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Chicago apartment preservation lender expands rehab financing pool
Community Investment Corp. said it has funded nearly 70,000 apartment units with about $1.8B in loans since 1984, and it recently announced a $322M pool to support new affordable units over five years.
Chicago faces a slowdown in apartment development that is leaving rents pressured, and Community Investment Corp. is positioning itself to help preserve older rental housing through lending to smaller operators, Bisnow reports. The lender targets financing gaps for borrowers seeking to acquire and rehabilitate older buildings, with CIC saying rising operating costs have made it harder for affordable housing groups to keep margins on older stock as insurance, property taxes, and utilities increase. CIC Managing Director of Lending Phillip Moore said the company’s financing is aimed at smaller operators in underserved areas that are not well served by the traditional banking community. Since 1984, the firm has rehabbed nearly 70,000 units through roughly 2,800 loans totaling $1.8B, according to Bisnow. In December, CIC announced a new $322M loan pool from 37 investor banks intended to support thousands of additional affordable units over the next five years. Bisnow also cited that rehabilitation costs in Chicago are estimated at about 80% less than new construction, and said the National Multifamily Housing Council estimates Chicago would take more than a century to close the housing affordability gap under current subsidized affordable production levels.