An Alternative Viewpoint: Marc Realty's Offer for River City

Last week we posted a note from a reader who had issue with a real estate company trying to buy River City condos.

River City - Image from YoChicago

Well apparently not everyone feels the way this reader does.  We received a decent amount of emails sharing an alternative views on the topic.  To be fair, we thought we would post one of them:

I'm an avid Sloopin reader and greatly appreciate all of your efforts on keeping us all informed on what is going on in our South Loop neighborhood. Having said that, I wanted to provide you additional information on one of your posts so that you can provide accurate information to your readers.

You recently posted about Marc Realty's offers to purchase the River City Condo Association. I'm pretty sure the information you posted is from the same individual that sent you the information for your original post on this subject. I'm hoping you will post something from someone on the other side of this issue so that it's more balanced and not just maligning the majority of the owners in River City or Marc Realty. Although we can comment on your posts, the comments do not get the same attention as the actual posts. Therefore, by posting only one side, you and your readers are missing part of the story and doing a disservice to the rest of the owners of River City.

The latest post is accurate in that Marc Realty has approached us with two previous offers that were voted down and that we are currently waiting for the finalization of a third offer. However, it is very slanted. What this individual failed to mention to you in both posts are several points:

• The first offer was a generous offer significantly above market value and has increased with each subsequent offer. This doesn't sound like abuse to me!! 

• There are other very favorable terms in all three offers that actually make this an even better deal for the owners. 

• The last offer was voted down by a very, very slim margin, just 0.3%, so the majority of owners were happy to hear of a third offer. 

• River City has been approached by other potential buyers, in addition to Marc Realty, so the voting process would have been inevitable anyway. 

• Marc Realty is not forcing the owners to vote over and over. Illinois Condominium Law requires that the Board present the offer to the Association for a vote, and the majority of owners are eager to receive and vote on this third offer. 

• The majority of owners that want this next offer to succeed feel that they are being held hostage by the very small percentage that do not want it to go through. 

• The normal business of the building has not been disrupted.  The Board is required to continue with business as usual unless and until the Condo Association enters an agreement to sell, and they have been doing just that. For the other individual to state otherwise is a misrepresentation of our Board's actions. 

• Prior to an agreement being reached, every owner still has the right to sell their unit outright or rent it out as allowed within our Bylaws. Again, business as usual 

While I understand and respect that some owners are not interested in selling their units, it is unfortunate that one individual chooses to present this as an overly negative offer and process when in fact it is neither.

(Hat tip:  HP & CT!)