South Bend Retail

South Bend, IN     |     200,000 SF    |     Investment

Opportunity
An east coast institutional investor with a relationship with a principal of one of Janko Group’s affiliates had a workout and default situation related to two strip shopping centers in South Bend, Indiana totaling 200,000 SF originally owned by a CEO of a large publicly traded company. Upon his death, the family members who inherited the assets in the estate were absentee and not knowledgeable in real estate ownership; influenced by market conditions, they wanted to give back the assets. The lender negotiated with Janko Group and its affiliate to assume the outstanding non-recourse loans at a low cost basis, with no money down in order to keep the loans current.

Results
Janko Group and affiliates assumed ownership, leasing and management of the assets.  After gaining control of the property and making improvements in leasing and the physical structures, Janko Group hired a national brokerage group to market the assets for repositioning and redevelopment. This strategy proved successful with a full payoff of the lender and a considerable profit to ownership.