How Sam Zell Makes Millions

The answer: Having a nose for the right turnaround play. One of billionaire Sam Zell’s (snapped with VNO CEO Steven Roth) funds just sold the 366-space garage at 33 W Ontario for $16.9M to JLL Income Property Trust, after picking it out of foreclosure and debt for $7.2M in 2013, Crain’s Chicago Business reports. If you’ve parked in any River North garage and suffered from the sticker shock, you have a sense of how such a cash-flowing business could appeal to institutional investors. With Zell’s $110k in upgrades, projected 2015 net income is $1.2M.

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