Origin Completes Crowdfunding for Iroquois Club

The Iroquois Club in Naperville will soon get a renovation to help it better compete with surrounding developments.

CHICAGO—Origin Investments has just sold all the available investment shares in its first crowdfunding offering, the 264-unit Iroquois Club in west suburban Naperville. As reported in GlobeSt.com, the Chicago-based real estate investment firm and Randolph Street Realty Capital formed a joint venture last September and acquired the complex for about $38 million. Origin began offering online investment shares to accredited investors during the fourth quarter, and the Iroquois offering produced 34 investors who contributed a total of more than $3,795,000. Participants needed to have either a net worth of $1 million, an income of more than $200,000, a joint income with their spouse of more than $300,000, or make investments on behalf of a company that met other thresholds. “Our track record of generating a 28% average internal rate of return continues to draw interest from a broader audience, including high net worth individuals, family offices and institutions,” says David Scherer , a founding principal of Origin. The Iroquois Club was developed in 1989 and has had only one previous owner. At the time of its acquisition the class B asset was 81% leased. Similar properties in Naperville have a 96% occupancy rate and the area has a limited new development pipeline. Furthermore, tenants in competing properties typically pay 10% to 15% more. Michael Episcope , a founding principal of Origin, says rents and occupancy at the Iroquois Club lag behind the competition because many of the interiors have not been updated since 1989. But over the next 24 months, Origin will set the stage for both rent and occupancy growth by making significant property improvements and enhancing the marketability of the complex. “Our due diligence prior to acquiring the Iroquois Club identified an opportunity to improve the performance and value of this asset by renovating and more efficiently managing the complex,” he adds. “We already have begun a capital spend program to elevate the complex to institutional standards.”