Zell, Bluhm, Pritzkers Are Forbes Billionaires; The Deal Sheet
On Chicago's 176th birthday, the city has even more reason to celebrate. Of 1,426 billionaires on Forbes' 2013 list of the richest people on the planet,17 hail from the Chicago area, and eight are connected to our very own CRE community. (Now you know where to go when you're trying to sell Girl Scout cookies.)
Sam Zell heads up the CRE pack (#329 on the list) with a net worth of $4B. His most recent bonanza: Equity Residential said it will buy a 60% stake in Archstone in a $16B deal. JMB and Walton Street co-founder Neil Bluhm (#670) came in at $2.2B (give yourself a pat on the back for any $$$ you contributed at Rivers Casino). A plethora of Prizkers with ties to the Hyatt fortune dotted the list, with JB of private equity/venture capital firm the Pritzker Group in the lead at $3B.
SALES
CBRE Global Investors is marketing for sale a 2.9M SF portfolio of five office properties located in Dallas, Atlanta, and Chicago (all owned by a fund in the CBRE Strategic Partners US fund series). The Chicago property is 190 S LaSalle, a 798k SF building in the Central Loop.
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Lee & Associates of Illinois principal Jim Planey and Martin, Goodrich & Waddell's Josh Waddell repped a private buyer in the purchase of 127 acres at I-88 and Main St in Rochelle. Paine/Wetzel/TCN Worldwide's Elise Couston and Bill Kerrins repped the seller, Rochelle Joint Venture LLC.
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Kiser Group was retained to list a $5M mixed-use building consisting of 12 residential units and four commercial spaces at 2256 N Orchard St in Lincoln Park. Commercial tenants include Chipotle and Swirlz Cupcakes. The listing agent for the property is Michael D'Agostino.
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971 W Industrial LLC bought a 100k SF industrial facility located at 971 W Industrial Dr in Aurora. (A fortuitous bit of chance for a company with that name that this particular property went on sale.) Paine/Wetzel/ TCN Worldwide EVP Elise Couston and SVP William Kerrins repped the seller, Filtration Group, and CBRE's David Prell and David Justh repped the buyer.
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Lee & Associates of Illinois VP Scott Anderson repped CN railroad in its acquisition of 16.5 acres in Joliet. The company plans to expand its rail yard with an intermodal ramp and offer daily West Coast service starting June 2013.
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Local investor 1735 W Carroll LLC purchased a 24k SF net-leased industrial building of the same address in the Kinzie Corridor (13% cap rate). The current tenant, US Adhesives, occupies the entire facility. NelsonHill's Mark and Michael Nelson repped the seller, HTTM Co.
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Kiser Group was retained to list a $2.9M, 18-unit mixed-used building at 15-17 N Vail in downtown Arlington Heights. Both commercial tenants are restaurants that have leased since 2008. Kiser has another new suburban listing, a $5.3M, 56-unit apartment building at 515-519 S Milwaukee Ave in Wheeling. The listing agent for both properties is Brian Mond.
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WAP LLC paid $1.1M for a 13k SF office building located at 370 Houbolt Rd in Joliet. Adam Johnson of NAI Hiffman's office services group repped the seller, Houbolt LLC.
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The Boulder Group completed the $1.1M sale of a Walgreens located at 3136 W 55th St. Walgreens has 13 years remaining on a NNN ground lease. Boulder's Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman repped the seller, a Midwest-based development company. The buyer was a Chicago-based high net worth investor.
LEASING
Jones Lang LaSalle was named leasing agent for the 142k SF industrial/distribution facility at 1400 Harris Rd in Libertyville, one of two buildings in the Liberty Point Corporate Center acquired in late January by New Jersey-based Silverman Group. Current Liberty Point tenants include Culligan International Co., Tire Centers, and Laser Precision. JLL's Steve Trapp, Kurt Sarbaugh, and Robin Stolberg will lead the assignment.
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RelaDyne, a lubricants and fuel distributor, signed a 76k SF lease at 2250 Arthur Ave in Elk Grove Village. The landlord, Cabot Properties, was repped by Avison Young principal Michael Fonda and director Todd Heine.
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Mars Equities signed two new tenants at a 108k SF building (150 Harvester Dr) in Burr Ridge, part of Estancia Corporate Centre. In Brookfield Global Relocation's lease of 30k SF, NAI Hiffman's Jim Adler and Dan O'Neill repped Mars and CBRE's Kevin Rogers and Peter Quinn repped Brookfield. In law firm Codilis & Associates' 38k SF sublease from Insure One, Jim and Dan repped Mars and Insure and JSQ's Tom Murphy repped Codilis.
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Advanced Thermal Corp inked a 36k SF industrial lease at 226 Gerry Dr in Wood Dale. Lee & Associates of Illinois principals Jeff Janda and Jeff Galante repped ownership, Cabot Properties, and Domain Properties' Danny Steinberg repped the tenant.
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NAI Hiffman managing director Michael Flynn and VP Jason Wurtz repped TA Associates Realty in its 32k SF lease renewal with pharmaceutical company Coram within the Kensington Business Center (1471 Business Center Dr) in Mount Prospect. Coram, repped by Corporate Realty Associates' Jim Bowers, took initial occupancy in the building in 2001.
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Lee & Associates principal CJ Kuehl repped OptionMonster Holdings in a long-term lease renewal of 16k SF at 10 S Riverside Plaza. JLL SVPs Nikki Kern and Brian Atkinson repped building ownership.
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All My Sons Moving & Storage leased 14k SF at 10216 Werch Dr in Woodridge in an expansion and relocation from Bellwood. Pain/Wetzel/TCN Worldwide EVP Elise Couston and Alexis Martinez (Rubicon Representation of Dallas) repped the moving and storage company and Cawley Chicago's Caroline Sullivan and Terry Grapethin repped Cawley, the landlord.
DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION
Leopardo completed the Gateway to the West Loop, a 190k SF Mariano's-anchored retail project, and broke ground on Ravenswood Station, a 240k SF Mariano's-anchored retail center. Both sites come from the development team of Seymour "Sy" Taxman, Timothy Barrett, and Gene Porto.
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Loews Hotels & Resorts and DRW Trading Group held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Loews Chicago Hotel in Streeterville. Scheduled to open in 2015, the 400-room hotel is being designed by architectural firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz.
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Harrison Street Real Estate Capital promoted Geoff Regnery to principal. Geoff works in the firm's client service and marketing group focusing on investor relations. He received his undergraduate degree from Denison University.
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Ned Thomas has formed Pearson Street Advisors, a boutique search firm serving the real estate industry. With 29 years in CRE, Ned has spent the last seven working in recruiting.
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Avison Young tapped Andrew White as SVP in the company's retail advisory services group. A 20-year retail real estate vet, Andrew was previously director of redevelopment at Phillips Edison and Co.
AWARDS
Leopardo was awarded the Fox Valley Associated General Contractor's annual Safety Excellence Award in the 250k-plus man-hour category. Leopardo finished 2012 with an injury rate 34% below the national average.
How are you honoring Casimir Pulaski today? Best answers will be printed. Send ideas and suggestions to marissa.oberlander@bisnow.com.
