Due diligence for multi-family condominiums, as part of an overall prospective joint venture investment in Calhoun Beach Club in Minneapolis (Minnesota). Our real estate due diligence consulting was on behalf of Nissho-Iwai American Corp., since renamed a part of Sojitz Corp.
Real estate due diligence services were provided in support of client’s underwriting efforts, in connection with a proposed investment in Calhoun Beach Club’s major renovation and expansion. The expansion was to include residential condominiums in a newly-constructed wing of the complex.
Calhoun Beach Club is a well-known local athletics club, social club, luxury apartment complex, and social banquets location, overlooking Minneapolis’ scenic downtown lakes. The residential complex is situated on the shores of Bde Maka Ska (the former Lake Calhoun), convenient to downtown Minneapolis and a network of parks and tree-lined lakes with miles of running, walking and biking paths. An aspect of our due diligence for this multi-family condominiums investment, was consideration of the facility’s location among these area amenities and outdoor recreation, as compared to similar (competitive) facilities in the region.
In January 2018, Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”) formally replaced the Calhoun name with Dakota (Native American) name, Bde Maka Ska. The Dakota name for the lake means “White Earth Lake.” There have been challenges to the DNR’s name change but so far, the name remains. The former name was chosen to honor John C. Calhoun (1782 to 1850), who was a proponent of slavery and expulsion of Native Americans from their tribal lands. The name change promulgated by the DNR is one of a myriad of such actions taken throughout the U.S., to bring about some balancing of U.S. history as viewed by Native Americans and other “people of color.”
Sojitz Corporation a “sogo shosha” (general trading company) based in Tokyo, Japan. The company is engaged in a wide range of businesses globally, including buying, selling, importing, and exporting goods, manufacturing and selling products, providing services, and planning and coordinating projects, in Japan and overseas. Sojitz was formed in 2004 through the business integration between Nichimen and Nissho Iwai. Prior to this merger, our client (an affiliate of Nissho Iwai) for this due diligence for multi-family condominiums, had been formed by the merger of Nissho Company and Iwai Sangyo Company in 1968.
