Veteran condo developers and marketers Santo Rizzo and Chip Cornelius talk about a scenario that may play out if Chicago’s apartment boom becomes hyper-competitive and results in falling rents.
The likelihood, they say, is that many of the new buildings will convert to condominiums. They view current conditions in the condo market, i.e. tight supply and heavy demand, as favorable for conversions. As an instance of the supply / demand imbalance Cornelius says, half-jokingly, “if we had 200 two-bedroom condominiums in the West Loop right now, at a decent price, we could sell those over a weekend.”
Note: Cornelius and Rizzo recently teamed up at Chicagoland Realty Services, one of our sponsors.
If this were true, then why have no major condo projects broken ground downtown?
In addition, there have been no announcements to convert any of the major apartment projects under way into condos either.
tup,
Chip and Santo are talking about future market conditions, not current ones.
You may see an announcement of a new condo tower in the next few weeks.
Ahhh, Joe, always dropping little hints…
Reading from overseas but I don’t see these conditions lasting. Seems overbuilt for the size of the city.
Antonio, you may need to brush up on your reading skills.