The Saga Continues at River City

River City (image via YoChicago!)

The saga continues at River City (via Crains):

The deal a developer struck in December to pay $100 million for all 448 condos at the River City complex in the South Loop has fallen apart, and the developer made a new offer yesterday to pay $89 million.

That amount is below Marc Realty Capital's offer of $92 million in February 2017, a bid that didn't get enough votes from homeowners. The firm increased its offer to $100 million in August, and in a December vote among homeowners, just over 79 percent of ownership approved the sale.

Under Illinois' condominium law, a bulk sale of all units in a building must be approved by at least 75 percent of ownership. A new offer will have to be put to a vote.

"I bet the vote would fail," River City homeowner Bob Olsen said in an email to Crain's. Olsen and his husband own three units in the building and live in one. "They'll still get the 55 percent to 60 percent who would vote yes at any price," Olsen wrote, but persuading another 20 percent or so to accept the lower price will be a challenge.

We've spent a decent amount of posts on the topic - 2/16/16 or this 8/15/17 or this 8/22/17 or this 12/22/17.

A reader also sent us this note:

Dear Sloopin’,

Remember a post from February, 2016 titled “Deconversion, A cautionary Tale?” That letter from one of your readers accurately predicted the future for River City owners exactly. At the end of 2017, after 2-1/2 years of relentless pursuit by Marc Realty, and 3 separate votes on “final offer” prices, River City Owners voted to accept a $100 million offer from Marc to sell the residential portion of the building that was due to close at the end of June 2018. Owners were even encouraged to sign closing documents in May to prepare for the closing. Some owners made arrangements to purchase other properties. On the day before Memorial Day weekend, the owners’ lawyers received a letter from Marc stating that they were not going to close on the purchase. They are subsequently demanding a reduction of more than 10% in the purchase price. After nearly 3 years of uncertainty, Marc has demanded a price cut at the exact time where a lot of owners have no choice except to agree to it. Another (fourth) vote will be necessary to approve the change in sale price and passage is far from sure, so River City owners have more months of uncertainty regarding their homes and property, all thanks to the lies and unethical behavior of Marc Realty.

Regards,
A fed-up River City owner