Avison Young completed the sale of 317-325 W. Belden Avenue, a 19-unit condominium building located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Terms of the deal and the buyer were not been disclosed.
After receiving an unsolicited offer for the property, the building’s homeowner’s association retained Avison Young to educate the board and the unit owners on the specifics of section 15 deconversion sales as well as advise on strategies to maximize the value of the building if all pertinent parties decided to pursue a sale.
Avison Young principal James Hanson, vice president Jordan Mellovitz and associate Marissa Rose, based in the company’s Chicago office, represented the HOA in the transaction. The team also oversaw all due diligence activities and worked with the HOA in the process of presenting the offer to unit owners and securing approval for the sale pursuant to section 15 of the Illinois Condominium Property Act.
“Having overseen several section 15 sales recently, our team had a strong understanding of the investor demand for condominium buildings with deconversion potential, as well as how to structure transactions in a way that protects the interests of unit owners,” said Hanson.
Avison Young represented the HOA in negotiations with the buyer. Through their efforts the purchase price was increased significantly and other terms were also improved, including purchaser earnest money deposit, discounted leaseback rights for owners after transaction closing, and the return of HOA reserves to owners.
Compared to the initial unsolicited offer, Avison Young was able to negotiate an improvement of more than 55 percent in the final economic terms. At the vote, 100 percent of the unit owners agrred to support the deconversion sale.
