Thursday, September 2, 2010

Enterprise may rent out Chicago tower. Buyers sue over that change in 'character of the property'

Dear Palermo residents, Miss Penny Lane is home for lunch and thought you might be interested in story about our developer getting a loan extension on one of its Chicago project. Some buyers are suing because of a plan to rent out many of the unsold units. The Sept. 1 article by Andrew Schroedter on www.chicagobusiness.com says:

"(Crain’s) — Developers Ronald Shipka Sr. and Richard Stein have won a key loan extension on the slow-selling first tower at Walton on the Park and have scrapped plans for a second condo high-rise on the site. Now, their joint venture is considering renting out the nearly 100 unsold units in the 201-unit tower, completed earlier this year at State Street and Delaware Place on the Near North Side, according to a lawsuit by two prospective buyers ..."
"Meanwhile, the developers have avoided a showdown with their lender, winning an extension late last month on a $129.5-million construction loan. The note was to have matured in January, but that deadline was pushed back to March and can be extended again until September 2012 ..."
"Mr. Shipka, president of Chicago-based Enterprise Cos., didn’t return a call ..."
"Buyers have closed on 22 units and another 81 are under contract, confirms Ralph Oliva, a sales associate in the Lincoln Park office of residential brokerage Coldwell Banker NRT, which is handling sales at the 31-story building ..."
"The developers have dropped a proposal for a second residential tower, which would have brought the total number of units up to 385. Instead, the developers plan to build a small commercial building on the site, according to the loan amendment ..."
"In the meantime, part of the first tower may go rental, according to a lawsuit filed by two investors seeking to void their contracts on two units. In May, Walton on the Park’s property report — a document given to prospective buyers — was amended to allow Enterprise and Mesirow to 'lease all the unsold units,' something they had previously promised would not happen, according to the suit, filed July 27 in Cook County Circuit Court ... 'That changes the entire character of the property,' says Donald Battaglia, the Waukegan-based lawyer for the investors, Aurelius Butkevicius and Marika Motuzaite ..."


Miss Penny Lane says: Some people would still like Enterprise to come back. Will Enterprise California work out a loan deal at the last minute before formal foreclosure, or buy the Palermo property at auction, and return to be part of our community?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many similarities between Palermo and Walton on the Park -- the renting out part and abandoning Phase 2 and the loan situation. But I note in the story that the real-estate sales guy for Walton on the Park also I think is/was a Palermo owner. My own sales agent said numerous people from Chicago connected to Enterprise (employees, sales agents, real estate services people) bought on Sandy Point and Melody Lane at the very first stage of construction (that was a selling point to me). So maybe Enterprise will have some fondness for its people and buy the property back at auction (if MB Financial lets them).

Anonymous said...

Many Coldwell Banker and their affiliated mortgage services people from Chicago own here. That's great. Chicago rules#!#!#!!

Anonymous said...

Palermo is like Chicago in the Desert.