News
HOW TO SPEND $55 MILLION
March 23, 2010
| What would you do with the sum in our headline? Pete Vilim and David Schwartz have choices when it comes to the last 25% of Waterton’s Residential Property Fund X. With plenty of distressed buildings and debt on the market, the execs say the fund could be complete as early as June. | |
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| Institutional investors and high net-worth families contribute to the fund, which Pete and David have used to buy unsecuritized Fannie and Freddie bonds, fractured condo conversions, and residential buildings whose developers can't pay construction loans. They're considering using some of the remainder to finance mezz debt. All of that, in addition to the 16,000 units they own in 22 cities, has been the product of 15 years as a team. Pete says he expects the apartment investment business market to come back full speed around 2012, right when he'll be ready to sell some units. | |
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| Waterton owns Chicago's biggest apartment complex, Presidential Towers, 2,346 units in four buildings in the West Loop. Built in '85, the units were dated and worn, and Waterton is modernizing them over the next decade. The indoor mall on the Towers' lowest levels is also getting a makeover; stores will now face the street, and anchor tenant Fitness Formula Clubs is making a brand new entrance out of an old loading dock. Waterton will also replace the building's rooftop track so residents and members of the 57k-SF gym can run through the winter. Next up: the team will start working on Fund XI, more than $500M. | |
