Chicago-based private REIT Pangea Properties has sold 7,500 units at more than 400 of its Chicago properties to New York real estate firm Emerald Empire in a $600M deal.
The sale, which includes much of Pangea's Chicago portfolio, stands to be one of the city’s largest multifamily real estate transactions ever, according to The Real Deal, which first reported the transaction.
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Founded in 2008, Pangea Properties acquires and rehabs multifamily properties, managing 25,000 signed leases and employing nearly 500 people, according to its website.
Pangea Properties CEO Peter Martay told The Real Deal that those employees will keep their jobs with Emerald Empire in order to manage the properties.
Pangea is one of Chicago’s largest landlords and has more than 13,000 units in Chicago, Indianapolis and Baltimore. Seventy-two percent of Pangea’s properties were in Chicago, and the majority were located on the city’s South Side, according to PR firm Taylor Johnson. Per the Real Deal, the properties were assembled in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis.
The deal went through despite a lawsuit filed in July that alleges Pangea ignored Chicago tenants' health and safety complaints, including rodent infestations, broken elevators, and inadequate heating and electricity, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The lawsuit is ongoing.
Pangea is also one of the most frequent eviction filers in Chicago, taking thousands of tenants from the city’s South and West sides to eviction court, according to a 2019 Chicago Reader investigation.
Emerald Empire has $3.5B in total investments and more than 17,000 properties under management, according to its website. Its target asset classes are multifamily, industrial and office properties.
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