Sal Becovic closed on an Edgewater condo
complex in a bulk buyout of the unit owners after months of
negotiations and will return it to its original state as a
full-on rental property.
His Chicago-based multifamily firm, Becovic Residential,
paid $31.5 million for the 154-unit Granville Tower at 6166
North Sheridan Road, which has been rebranded by the buyer
as the Duplex Tower. Kiser Group’s Andy Friedman and Jake
Parker brokered the sale.
The purchase concludes a saga that began in February, when
the condo board of Granville Tower agreed to put the
building up for sale. To close, Becovic’s offer had to gain
approval through a vote among condo owners who collectively
held at least 85 percent of the building’s value. When that
threshold is reached, holdout condo owners can’t stop the
sale and usually are forced to sign over their documents.
Becovic’s purchase of the site appeared imminent earlier
this summer, but it took a while to iron out terms of the
deal and didn’t end up closing until this week. That ends up
being the pace of many condo deconversion sales since some
unit owners may fight an attempted acquisition and other
potential roadblocks buyers may run into.
Such transactions have become increasingly common in Chicago
due to strong apartment demand, in conjunction with a murky
outlook on midmarket condos in the area. For years, condo
values were stubbornly stagnant and many didn’t fully
recover from hits they took during the Great Recession. At
the same time, multifamily rents in Chicago kept rising,
giving investors chances to acquire chunks of units in condo
buildings and push for converting them into standard rentals
under one owner through bulk sales.
“The condominium market in the area has been robust, but
properties like Granville Tower, with high dues and upcoming
maintenance needs, have faced challenges in resale, making a
deconversion sale an attractive option,” Parker said in a
statement. “Despite the challenging interest rate
environment, well-located real estate like that of Granville
Tower continues to garner strong demand.”