This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Southeast Wisconsin was one of the Chicago region’s most active industrial markets in 2019, and a new deal by HSA Commercial Real Estate indicates 2020 will also be a banner year for new construction. The Chicago-based firm acquired 68 acres at Wilmot Road and 136th Avenue in Bristol, near Interstate 94 and the Illinois border, and village officials approved its plan to develop Bristol Highlands Commerce Center, a three-building, 1M SF business park.

The developers will deliver two speculative buildings later this year — a 157K SF warehouse building and a cross-dock 472K SF distribution center with 72 truck docks.

“Even without putting a shovel in ground yet, there’s already a lot of interest from prospective large-scale tenants to be part of this new business park in Bristol,” HSA CEO Bob Smietana said.

Tim Thompson, HSA Commercial’s executive vice president and managing director of industrial brokerage, spearheads the development, which will include walking paths and a 25-acre parcel for a third building of up to 450K SF. Each of the buildings will feature clear heights ranging from 32 to 36 feet.

“With the unprecedented amount of business and development activity in southeast Wisconsin along the I-94 corridor — driven by Uline, Amazon and others — as well as the relative scarcity of available warehouse space in the market, we believe that the timing for Bristol Highlands Commerce Center is truly ideal,” Thompson said.

Riverwoods, Illinois-based Partners in Design Architects designed the project, and Brookfield, Wisconsin-based Pinnacle Engineering will handle the civil engineering. Itasca, Illinois-based Premier Design + Build will serve as general contractor.

“Despite a near-record amount of space under construction, additional speculative and build-to-suit development projects are planned to begin construction over the upcoming quarters,” according to Colliers International in its latest southeast Wisconsin forecast. “While the submarket's vacancy rate will likely jump again similar to 2018 when this speculative space is delivered, demand has been consistent, and eventually much of that space is expected to be absorbed.”

EXECS

Tim Donohue joined Entre Commercial Realty as director of asset management. As principal in the newly created Entre Asset Management, along with Entre principals Dan Benassi, Dan Jones and Mike DeSerto, Donohue will help expand the company’s third-party property management services. He joins Entre from CTK Asset Services. Also joining from CTK is Property Manager Jim Haran and joining from Duff & Phelps is Property Manager Lorenzo Marrone.

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PREMIER Design + Build Group promoted Matt Robson to general superintendent of the firm’s Itasca, Illinois-based Midwest Division. He will manage field operations and ensure adherence to the company’s safety program.

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Ryan Companies US promoted Jim McDonald to market leader of the Great Lakes Region, which consists of offices in the Chicago area and Milwaukee. McDonald has worked at Ryan for more than 20 years, most recently as senior vice president of real estate development.

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Caton Commercial Real Estate Group expanded its property management services by launching a new company, Caton Property Management, and hired Barbara Montes as managing director for property management. The firm also hired Roger Chavez as property manager. The Naperville-based firm manages retail shopping centers, medical office buildings and light industrial buildings in the west and southwest suburban markets.

SALES

Elion Partners acquired two last-mile industrial distribution assets in the Central DuPage submarket. The Miami-based investment firm closed last week on a 61K SF building at 111 International Drive in Glendale Heights, and in August on a 61K SF building at 375 Village Drive in Carol Stream. Elion has also begun developing Elion Logistics Park 55, a 30M SF industrial logistics park 40 miles southwest of Chicago in Wilmington. 

LEASES

Numerator, a marketing research data and tech firm, signed a lease with Brookfield Properties for 60K SF on the 12th floor of the iconic former Marshall Field & Co. building at 24 East Washington St. It is the first confirmed tenant for Brookfield after the company announced it was renovating the top six floors of the historic landmark, which houses Macy’s on its first seven floors. Brookfield expects to complete the renovations in June. Jason Schulz and Richard Schulz from The J. Rich Co. represented Numerator.

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The Amateur Athletic Union and Chicago Sports Alliance, the AAU’s largest licensed event operator, chose the Pullman Community Center as their new Midwest headquarters. The alliance will organize year-round tournaments and new programs at the 135K SF PCC at 10355 South Woodlawn Ave. Officials from Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a nonprofit community developer that works to generate new investment for Pullman, announced plans to develop a major new hotel to accommodate the influx of athletes and visitors expected at the PCC.

