversion craze until last year, when the city upped the amount of owners who had to agree to the takeover to 85 percent, from 75 percent. Increasingly, suburbs like Evanston — which still has the 75 percent figure — are catching the eye of investors.
In February, CLK Properties closed on a massive condo complex deconversion in Des Plaines. The firm paid $94 million for the 924-unit Heritage Village Pointe.
Interra Realty’s Patrick Kennelly told Crain’s that “the barrier to entry is lower, so the opportunities are larger in the suburbs.” Multifamily activity has also picked up, after investors pounded the brakes at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Kennelly said. [Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman