CHICAGO, IL- The Kiser Group has just announced that four large 1920's-era buildings deep in the South Side, an area ravaged by the housing crisis, have gone on the market. Lee Kiser, principal of the Kiser Group, says the offering, totaling 207 units and strung along S. Jeffery Blvd. at 71st St., will test whether the neighborhood has finally begun to recover from the downward spiral it underwent in the wake of the economic collapse.
“There's nothing, no [property] offering that I'm aware of, on this scale or this quality on the South Side of this city right now. Nothing comes close,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “Pre-crash, $70,000-a-door was the market value of the property, and now they're on the market for approximately $44,000-a-door,” or about $9.1 million. “From a historical perspective, it's a hell of a buy.”
The surrounding South Shore neighborhood has property on the market for $20,000 a door, as well as numerous sites going through the foreclosure process, Kiser adds, but most owners of higher-quality buildings such as these have decided to hang on and wait for better days.
With the distressed property in South Shore and nearby Chatham slowly getting absorbed, the unnamed owner felt now was the time to take a chance. In addition, the owner has what Kiser calls a “fiduciary need,” which he could not discuss in detail, to attempt a sale.
Although the three mid-rises and one high-rise, now called the Jeffery Portfolio, were built over 80 years ago, each had a gut-rehab in the 1990's with all-new wiring and other systems. About 25% of the units have tenants with vouchers from the Chicago Housing Authority, but the rest rent for the area's prevailing market-rate, with a total occupancy of about 85%, also typical for South Shore. The block has a Dominick's grocery store nearby, as well as a Metra stop. “A lot of people there work downtown,” Kiser adds. “It's mostly working-class tenants; a good cross section of Chicago's South Side.”
“We're just beginning to conduct showings.” The amount of interest shown by potential buyers “will be an interesting commentary on South Shore and where it's at. It's a lot of real estate for the price.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
