A 220-unit townhouse and condominium community in the far northwest Chicago suburb of Round Lake is hitting the market in a rare all-at-once offering that could flip the homes back into rentals. Owners are asking $59.5 million for the entire 27.5-acre development, a price that brokers say effectively hands a buyer a ready-made, single-family-style rental portfolio. The property, called Treehouse in the Woods, consists mostly of two- and three-bedroom townhomes built in the mid-1990s.
What’s on the block
Brokers at 33 Realty are marketing the deal as a single-asset sale of all 220 units, with an asking price of $59.5 million and an implied price per unit of about $270,500, as reported by CoStar. They are pitching it as a faster, lower-risk way to scale up build-to-rent inventory compared with starting from bare dirt and waiting through construction.
Where it sits
Listing materials place the site at 1 N Macgillis Dr in Round Lake, a 27.5-acre spread that the broker flyer pegs at $59.5 million, or $270,455 per unit, per CREXI. The play for a buyer would be to pull together the individually owned townhomes into a single portfolio, provided they can secure the necessary approvals from current owners.
Why investors may care
Industry watchers say the complex checks the usual boxes for build-to-rent specialists. Roughly half the units are already leased, and relatively light unit renovations and amenity upgrades could help push returns higher, The Real Deal reports. Sean Connelly of 33 Realty, who is leading the marketing effort, told the outlet the “pendulum may be swinging back” as new construction pipelines thin out and suburban rents climb.
Legal hurdles for a bulk sale
The legal mechanics are not exactly a layup. A bulk deconversion in Illinois generally requires about 75 percent of unit owners to approve a sale, and in Chicago that threshold jumps to roughly 85 percent, according to CoStar. That kind of supermajority can give holdout owners considerable leverage and make timelines tricky, even when investor demand is strong.
What comes next
33 Realty has the assignment and is shopping the package to institutional buyers and build-to-rent investors, with listing contacts and offering materials available through the firm, The Real Deal notes. If owners sign on and a buyer secures financing, a sale and rental conversion could move forward, although association voting and lender underwriting typically stretch these transactions over several months.
This Round Lake offering, one of the largest suburban condo or townhome bulk listings in the area, highlights how investors are targeting existing communities at a time when new construction is expensive and rents keep trending up. Whether the $59.5 million price tag lures a buyer willing to brave the condo vote will determine if Treehouse in the Woods becomes a model for more suburban deconversions.
