"We believe there is an opportunity, with the credit crunch andthe slowing economy, for us to work with institutional lenders,mezzanine financiers and banks to take over some of their existingprojects that might have been foreclosed on," Gordon says. Thegroup will look for opportunities "in all of the troubled marketsnationwide," including Miami, Phoenix and Las Vegas, he says.Robert Pontarelli will be the head of the western division for theaffiliate.

Magellan Development Group has been a residential high-risedeveloper for 21 years. The firm is currently developing LakeshoreEast, a $4 billion, 28-acre mixed-use development near where LakeMichigan meets the Chicago River. Magellan recently completed theconstruction of the Tides, a 608-unit apartment tower on FieldBoulevard, south of Wacker Drive, and construction is currentlyunderway on the $474-million Aqua mixed-use tower and is expectedto be completed in the middle of 2009, as previously reported byGlobeSt.com.