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New York-based Vanbarton Group sold the Seneca, a 286-unit vintage building in Streeterville, for $55 million in mid-June. The price represents a 27% loss of value from the $74.9 million that Vanbarton paid for the Seneca in December 2014. New York-based Vanbarton Group sold the Seneca, a 286-unit vintage building in Streeterville, for $55 million in mid-June to a unit of San Francisco-based FPA Multifamily, according to a deed filed with Cook County. The price represents a 27% loss of value from the $74.9 million that Vanbarton paid for the Seneca in December 2014.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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CHI-EXIT UPDATE: Downtown Office Vacancy Surge Hits New Record High – Crain’s Chicago Business
Better to get 2/3rds of loaf than a lot less. Better fishing elsewhere.
Seneca is a beautiful property — built in the 1920s as a fancy hotel and later made into luxury apartments. The fire sale here is just the latest canary in the coal mine for Michigan Avenue and downtown Chicago.
They’ll be glad they got out early.
But I’ve been told for months, by Crains, that rents are up….wha wha whaaaaaattttt is going on here!
“The massive loss for Vanbarton is another indicator of the challenges for Chicago’s multifamily market right now. Despite record-high rents, especially in the downtown area, investors are growing less bullish on the area, due to concerns in property tax hikes and rising interest rates.”
Trending the wrong way – nothing but down