Wicker Park Ave

1449 N Wicker Park Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Strategy: Add Value, Cash Out Refinance
Status: Current
Purchase Price: $3,400,000
Acquisition Date: 7/10/2014
Units: 8 Units

Wicker Park Ave was a condo building that we converted to a fully constituted Class A rental building. This property sits in an A+ location within Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. It is across the street from Wicker Park, one block from the Damen CTA Blue Line Stop, and steps away from the restaurants and shops on Milwaukee Ave.

At acquisition, the average rent was $2,740/month. Within 12 months, the average rent was $3,268/month, a $528 average increase.

In the year of purchase, we were already achieving $3,200/month in rent at 2147-2151 West Evergreen (acquired in 2013), which served as an invaluable comp for us since it was in the same neighborhood (Wicker Park) and was built by the same developer, just a few years after 1449 N Wicker Park was built.

We executed the same strategy we have implemented over a dozen times: repaint the unit interiors with more modern colors, refresh the common areas, reevaluate all contracts, and aggressively market the property charging full-market rents. We also obtained a significant property tax reduction not included in our underwriting.

We refinanced our loan 14 months after acquiring the property to return our initial LP equity tax-free. The property was appraised for $4,000,000 during the refinance, a 17.65% value increase in just over a year.