This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet
Southeast Wisconsin has risen to become one of the Chicago metro area's leading industrial submarkets, and that has also drawn in investors.
A joint venture of Chicago-based Clear Height Properties and Israel-based Buligo Capital Partners acquired the 354K SF headquarters, manufacturing and distribution facility of Kenall Lighting within the Business Park of Kenosha.
The building at 10200 55th St. was constructed for and is leased to Kenall. The sale price was undisclosed.
The seller, a private investor, was represented by Colliers International's Jeffrey Devine and Steve Disse. Officials from Clear Height said this may be the first in a series of acquisitions over the next 24 months by the Clear Height-Buligo Capital joint venture.
“We believe there is an opportunity, at this point in the market cycle, to find value within the core-plus industrial segment of the market,” Clear Height Properties President and co-owner Dominic Sergi said.
After several years of robust development and leasing activity, Southeast Wisconsin may supply many of those opportunities. In this year's second quarter, Chicago-area leasing activity totaled 13.6M SF, with Southeast Wisconsin, the I-55 Corridor and Southern Fox Valley accounting for nearly 43% of the transactions, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Completed in 2014, Kenall’s facility sits on a 20.41-acre site and includes 50K SF of office space. The manufacturing/distribution center space in the building features 32-foot clear ceiling heights, and the property has 442 car parking stalls.
EXECS
Cushman & Wakefield hired Mike Nelligan as senior director on the Chicago industrial brokerage team. The Rosemont, Illinois-based Nelligan will handle both tenant representation and agency leasing, and focus on the O’Hare and Central DuPage submarkets. He most recently served as leasing and acquisitions officer with Exeter Property Group.
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The Opus Group promoted Josh Babiasz to director of safety management. He will coordinate all safety operations, including the development, implementation and administration of safety programs, practices and procedures. Babiasz joined Opus in 2000 as an associate project manager, and will continue overseeing its job sites across the country.
LEASES
Following a $50M infusion of capital in August 2018, and a significant recruiting push, PerkSpot signed a 14K SF expansion at 320 West Ohio St. in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, its second expansion in the last 13 months. The firm moved from approximately 5K SF at 216 West Ohio into 13K SF at 320 West Ohio, a brick and timber loft, in June 2018, and now leases 27K SF. Cresa Chicago Managing Principal Allen Rogoway represented the company in these negotiations.
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Entre Commercial Realty finalized the lease of a 25K SF building at 895 American Lane, in suburban Schaumburg, to Cavalry Logistics. The company’s dispatch and sales division will occupy the space, which includes 11K SF of newly renovated office space. Entre’s Cory Kay, Mike DeSerto and Dan Benassi represented the landlord, a private investor, and Dane Peachee of Compass Real Estate Advisors worked on behalf of the tenant.
Entre Commercial Realty also completed the lease of a 21K SF unit at 340 Commerce Drive, a 51K SF industrial building, in suburban Crystal Lake. DeSerto and Kay represented the landlord and tenant.
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Brown Commercial Group represented Fox Valley Containers in moving its corporate headquarters from a 20K SF East Dundee location to a 33K SF industrial space at 300 Exchange Drive in Crystal Lake. Colony Industrial owns 300 Exchange Drive, and was represented by Entre Commercial Realty’s Dan Benassi.
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Podolsky Circle CORFAC International advised and represented MedEx Ambulance Service, which provides medical transportation services to hundreds of healthcare facilities throughout Chicagoland, in a 17K SF, long-term lease renewal at 1001 South Des Plaines St. in Chicago. Podolsky’s John Homsher and Steven Tick, represented MedEx, while Paine Wetzel Commercial Real Estate's Jeff Gerling represented ownership, JP Morgan Chase Trustee.
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Downtown Chicagoans will finally get a chance to sample Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The retailer will open its first Downtown location on the Pedway level at Block 37 in early October, the fourth of eight planned Krispy Kreme shops in Chicagoland.
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Syd Jerome, a luxury menswear store, expanded to a two-level, ground-floor location with more than 7K SF at 20 North Clark St., a Central Loop office tower. Accesso's Paul Gaines and Paul Einum and CBRE's Todd Siegel represented the owner. MB Real Estate's Andrew Davidson represented Syd Jerome. Gensler Chicago's Lori Mukoyama designed the new store, and 41 North Contractors of Chicago built out the space.
SALES
Avison Young helped complete a large manufacturing equipment sale by its partner Cincinnati Industrial Auctioneers. The two-day online and in-person auction clears the way for the sale of the 810K SF former railcar facility at 1600 Ritchie Court in Rochelle, Illinois. Avison Young’s Michael Fonda, Chris Lydon and Chris Tecu, all based in suburban Rosemont, represent Nippon Sharyo Manufacturing, a global railcar manufacturer, in the sale of the two-building campus. The 57-acre campus includes a 481K SF and a 329K SF building, along with approximately 63K SF of office space.
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Venture One Real Estate, through its acquisition fund VK Industrial IV L.P., a partnership between Venture One and Kovitz Investment Group, acquired a 140K SF industrial building at 4000 South Racine Ave. in Chicago. The company will market the property for sale or lease. Cushman & Wakefield's Colin Green, Larry Goldwasser, Matt Cowie and Michelle Maguire represented the seller, and Venture One retained the group to market the property.
FINANCING
Arbor Realty Trust funded a Fannie Mae Streamlined Rate Lock loan in Chicago. The $50.4M loan refinances two suburban properties, The Residences at 159 Tinley Park, a 208-unit development in Tinley Park; and The Enclave Apartments, a 249-unit development in Hoffman Estates. Ari Short of Arbor’s New York City office originated the loan.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
ALDI hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 1 to celebrate the reopening of its store at 1440 North Kostner Ave., in West Humboldt Park. The Chicago store is part of the $1.9B ALDI investment to remodel and expand more than 1,300 stores nationwide by the end of 2020. Locally, ALDI is investing $180M to update more than 130 Chicagoland stores.
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General contractor Triumph Construction broke ground on the Bo Jackson Elite Sports Facility at Grand Avenue and County Line Road in suburban Bensenville. This will be the third Bo Jackson facility in the U.S. and the second in Illinois. Turner plans to complete the 114K SF facility by the end of 2019. Darwin Realty's Jeffrey Provenza was the sole broker in the transaction.
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Meridian Design Build broke ground on a 100K SF build-to-suit for Cathay Industries, a manufacturer of synthetic iron oxide pigments, on a 6.79-acre site within Abbott Land & Investment’s Blue Heron Business Park in suburban Bartlett. The 30-foot clear building is the fourth facility constructed within the business park; additional development sites are still available for sale or lease. Meridian is completing the project on a design/build basis with Harris Architects providing architectural and structural design services and Mackie Consultants handling the civil engineering design.
THIS AND THAT
Chicago ranked as the 18th-most-expensive city to rent last month, according to Zumper, which released its latest national rent report. The data covers 100 cities nationwide, with data aggregated from more than 1 million active listings. The price of one-bedroom units in this city fell 1.3% to $1,470, while two-bedroom units remained flat at $1,800.
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Fueled by an influx of jobs and people to the downtown core, Chicago claimed the sixth spot on a ranking of the country’s top 30 metropolitan areas based on walkability. Chicago is behind only New York City, Denver, Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Released by the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington University School of Business and produced in partnership with Cushman & Wakefield, Smart Growth America/LOCUS and Yardi Matrix, the report created rankings on the percentage of office, retail and rental multifamily space in walkable urban places.
