Services will focus on Chicago area real estate spanning the asset classes of single- and multi-family residential, single- and multi-tenant retail properties, condo conversions and new construction developments, and land.

"We have been communicating with a number of institutions with real estate investments in Chicago about providing assistance in stabilizing, valuing and marketing distressed and foreclosed real estate," says Thaddeus Wong, @properties co-founder. "We feel it makes sense to structure these services under a formal group. @properties Institutional Services Group will leverage the substantial marketing resources, tech infrastructure and sales force that already exist within @properties to serve institutional clients more efficiently and effectively."

The new division will also secure listings and orchestrate activities with agents that market and sell real estate foreclosures and distressed properties.

Wong and co-founder Michael Golden named Ralph Cram and John Staib as managing directors overseeing the Institutional Services Group. Cram said @properties' size and resources, as the largest independently-owned residential brokerage firm in Chicago, will benefit its clients and offer a strong foundation for the new group.

"Most brokers that focus on REO properties and distressed real estate are too small to handle either the volume or the variety of distressed real estate coming through the pipeline today," Cram says. "However, @properties Institutional Services Group has the bandwidth and, very importantly, the processes to execute on any number of transaction types, from the sale of individual residences to the repositioning and re-marketing of new construction high-rise condo developments."