A housing development for retirees in Chicago with about $229 million of long-term debt became the largest municipal bond default this year when it missed a Sept. 1 payment.
The Clare at Water Tower, a 53-story apartment building with Lake Michigan views and near luxury retailers north of downtown, won’t make further payments until debt-restructuring talks are done, the Illinois Finance Authority said Sept. 20 in a disclosure statement. The developer, Franciscan Sisters of Chicago Service Corp., said it skipped the September payment.
The default is the largest in the $2.9 trillion municipal- bond market this year, said Richard Lehmann, publisher of the Distressed Debt Securities Newsletter in Miami Lakes, Florida. Including it, this year’s total topped $1 billion, while still trailing 2010’s $3.6 billion.
“In a typical year, we have about $1 billion of defaults,” Lehmann said.
The Clare bills itself as Chicago’s first and only high- rise retirement community. The building, on Loyola University’s Water Tower campus near Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, has 248 apartments in 600,000 square-feet of space and offers common dining rooms, three chapels and fitness and aquatic centers….
Find out more at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-22/chicago-tower-for-retirees-skips-payment-in-year-s-largest-muni-default.html
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