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IDEX Corp. signed a new long-term lease and will move its global headquarters office from 36K SF in Lake Forest to 3100 Sanders Road in Northbrook, located southwest of the Willow Road exit off I-294. The firm will occupy 39K SF on the property’s third floor. Cushman & Wakefield’s Lou Hall and Dan Wilkins represented IDEX. The property’s landlord, Allstate Corp., was represented by Francis Prock and Daryl Silverman of Colliers International.

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Atlanta-based Dematic will relocate its regional Milwaukee office to The Mayfair Collection in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a 69-acre mixed-use project developed by HSA Commercial Real Estate. The global supplier of supply chain technology and software will occupy 39K SF on the ground floor of the Synergy apartment building at 11240 West Burleigh St. The firm’s 240 Milwaukee-area employees are expected to move into the new office in July from a location in New Berlin.

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ML Realty Partners completed 479K SF in recent Chicagoland lease transactions. United Trading signed a new lease for 33K SF at 201 West Oakton Ave. in Des Plaines. Ferguson Enterprises renewed its lease for 112K SF at 3509 West Addison St. in Chicago. Generation Brands renewed its lease for 310K SF at 7300, 7350 and 7400 Linder Ave. in Skokie. Renewal By Andersen signed a new lease for 23K SF at Heritage Crossing, 14503 South Gougar in Lockport.

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Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams signed a lease with Chicago-based Fifield Cos. for ground-floor space at Logan Apartments, a new apartment development at 2480-2522 North Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. The artisanal ice cream company joins a mix of local businesses and national brands that will have storefronts at Logan Apartments, including a small-format Target that will serve as the building’s retail anchor. Built on the site of the former Mega Mall, Logan Apartments will open in March.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Stantec, a global architecture, engineering and design firm, finished the first phase at two mall repositioning projects for Centennial in the Greater Chicago area. At both Aurora’s Fox Valley Mall and Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills, the company reworked the center court spaces into multi-use, park-like gathering areas. Over Black Friday weekend, Centennial and Stantec unveiled Fox Valley Mall’s new 13K SF indoor Center Park. The new Hawthorn Mall Center Park also opened to the public in November.

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McShane Construction Co. began construction of a 50K SF build-to-suit facility for Option Care Health in Itasca, Illinois, for developers Quadrangle Development Co. and Janko Group. Approximately 55% of the single-story building will house office space, while the remaining 45% will combine outpatient services for patients and support spaces for Option Care Health.

THIS AND THAT

BOMA/Chicago honored several Chicago-area office buildings with its 2019 TOBY Awards, which recognize excellence in building management. Fifteen finalists competed in eight categories based on building size and facility type.

The following eight buildings earned TOBY Awards:

• Public Assembly: Harold Washington Library Center, managed by CBRE and owned by the city of Chicago.

• Corporate Facility: 110 North Carpenter, managed by Sterling Bay Property Management.

• Medical Office Building: Lavin Family Pavilion, managed by Northwestern Memorial HealthCare and owned by Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

• Renovated Building: 1 North Dearborn, managed by MB Real Estate and owned by Beacon Capital Partners and MetLife.

• Historical Building: The Rookery, managed by The John Buck Co.

• 100K SF to 250K SF: 1515 West Webster, managed by Sterling Bay Property Management.

• 500K SF to 1M SF: 401 North Michigan, managed by Zeller Management and owned by W-Z NMA Holdings VIII and Invesco Real Estate.

• Over 1M SF: 70 West Madison, managed by The Hearn Co. and owned by 3 FNP Owner.

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ON Collaborative President and founder David Wolf acquired the firm and will lead it as CEO and sole owner. Christine Lutz, who has been with the advisory, marketing and sales firm since it started in 2017, will continue to head sales and marketing efforts for its national pipeline of residential developments. Previously owned by NRT, ON Collaborative will continue its affiliation with NRT’s Coldwell Banker brand.

ON Collaborative’s active projects include 1400 Monroe, a collection of 42 luxury residences in Chicago’s West Loop; The DeMarcay, a new condominium development in downtown Sarasota, Florida; and The Standard, a 15-story luxury property in the South Market District of downtown New Orleans.

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Spear Street Capital’s October acquisition of 500 West Monroe St. for $412M was the 34th-largest office deal in the U.S. in 2019, according to CommercialCafé. The deal was also the largest in the Midwest, with the $313M sale of Minneapolis’ Wells Fargo Center coming in second. Using data from Yardi Matrix, the group analyzed the sale of office buildings of at least 50K SF and mixed-use properties with more than 50% office space.