Key Take Aways from Chicago’s November 2021 Mastermind Group Meeting!
- Matt Berry –The John Buck Company, shared a couple projects that are in process. Currently they are marketing a disposition on Michigan Avenue. Waited until rents recovered to pre-pandemic levels to market. 100 groups signed NDA, approximately 30 are foreign. 12 have followed up. A good indication of the interest in Chicago institutional multi-family.
- Patrick Ainsworth – Director of Economic Development, Village of Wheeling. $400M in new development in past four years. Currently has 20 acres available for mixed-use near train station. Everything has reopened. Occupancies are 95% plus. Housing market is hot. 800 acres of land in TIF districts.
- Katie Mulrenin – ICI General Contractor General Manager. Specializes in retail redevelopment, automotive, K-12. Walmart is a large client, as is Coopers Hawk. Currently working on several Walmart redevelopment projects around the country. Activity has not slowed but the supply chain slowdown has been a challenge. Working with a developer on a nearly 100,000 sq. ft. E-sports competition center project in Orland Park.
- Lauren Zangl – ECS Midwest – New service being offered: Energy Audits, targeted to owners and investors. Review insulation, lighting, anything in the building that impacts the energy costs.
- Robert Person – Head of Acquisitions for Strategic Properties of North America. Shared that projects in Texas are delayed 20-30 business days for environmental surveys. Recently reach 85% build on the largest condo deconversion in the U.S. – 467 units and over $200M transaction. In the midst of due diligence. Excited about growth and opportunities. Zoning in Houston is extremely simple.
- Corey Walz – Walz Capital, is currently in due diligence on two properties. It’s challenging to get through the due diligence process. Working through eminent domain proceedings, working through challenges – learning process. Condemnation has been filed. Fighting for signage for tenant. Currently only working in buy mode – not selling.
- Dustin Cahan with MAC Management, an active developer and Syndication of capital of their own deals and third parties. Focus actively in River North: multi-family, retail, etc. Working through a couple acquisitions projects in Chicago. Moving forward with purchase of vet clinics – anticipates closing on 20-25 this year. Venture with a private equity group in Chicago. Still doing acquisitions in Chicago. Just purchased Lawry’s.
- Lee Utke with Madison Marquette, actively involved in acquiring single tenant lease properties that are or will soon be vacant. The competition to acquire and the prices have increased. 20% of competitors are willing to waive due diligence. There is more capital than available product in the market. Anticipates they will have 100 sites under contract by July 2022. Other focus is on mixed-use campuses.
- Reece Kamins – works in the Wintrust commercial real estate group. Through the pandemic they have been busy but steering away from hospitality and restaurants. Due diligence and appraisals have been expensive and time consuming. Staffing has been challenging as employees are looking for WFH opportunities.
- Jim Dash – with Carlson Dash, recently rolled out a flat fee service schedule. Hasn’t seen the fallout or failed construction or office projects. Trade contractors are having a hard time getting qualified workers. The problem started before the pandemic and has accelerated in the past couple years.
- Hunter Cannon – with Colliers, currently working on master broker deals. Recently pitched to a couple national fast casual concepts through incubators. Focus on advising in Chicago’s central business district.
- Dan Brennan – with Laurie & Brennan, 14-person firm focuses on all things construction in Chicago. Developer clients based in Chicago, but many projects are not in Chicago. Supply chain disruptions are impacting timing of projects related to tax deadlines. Doing a lot of work in Senior Living and Life Sciences. It has been tedious process to find qualified candidates, and to compete with large firm incentives and retention bonuses. Younger candidates are requiring hybrid work options.
- Hart Passman – with Elrod Friedman LLP, zoning municipal attorney. Public side, they represent municipalities. Private side, they work with owners, investors, and developers. Exclusively in Illinois. Working on the closing/financing of the redevelopment of the Purple Hotel site in Lincolnwood. After several years, should close on financing next week.
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