St. Clair Place, located in the Michigan Avenue submarket of downtown Chicago, was built as a 28-story, class-A office tower and since re-opened as a Wyndham hotel, with a minor office component on the upper floors. Construction of the building was completed in the early 1990s, coinciding with the collapse of the Chicago office market. Other than a 5,000-square-foot lobby retail tenant, no leases were ever signed, and the interior of the building remained in shell form. Bank of America owned a 50% interest in the property, and, under pressure to evaluate an offer solicited by its co-owner, BofA hired Wells Hill Partners and Corporate Properties to examine alternative uses for the property, to determine the market value of the asset under each re-use scenario, and to devise a marketing strategy to exit St. Clair Place.

The Wells Hill/Corporate Properties team valued the asset under several alternative uses, considering factors such as property adaptation costs and timing, zoning issues, community needs, government attitudes, site characteristics, and prospective users. Concluding that the value of the property exceeded the offer originally submitted to BofA, Wells Hill and Corporate Properties quickly sourced multiple superior offers. Relying on this market feedback, BofA reached an agreement to sell the asset for a price substantially exceeding that which was initially offered. A sale agreement was reached within 3 months of the involvement of Wells Hill and Corporate Properties, and the transaction closed 60 days thereafter.