Contact Us
News

Gain Without Pain

Chicago
Gain Without Pain
Entrust's Jim Clark and Alter Group's Rich Gatto
The Alter Group earned its first NAIOP Developer of the Year award for its 2010 efforts, but it's not all the kind of work you would expect from a developer. Part of the reason Alter won was by deciding when not to develop, says Alter's Rich Gatto (right), here with EnTrust's Jim Clark. Alter chose not to branch out too far into property types outside of its core strengths and picked up the slack by further developing  peripheral lines  of business, such as AlterAsset Management, AlterCare (a healthcare division) and Alter 360 (a tenant rep brokerage focusing on small- to medium-sized businesses). It also completed work on Fornelli Hall, a multi-school residence at the Pittsfield Building downtown.

One11 W. Illinois

One11 West Illinois Street in River North was Alter's major office development of last year. There's still space available in the tower, whose anchor tenant Erickson Institute owns its space. Three restaurants recently signed for the ground floor. In addition to its contribution to real estate, Alter has had success with City Year, a program that encourages high school seniors to give a year to helping their city between high school and college. Rich says Alter has a lot more in the works, with several sites in Florida, California, Arizona, and Chicago going through design and permitting  so they're ready for tenants as the economy recovers.