This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

The Chicago office of Duke Realty Corp. signed five leases totaling 860K SF in September for four of its properties. The transactions include two full-building leases of recently delivered spec buildings, a new lease and renewal that took another building to full occupancy, and a new lease in another building.

The transactions are:

• Airport Logistics Center, Romeoville — RJW Logistics signed a lease for the entire 544K SF spec building near Lewis University Airport that Duke delivered in August. JLL’s Dominic Carbonari and Frank Griffin represented the tenant while Cushman & Wakefield’s Jason West and Sean Henrick were the listing brokers.

• 990 North Ave., Glendale Heights — Coda Resources leased all of the 183K SF spec building, which Duke completed in December. Cawley Chicago’s Frank Melchert represented the tenant and NAI Hiffman’s Kelly Disser, Eric Tresslar and Michael Freitag served as the listing brokers.

• 375 West South Frontage Road, Bolingbrook — Battery Systems signed a new lease for 18K SF while Corrosion Materials renewed its 18K SF lease. Colliers’ Brian Kling and John Bolster represented Battery Systems. Lee & Associates’ Ryan Earley and Terry Grapenthin were the listing brokers.  

• 1835 West Jefferson, Naperville — Black Horse Carriers signed a new lease for 97K SF. Hartford Associates’ George Pappas represented the tenant, and Brian Kling and David Bercu with Colliers were the listing brokers.

Duke Realty was represented by Susan Bergdoll and Casey Grant in all of the transactions.

EXECS

Chicago-based design firm Wight & Co. promoted Shawn Benson to director of land development. He will lead teams of civil engineers and landscape architects in the management and design of various private and public development projects.

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The Instant Group, a flexible workspace specialist, appointed Joe Brady its CEO Americas. Brady most recently was divisional vice president for real estate at Walgreen Co. He will open the Instant Group’s new Chicago office as part of its expansion across the Americas. The company employs 307 people in 13 cities around the world, and has opened five offices across the U.S. over the past five years.

SALES

ML Realty Partners acquired a 302K SF industrial building at 999 Dalton Lane in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The free-standing cross-dock facility is close to Interstate 55 via the four-way interchange at Weber Road, and available immediately for lease. Colliers International’s Jeff Devine and Steve Disse were the sole brokers in the transaction.

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Marcus & Millichap’s Kyle Stengle represented the sellers of two multifamily sales on Chicago’s North Side for a combined $7.5M. 

The first, 1044 West Newport Ave., is a two-story, nine-unit building in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood that sold for $4.05M, or $450K per unit, one of the submarket’s highest prices of the year, according to CoStar. Both the buyer and seller were local partnerships.

The second property, 3507-11 North Elston Ave. in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood, is a four-story, 12-unit building that sold for $3.5M, or about $291K per unit. The seller was an undisclosed California-based entity, and the buyer was Chicago-based Breneman Investments. 

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Interra Realty brokered the sale of 1917-23 South Grove Ave., a four-story, 34-unit building in Berwyn, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. Interra’s Pat Kennelly and Paul Waterloo represented both the seller, Riverside-based Property Rental Inc., and the buyer, BAM 1917 Grove LLC, which plans a $1M gut rehab. The building has 32 one-bedroom apartments and two studios, and was 88% occupied at the time of closing.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

J.C. Anderson completed a 31K SF spec suite build-out for GlenStar Properties at 55 East Monroe St. in Chicago. Located one-half block west of Michigan Avenue, the 1.3M SF tower offers views of Lake Michigan, Grant Park and Millennium Park. Construction included the addition of open offices, pantries and conference rooms to the suites. The construction team was led by John Angelovich, Adam Bellin and Joe Rojas. NELSON provided the architectural services and GlenStar provided project management services.

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Inland National Development Co. is developing a 100-unit transit-oriented multifamily community in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, located approximately 6.5 miles from downtown, at 2845 West Belden. The company broke ground in the summer of 2018, and when completed, the six-story building will offer 65 studio apartments and 35 one-bedroom apartments. It will also include a green rooftop terrace, balconies, a fitness room, a dog-wash station and a bike repair station. Leasing will begin in January, and the company plans to complete the project by February.

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Ravine Park Partners and Legacy Varin Management broke ground on Hawthorn Apartments in Wisconsin’s Kenosha County. The partners expect to have the first units ready on April 15. Residents will have a 45-minute commute to Downtown Milwaukee, 75 minutes to Chicago and 30 minutes or less to Illinois’ Lake County.

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Clark Construction Group and its engineering partner Construction Robotics will debut semi-robotic construction technology at Great Lakes Naval Base in Lake County. The partners will deploy MULE (Material Unit Lift Enhancer) and SAM (Semi-Automated Mason) technology to construct a 166K SF barracks facility for enlisted military personnel. A MULE can lift 135 pounds, and a SAM can lay a brick every seven to 10 seconds, Clark officials said.

THIS AND THAT

Of the 10 most expensive Midwest ZIP codes for apartment rentals, nine are in Chicago, according to RENTCafé. The group looked at almost 7,000 ZIP codes and analyzed rents for 17 million apartments across the nation for its latest report. 

The average rent in ZIP code 60606, which includes portions of the West Loop and Central Loop, is at $2,770, the highest in Chicago for the second year in a row, with rates increasing 4.6% since last year. North of the Chicago River lies ZIP code 60654, Chicago's second-most-expensive neighborhood, where apartments cost on average $2,761.

With a 5.7% year-over-year increase, ZIP code 60611 in Streeterville had the most significant rent growth among the priciest ZIPs in Chicago, followed by West Loop's 60661, where apartment prices swelled 5.2%.

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Zumper also released data on multifamily rents in its Chicago Metro Area Report, which analyzed active September listings across 13 cities to show the most and least expensive, and the ones with the fastest-growing rents. Illinois' one-bedroom median rent was $1,132 last month, and Glenview was the most expensive city with one-bedrooms priced at $1,860. Wheeling landed in second place at $1,580, and Chicago was third at $1,430. Aurora ranked as the most affordable city, with one-bedrooms priced at $1,040. Schaumburg had the largest monthly rental growth rate, up 2.4%. Arlington Heights' median rent jumped 1.6% last month, making it the second-fastest-growing.