Wrigley club owner wins auction for rooftop

Wrigley club owner wins auction for rooftop

The owner of a rooftop club over the left-field wall at Wrigley Field prevailed in a bankruptcy auction last Friday for a nearby rooftop building that filed for Chapter 11 protection in August. A venture led by Mark Schlenker agreed to pay $4.8 million for the Lakeview Baseball Club at 3633 N. Sheffield Ave., according to Chicago lawyer Richard Fogel, the trustee overseeing the Chapter 11 case. Mr. Schlenker, owner of the Brixen Ivy rooftop at 1044 W. Waveland Ave., did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Mr. Schlenker was the "stalking horse," or preferred, bidder at the auction. A bankruptcy judge approved the sale Tuesday. Related story: Wrigley club owner to bid for rooftop in Chapter 11

Venture plans to raze, redevelop industrial property near O'Hare

A venture including Chicago-based Bridge Development Partners LLC paid $3.6 million for a 212,200-square-foot industrial building near O'Hare International Airport. Bridge and partner Wanxiang America Real Estate Group LLC, an Elgin-based real estate firm backed by Chinese capital, bought the building at 2201 Lunt Ave. in northwest suburban Elk Grove Village. The seller was Minnetonka, Minn.-based Welsh Cos., which paid $9 million for the structure in 2005. The building is about 57% leased, according to Bridge. The tenants are office supplies company House of Doolittle and trucking firm CR Express Inc. Bridge says it plans to level the building next year and redevelop the property into an air cargo building. “As the Chicago industrial market continues to stabilize, we are confident that the O'Hare submarket will be one of the first to see new construction,” Anthony Pricco, a Bridge principal, says in a statement. David Bercu, Thomas Rodeno and Patrick Turner of Colliers International, who represented Welsh in the sale, will continue as leasing agents for Bridge as it seeks tenants for the redevelopment, according to the statement. A spokeswoman for Welsh Cos. did not return a phone call.

North Side apartments sell for $6.8 million

Multifamily investor Cedar Street Capital says it sold a 48-unit North Side apartment complex last week for $6.8 million, or more than $141,600 per unit. That's $2.5 million more than the Chicago-based company spent to acquire and complete construction of Rockwell Commons, a foreclosed condominium project at 4860 N. Rockwell Ave. that the firm acquired from Libertyville Bank & Trust Co. in 2009 and converted to apartments. The buyer was SRE Holdings LLC, according to Cedar Street's broker, Jon Morgan, a managing principal at Chicago-based InTerra Realty LLC. Mr. Morgan declines to name the members of the venture. Public records list Joseph Simon and Cary Rosen as managers of the Chicago-based entity. Efforts to reach them were unsuccessful. Cedar Street's partners and Mr. Morgan say the sale of Rockwell Commons sets a new per-unit record price for apartments in Lincoln Square, excluding buildings that also include retail. Cedar Street still owns about 1,500 apartment units in the Chicago area, most of which it has bought out of distress.

Equity LifeStyle's quarterly profit up 68%

Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc.'s profit jumped 68 percent in the fourth quarter and beat analysts' estimates. The Chicago-based mobile-home park owner, a real estate investment trust whose chairman is Sam Zell, reported funds from operations of $43.5 million, or 96 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, up from $25.9 million, or 73 cents a share, in fourth-quarter 2010. Analysts estimated fourth-quarter FFO of 87 cents a share, according to Bloomberg L.P. FFO — net income excluding gains or losses from property sales, plus depreciation and amortization — is a closely watched profit measure for REITs. Equity LifeStyle's stock was up about 2.7 percent at midday Tuesday to $68.45 a share.