The Dirt Lawyer's Blog Archive

That's what the Sun-Times said yesterday . Since my clients are doing deals near downtown I guess that's good news for me. But the rents are going to be much pricier, with the tradeoff that there are plenty of rooftops nearby. Yet some things are not selling. According to the story retail leasing at Trump Tower is slow because of high prices being quoted. (No shock about the price there, plus 401 Wabash is not Boul Mich, the Donald notwithstanding. That does not mean it will not change, but we'll have to see.) The other interesting news here is talk about a retail repositioning at Presidential Towers, which Pete Vilim and David Schwartz at Waterton Associates LLC picked up last year. They have a first rate team doing the work so I am not surprised. And what is going on with Metra Market? I'd heard rumors the project was dead, but the story talks about the project as if it were alive, so I will go with the latter assumption until proven otherwise. (I want Metra...

My bet is on opportunity. Some stories here piqued my interest. The first, from Crain's , discusses both a record year in dollar volume in Chicago and what some are calling a challenge worse than that of 1998, when I was just a novice in the business. The pundits say that even insurance companies and banks are getting skittish and that LTVs for deals are in the 65% rate compared to what was going on a year ago. I have seen some skittishness, including from banks, but I am not (yet) seeing 65% LTVs required, though I'll bet that might be the case on a riskier deal. If so then the mezz lenders will be having a field day, be it in straight deals or equity kickers. Is it deeper or bigger? Beats me. I'm actually a just little busier than I want to be right now (which I guess is good this time of year). IPE Real Estate writes about opportunity , and that big players are poised to buy globally in 2008, and have the cash on hand to do it. One example about people I know i...