Real estate appraiser Eugene W. Stunard thrived during the condominium conversion craze of the 1970s and more recently witnessed Chicago’s wave of condo deconversions.
Stunard, 86, died March 23 of post-appendectomy respiratory failure at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said his son-in-law, Jim Kutill. He had been a New East Side resident.
Born on the South Side, Stunard grew up in the Douglas Park neighborhood and graduated from Harrison High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1955 in urban land economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
After graduating from college, Stunard served in the Army in Korea for a year and a half as a second lieutenant. Upon his return in 1957, he briefly worked several small jobs before joining Prudential Insurance Co. as a regional appraiser.
In 1967, Stunard left Prudential to partner with two colleagues in a short-lived appraisal firm. Then, in 1968, from the basement of his Oak Park building, Stunard and his wife, Joan, started Appraisal Research Counselors, which grew to become a large independent property appraisal firm.
Appraisal Research Counselors flourished during the first wave of large Chicago condo conversions in the 1970s, with the firm providing appraisals for those conversions as well as consulting to building managements. Among the buildings whose conversions Stunard worked on were Lake Point Tower, Outer Drive East, 1150 N. Lake Shore Drive, 2800 N. Lake Shore Drive, 2020 Lincoln Park West, 1960 Lincoln Park West and the American Furniture Mart.
“The American Furniture Mart probably was the most complex redevelopment project we were ever involved with,” said Kutill, who is a vice president at Appraisal Research Counselors. Stunard also consulted for the developers of the Harbor Point condominium building on the New East Side, and he and his wife bought two units and moved into that building upon its completion in the 1970s.
Even at their apex of activity, however, condo conversions never made up more than half of the broad-based firm’s billings, Kutill said.
“He loved Chicago, and he was drawn to real estate when he was a kid,” Kutill said. “He wanted to be an appraiser when he was in high school. He just found it fascinating. He’s one of those rare individuals who was able to do exactly what he wanted to do all his life.”
Developer Eugene Golub called Stunard “the go-to guy for appraisals.”
“They were very, very helpful to us in the 1970s with the condo conversions. We always used them,” Golub said. “He created a very good organization, and he started databases that no one else had.”
CBRE Executive Vice President and broker John Jaeger, whose specialty is multifamily housing, previously had worked for Stunard’s firm for 13 years.
“I’ll forever be grateful to have joined Appraisal Research Counselors in 1992 and having Gene mentor me with his knowledge, relationships and passion for Chicago,” Jaeger said.
Stunard was philosophical about Chicago’s recent wave of condo deconversions, Kutill said.
“Now, deconversion is a current market trend because the investment market for apartments is so hot, and his reaction was, ‘That’s the market today. That’s the highest and best use,’” Kutill said. “As an appraiser, everything is driven by the highest and best use (of a property), and what maximizes value on the date of appraisal.”
Stunard had been a longtime proponent of the New East Side neighborhood, and in recent years he watched a flurry of development there.
“He was thrilled to see it happen, but frankly, he was frustrated with the slow pace of it in the early years,” Kutill said. “He was thrilled that this became a neighborhood that supported a school, parks, a grocery store, all those things.”
Although Stunard pulled back some from his work, he never fully retired, Kutill said. In 2017, Stunard and his wife entered into an alliance with Denver-based Integra Realty Resources, a franchise platform of independent appraisal companies. With that, Appraisal Research Counselors became Integra’s Chicago office, and Stunard remained the firm’s president.
Stunard taught at the Chicago-based Appraisal Institute, where he served for a time as president of its Chicago chapter. He also was elected into the Chicago Association of Realtors Hall of Fame in 2006.
Stunard enjoyed sailing and had been a member of the Chicago Yacht Club and the Columbia Yacht Club. He also had been a member of the Oak Park Plan Commission in the early 1970s, and he served on the advisory boards for Triton College and John Marshall Law School.
Stunard also is survived by a daughter, Laura Kutill; a son, Walter; a brother, Arthur; and six grandchildren.
Services were held.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.