This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Thor Equities Group sold its new 98K SF 905 West Fulton Market building in an off-market transaction to German investor Deka Immobilien. The price was $85M, according to a report in Crain’s Chicago Business, or about $870 per SF, which would be a new record for a Chicago office property.  

Mondelez International will use the five-story building on the corner of West Fulton Market and North Peoria Street as its new global headquarters and occupy more than 80K SF on floors two through five, as well as more than 6K SF of retail space on the ground floor.

“Fulton Market continues to gain momentum and the sale of this asset demonstrates the strength of the community, which we are very proud to be a part of,” Thor Equities Chairman Joe Sitt said.

Deka officials said the recent economic crash did not dissuade them from completing such a payout. The quick rise of Fulton Market from an industrial zone to an office hub that hosts Google and the global headquarters of McDonald’s Corp. gave them confidence in its long-term future.

“In this current environment, it is essential to identify and secure opportunities in order to achieve stable and sustainable growth for our North America Fund,” Deka President Driss Oualkadi said. “Such an opportunity is [a] given with this long-term leased and high-quality property.”

The Cushman & Wakefield capital markets team of Tom Sitz, Cody Hundertmark, David Knapp, Josh McGee, Paul Lundstedt and Dan Deuter, along with Colliers International, was involved in the transaction. Thor Equities was not represented by a broker.

EXECS

Dermody Properties hired Chicago-based James Nass as senior vice president of development. He will provide the logistics firm due diligence, design, entitlement, budget and construction oversight. Prior to joining Dermody, Nass served as vice president for Prologis.

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Gary Nussbaum joined CBRE as senior vice president on its capital markets team. He will lead CBRE’s suburban Chicago office investment sales efforts. Nussbaum previously led Transwestern’s Midwest office investment sales group.

SALES

An undisclosed investor bought 500 Des Plaines Ave., a 39-unit apartment building in west suburban Forest Park, for $3.15M. Interra Realty’s Joe Smazal marketed the property on behalf of the private seller, while Pat Kennelly and Paul Waterloo represented the buyer, which plans to renovate the kitchens and baths to raise rents to market level. Built in 1931, the building last sold for $2.4M in 2015, a transaction also brokered by Interra.

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An 11K SF CVS net-leased property at 26W212 Geneva Road in suburban Winfield sold for $4M. Marcus & Millichap’s Matt Emerick, Austin Weisenbeck and Sean Sharko marketed the property on behalf of the seller, an undisclosed partnership. Dean Giannakopoulos and Frank Montalto of Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. obtained the financing.

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The historic Chicago BrauHaus property at 4732 North Lincoln Ave. in the Lincoln Square neighborhood was bought by GW Properties for $3.1M. SVN Chicago Commercial’s Tim Rasmussen and Marcus Sullivan represented the buyer, while Essex Realty Group represented Harry and Guenter Kempf, the restaurant’s longtime owners, who closed the restaurant in 2017. The new owners plan to build out the site for its new tenant, Northwestern Hospital. 

LEASES

American Cleaning & Restoration South will double its space and move from a Romeoville building into 36K SF at 10440 Woodward Ave. in Woodridge, a 160K SF multi-tenant building near the I-55 and I-355 interchange. Brown Commercial Group’s Mike Antonelli represented the remediation company, and Jeff Galante of Lee & Associates represented Prologis, the owner. 

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Stream Realty Partners will partner with Baum Revision on leasing 2718 West Roscoe St. and 3401 North California Ave., a two-building, 240K SF campus formerly serving as the WMS headquarters. A joint venture between Chicago-based Baum and Dallas-based Meridian Realty Advisors bought the property, just north of Logan Square and adjacent to Roscoe Village, in early March with plans to convert it into a wellness-oriented workplace named Riverview at Roscoe. Local architecture firm FC Studio will lead the renovation’s design.

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Draper and Kramer Inc. began pre-leasing at Aspire Residences, a 24-story, 275-unit apartment tower at 2111 South Wabash Ave. in Chicago’s South Loop. Located less than a block from the CTA’s Cermak/McCormick Place Green Line station, the transit-oriented development will welcome its first move-ins this summer. Company officials said even though in-person tours are suspended, several units are already leased. The general contractor was a joint venture between Chicago-based Power Construction Co. and Ujamaa Construction.

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Tempus expanded its 150K SF lease at Sterling Bay's 600 West Chicago Ave., the former Montgomery Ward catalog warehouse along the Chicago River in River North. The precision medicine startup decided to take an additional 13K SF for on-site lab space. Russ Cora represented Sterling Bay, and Todd Lippman represented Tempus.

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Altium Packaging signed a long-term lease extension for 126K SF at 875 West Diggins Road in Harvard, about 75 miles northwest of Chicago. The manufacturer has about 60 plants across the U.S. and Canada. Colliers International Chicago's Jim Herbst, Brian Netzky and Mike Morgan represented Altium.  

CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

PREMIER Design + Build Group completed a tenant improvement project for PROBAT, a manufacturer of industrial coffee processing equipment, in its 118K SF at 325 Marriott Drive, a new 186K SF industrial building in Lincolnshire. PREMIER completed construction of the building’s core and shell last year. Its team included Samantha Skopek, Michael Wojtan, Tom Kanikula and Michael Long. Harris Architects Inc. provided architectural design services for the project. Jim Woldenberg owns the building.

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J.C. Anderson completed a renovation of 2441 and 2443 Warrenville Road, a 296K SF office complex in west suburban Lisle. Owner Briar Meads Capital hired the firm to renovate both lobbies, the fitness center and restrooms, as well as add two tenant lounges and an on-site deli. The construction team was led by Seth Erlich, Andrew Mott and Gary Kuechler. Wright Heerema Architects provided architectural services, and NAI Hiffman managed the project. 

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Chicago-based Jackson Dearborn Partners broke ground on ICON, a student housing development two blocks from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, according to Multi-Housing News. The company forecasts it will complete the $28.4M, 276-bed ICON by August 2021, welcoming first move-ins the following month. The developer is partnering with construction and development firm Sub4 Development and property management company Green Street Realty.

THIS & THAT

Rosemont, Illinois-based First Hospitality began an enhanced sanitization program across its national hotel portfolio. Developed with Ecolab, the Cleanliness First Plan provides hotels with a guide to maintaining a safe environment as coronavirus travel restrictions ease. First Hospitality already uses Ecolab cleaning products at its hotels, but the new plan utilizes guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

Each hotel will train a hygiene specialist to oversee the plan. