Lipe Property Company

Lipe Property Company

Lipe Property Company is anchored by three Principals: Steve Lipe who manages all aspects of the development including design, marketing, sales and leasing and program management, Robert DiCostanzo who runs all construction activity, and Susan Lipe who structures the financing. As a boutique developer, Lipe Property Company is opportunistic in the types of projects it pursues. Lipe’s focus has been on the development of urban residential and urban retail. The Principals of the company have a particularly strong background in adaptive reuse. The table below highlights the residential development experience of the team:

Lipe Company Principal's Experience

Number of Residential Units Completed

Steve Robert Total Lipe DiCostanzo Experience Lofts/Adaptive Reuse 817 1,118 1,935

Mid/High Rise 273 273 546

Single Family/Townhomes 62 1,953 2,015 Single Family Lots 1,206 2,245 3,451

Total 2,358 5,589 7,947

Steve Lipe has been developing real estate in Chicago since 1994. In the mid-1990’s he helped found Chicago Urban Properties, one of Chicago’s largest loft and condominium developers in the latter part of the 1990’s. They developed over 600 lofts, condominiums and townhouses in a four year span.

From Chicago Urban he joined Centrum Properties as a partner in 1998. Centrum completed a wide variety of large-scale commercial and residential projects in Chicago and other Midwestern cities during Lipe’s tenure. The projects include two notable Chicago properties: 1) the redevelopment of the

Montgomery Ward’s headquarters campus in River North into 2,500 dwellings units and over two million square feet of commercial space and, 2) the construction of the mixed use North Avenue Collection at North Avenue and Sheffield Street in Lincoln Park.

Lipe Property Company was founded in 2001. This boutique real estate development firm has allowed Lipe to combine the sophistication and quality architectural design evident in his earlier work with the personal touch and community sensitivity only available with a smaller, more narrowly focused company. In 2003 Mr. Lipe was joined by Robert DiCostanzo to form Lipe Construction Company. The addition of DiCostanzo to the Lipe Companies brings 25 years of construction and experience to the table and reunites two of three original principals from Chicago Urban Properties. Mr. DiCostanzo ran all of the

construction for Chicago Urban Properties from 1996 through 1998 building 645 residential units having a construction value of $82 MM, Mr. DiCostanzo was the Vice President of Construction and Development at Kenard Corporation from 1993 to 1996 where he managed the renovation of 400 loft condominium units totaling $35 MM of construction value.

After Chicago Urban Properties, Mr. DiCostanzo began working on a large office to apartment building conversion in Chicago’s Loop. He became the President of Skyline Equities Realty Design and

Construction. He completed a $50 MM historic renovation of a 293 unit project, 30-story office building that included the utilization $7.5 MM of historic tax credits and $7 MM of TIF funding from the City of Chicago.

Susan Lipe has been active in Chicago’s real estate finance community since the mid 1990’s originally with the Bank of Montreal. She joined Cohen Financial’s real estate investment bank in Chicago in 1998 and participated in the integration of Cohen’s acquisition of San Francisco-based E.S. Merriman and Sons as well as closing over $1 billion in real estate debt and equity transactions. Ms. Lipe returned to Chicago in 2001 as Director of Real Estate for Divine InterVentures and then joined Chicago-based investment bank Incapital as Managing Director of Capital Markets. She returned to traditional real estate lending in 2005 with LaSalle Bank as a Senior Vice President in commercial real estate.

Mr. & Ms. Lipe live in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood where they are active in the community. Mr. Lipe has been involved with the Bucktown Community Organization since 1994, is a past President and Chairman of the Zoning & Planning Committee. Additionally, Mr. Lipe was on the Board of Directors of

PROJECT LIST

Lipe Property Company

 1480 N. Milwaukee – 10,000 square foot retail project in Wicker Park

 1250 N. Paulina – 6 unit plus commercial very high end project in Wicker Park

 Chantico Lofts (1061 W. 16th) – 42 unit loft condominium project in the Pilsen neighborhood

Chantico Lofts before Renovation

 Chantico South (1621 S. Carpenter) – 9 unit a project adjacent to Chantico Lofts

Chantico South

 1300 N. Milwaukee – Mixed use residential and retail property in Wicker Park

 1825 N Winnebago – 16 unit condominium project in Bucktown [project sold prior to construction]

 1337 W 15th – 68,000 square foot mixed use industrial building

Centrum Properties

 Churchill Row Townhouses – 22 town home project in Bucktown

Churchill Row Town homes

 Churchill Row Lofts – 39 unit loft project in Bucktown

Churchill Row Lofts

 Kingsbury Park—purchase, master planning, and development of former Montgomery Ward headquarters campus in River North

600 W. Chicago / Kingsbury Park

 e-port (now 600 West Chicago)—joint venture with Taconic from New York to redevelop former Montgomery Ward catalog house into a mixed use project anchored by telecom & multi-media companies

 domain—298 unit loft project in northern half of former Montgomery Ward catalog house

domain after Renovation

domain before Renovation

 Chess Lofts—light industrial building in the South Loop leased to City of Chicago Board of Elections

 10 West Hubbard St.—55,000 square foot loft office building in River North

 North Avenue Collection—250,000 square foot retail, office and parking project in Lincoln Park

North Avenue Collection Retail and Office

 Sheffield and Weed—Series of restaurant and entertainment buildings in Weed Street Entertainment area in Lincoln Park

 The Park on Wolcott—unbuilt 52 unit town house project in Lakeview

 Mentor Building—conversion of State Street office building to 52 condominiums and retail

 Bradley Place—36 unit single family home subdivision in St. Ben’s Chicago Urban Properties

Erie Center Lofts

 Erie Centre Lofts, Chicago, IL: 6-story gut rehab / 106 loft condominiums, retail & parking in River North

 Erie Centre Tower, Chicago, IL: 24-story new high-rise / 126 condominiums, retail & parking

 1515 S. Michigan Avenue - 52 unit loft building and 8 townhomes in the South Loop

 Plaza 32 -132 unit mixed-use mid rise project in Lakeview

 Capitol Hill Lofts - 96 unit loft building in the West loop

Capital Hill Lofts Condominiums

 Art House Lofts and Townhomes, Chicago, IL: 4-story gut rehab / 48 lofts & townhomes