This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

General contractor Skender reached the final height on a 45K SF, five-story, single-tenant, mixed-use building at 1100 West Fulton St. The builder is preserving the existing building’s original masonry while creating a new concrete structure with three-story and five-story sections. It plans to complete the office and retail project in December.  

The city of Chicago landmarked the existing building, and Skender will preserve the north, south and east sides of its facade, and build a usable roof deck. It is constructing this for developer Fulton St. Cos. and its sole tenant, Herman Miller, a furniture company.

Herman Miller will relocate from its headquarters in the Merchandise Mart after an 80-year run. Skender will also complete the interior build-out of a showroom and office space for Herman Miller, a seven-month project that is scheduled to begin in May.

Skender is collaborating with architect Hartshorne Plunkard, CBRE, Fulton St. Cos. and ConopCo Project Management.

EXECS

Entre Commercial Realty added retail broker Ron Weissenhofer to its brokerage team, after the company and Entre Asset Management were retained as leasing agents and property managers of a 400K SF retail portfolio spread across northern Illinois, northwestern Indiana and southern Wisconsin. The properties consist of multi-tenant retail centers ranging from 20K SF to 130K SF, each with a mix of national and local tenants. Weissenhofer handled this portfolio for the last several years, helping boost its occupancy from approximately 75% to 91%, Entre officials said.

SALES

A partnership between Venture One Real Estate and Kovitz Investment Group closed on the acquisition of a 73K SF industrial building at 1540 South Ashland Ave. in Chicago. It is 95% leased. Venture One’s planned improvements include replacing the roof. Nick Saraceno of CTK Chicago Partners represented the seller, and Colliers International’s Vern Schultz and Alex Kritt represented Venture One.

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A New York-based buyer purchased for $2.25M a 22K SF office building at 100 Lexington Drive in Buffalo Grove. SVN Chicago Commercial’s Al Lindeman and Nathalie Fisher represented the sellers. The building was 87% leased at the time of closing.

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A local Chicagoland investor completed an approximately $5M purchase of 66 condo units within the Tatra Condominium complex at 10520-10640 Brooks Lane in suburban Chicago Ridge. Essex Realty Group’s Brian Kochendorfer represented the seller, while Essex’s Troy Beebe represented the buyer.

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American Landmark Properties sold a pair of west suburban Class-A office assets totaling 212K SF to RE Development Solutions. The first, Two TransAm at 2 TransAm Plaza Drive in Oakbrook Terrace, is a five-story, 117K SF building that is 87.7% leased to 18 tenants. The second, 750 Warrenville at 750 Warrenville Road in Lisle, is a four-story, 94K SF building that is 86.7% leased to nine tenants. The JLL team representing the seller was led by Patrick Shields, Jaime Fink, Jeffrey Bramson, Bruce Miller and Sam DiFrancesca.

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A 16-unit apartment building in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood was sold in an off-market transaction for $4M, or about $253K per unit. A long-term-hold owner with an established portfolio in the submarket purchased 1478-80 West Byron St. as part of a 1031 exchange, according to Interra Realty’s Joe Smazal, who represented both buyer and private seller of the building, composed of one-bedroom units and built in 1925. It was previously sold in 2016 for $3.76M, according to Cook County property records.

LEASES

Dealer Profit Solutions Inc. leased 12K SF at 855 West University Drive in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, and will expand from nearby Wheeling. Entre Commercial Realty’s Brian Bocci represented DPS and Tom Boucher of PSI Commercial represented the building’s owner.

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RE Development Solutions secured its first tenant for 2200 Cabot Drive, a 131K SF office building in west suburban Lisle. Greenleaf Foods, an Elmhurst, Illinois-based provider of plant-based meat substitutes, signed a long-term lease for 23K SF of corporate offices and a test kitchen. The lease starts later this year. RE Development hired NAI Hiffman’s Patrick Kiefer and Ryan Maher to lease the property, built in 1990 and located in the 64-acre Corporate Lakes office development. The building is undergoing an extensive renovation, including spec suites, a new lobby, a tenant lounge, conference rooms and fresh landscaping.

FINANCING

A joint venture between Strategic Properties of North America and Integrated Capital Management acquired the 39-story Cityfront Place in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood after securing a $102.5M acquisition loan, according to Multi-Housing News. Financing the acquisition were investments from ICM and Korean global investment manager Mirae Asset Daewoo, and a senior loan from Freddie Mac. Newmark Knight Frank’s Henry Stimler, Charles Han, Matt Mense and Dan Sarsfield arranged the five-year Freddie Mac fixed-rate, full-term interest-only debt at 3%. The seller was represented by CBRE.

CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Singerman Real Estate relocated to an 8K SF corporate headquarters office at 980 North Michigan Ave. Clear Height Properties’ project and development services division served as project manager for the tenant improvements, including the design, build-out and relocation. GREC Architects designed the space, which includes a reception area, private offices, a board room, conference rooms, an open workstation area and a kitchen. Singerman, a private equity firm, previously occupied space on the building’s 16th floor. 

THIS AND THAT

Nine Chicago-area properties were chosen for the Outstanding Building of the Year Award from the North Central Region of the Building Owners and Managers Association. The region includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. TOBY awards recognize excellence in office building management and operations. These regional winners will now contend for TOBYs from BOMA International, which will be announced on June 30.

The winners of the 2020 North Central Regional TOBY Awards include: 1515 West Webster Ave., managed by Sterling Bay Property Management, in the 100K SF to 250K SF category; 70 West Madison, managed by The Hearn Co., in the more than 1M SF category; and 1 North Dearborn, managed by MB Real Estate, in the renovated building category.

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Residential brokerage firm Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty saw an uptick of online activity in the month of March, according to Chicago-based real estate sales adviser Cadey O’Leary, which cited a 30% increase in clicks and impressions for online listings.