Lakefront REO Pool: Five Contiguous Multifamily Parcels
Evanston, IL — An Illinois regional bank needed a group of five contiguous, income-producing lakefront parcels off its books in a single transaction. Helvetica acquired the entire REO pool — 16 units across five multi-family zoned lots on Lake Michigan frontage — stabilized occupancy, and sold the assembled portfolio.
The Bank's Problem
A regional bank headquartered in Illinois held five contiguous foreclosed residential properties on Lake Michigan frontage in Evanston. Individually, the parcels were small; together they were a concentrated REO position the bank wanted resolved in one clean disposition rather than a drawn-out series of retail sales. The properties were still occupied and generating rent at roughly 80% occupancy, which made a piecemeal liquidation both slow and value-destructive.
The Helvetica Solution
Helvetica negotiated the acquisition of the entire pool directly with the bank through a single-purpose acquisition entity, closing all five parcels together. The collateral comprised 16 total units — a 6-unit building, a 5-unit building, a 3-unit building, and two single-family residences — on multi-family zoned lots in one of the strongest lakefront rental submarkets in the Chicago metro. The acquisition basis came in well below Helvetica's underwritten value for the assembled group, creating the margin to fund improvements and working capital from the outset.
The business plan was straightforward and short-dated: retain the existing property manager for continuity, aggressively market the three vacant units to push occupancy from 80% toward full, complete targeted unit improvements, and then take the stabilized, contiguous group to market as a single portfolio — where the assemblage and lakefront frontage command a premium no individual sale would capture. Helvetica executed that plan and sold the portfolio.
Benefit to the Bank
- One negotiated transaction cleared five REO parcels off the balance sheet
- No retail listing process on occupied, tenant-in-place residential assets
- All-cash equity buyer with no financing contingency and no lender timeline
- Certainty of close on a concentrated, geographically clustered REO position
Deal Highlights
- Five contiguous, multi-family zoned parcels on Lake Michigan frontage
- 16 income-producing units acquired at 80% occupancy
- Acquired as REO directly from an Illinois-headquartered regional bank
- Acquisition basis materially below Helvetica's underwritten group value
- Short-dated hold with lease-up and light improvements as the value driver
- Exit: stabilized and sold as an assembled lakefront portfolio
Have a bank disposition or REO pool?
Helvetica invests equity and funds loans from $300K–$10M+ on investment and business-purpose real estate, typically closing in 3–10 days following receipt of all requested documentation.
