Chicago's Legacy At Millenium Park Refinances And Regroups
Crain's recently reported that the Legacy at Millennium Park has managed to refinance their loan. Their original loan, that would have been due at the end of this year, was for $90 MM. The only way they were able to refinance it was by putting in an additional $30 MM of equity and taking out a new loan for $60 MM - the total of which paid off the original balance.
The Legacy At Millenium Park
The Legacy at Millenium Park is one of the Chicago Loop's premier luxury condominiums. During construction I had the unique experience of riding up the construction elevator to a high floor. Since these elevators hang off of the side of the building with nothing on 3 sides except the elevator cage it's a pretty cool ride. And once we got off we were able to take in the spectacular views granted by the Legacy's location without the barriers of any walls or windows!
Unfortunately, in the 3 years since construction was completed the developer has only been able to sell 55% of the 355 units in the building. So with this recapitalization they are switching real estate brokers in search of the ever elusive magic dust that some realtors are believed to possess - Equity Marketing Services is out and @properties is in.
As for pricing it appears that for the time being the Legacy is going to continue to try to obtain the $600 per square foot that they have realized up to now. According to one of the founders of @properties "They were able to successfully sell at the pricing they're at and, we feel, (are) priced appropriatelyā€¯ Uhhhh.....but they only sold 55% of the units.