Profile: Apartment developer betting on west suburban market.(management of Equity Residential Properties Trust, president Gregory H. Smith)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Crain's Chicago Business, January, 2002 by Murphy, H. Lee

The apartment rental market is so weak that many developers have given up on the idea of new construction. But Gregory H. Smith, president of Chicago-based Equity Residential Properties Trust's central division, is a notable maverick. With its new Landings complex of 206 apartments in Lake Zurich running at close to 95% occupancy, Equity is embarking, with joint-venture partner Lincoln Property Co., on a 400-unit complex to be set on five acres of a former cemetery in Lombard.

Ground was broken on the $45-million project last month, with completion slated for early 2003. Equity is pricing its units at the high end of the market-close to $1,500 in monthly rent. Mr. Smith, 50, is gambling that the economy will recover late next year. ``We think 2003 will be...

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