Kohan Retail Investment Group just tightened its grip on Chicago’s distress circuit, snapping up a troubled mortgage tied to a Loop office tower and adding to a run of cut-rate downtown buys. It’s another reminder of how far values have sunk in the Loop, where loans and buildings are changing hands at steep discounts to pre‑pandemic highs.
The Great Neck–based firm acquired a roughly $60 million mortgage on 33 West Monroe Street, a 28‑story, roughly 900,000‑square‑foot tower. That pencils out to about $67 per square foot for a building that’s only about 44 percent leased. A venture of Principal Life Insurance sold the debt, and Transwestern had the note under contract last month for roughly $25 million — a jaw‑dropping data point on pricing. By buying the Monroe loan, Kohan positions itself to take control of the building if AmTrust RE — the owner tied to the property — defaults, part of a broader strategy of scooping up both distressed paper and properties, as reported by The Real Deal.
Kohan’s Chicago Playbook: Debt And Bargains
In June, Kohan paid roughly $45 million for the 65‑story tower at 311 South Wacker Drive — a headline‑grabbing bargain that showed the firm is willing to own marquee assets at deep markdowns. That deal, and now the Monroe loan buy, point to a two‑track approach of picking up discounted buildings and the debt that sits on top of them, according to CoStar News.
AmTrust’s Mounting Headaches
The mortgage purchase arrives as AmTrust RE faces a rough patch: the landlord lost 30 North LaSalle to a lender takeover, is staring down a foreclosure suit tied to a roughly $260 million Illinois Center mortgage, and has at times weighed surrendering other Loop assets. Those legal and financial pressures have left several AmTrust buildings vulnerable to creditor moves and opportunistic bids, as documented by The Real Deal.
Why Distressed Loans Can Lead To Conversions
Buying loan paper on the cheap gives investors options: negotiate a workout, foreclose and take the deed, or push a conversion that removes office space from the market. Kohan’s interest in partially converting 311 South Wacker into a hotel shows the kind of upside buyers imagine when they control the capital stack, per CoStar News.
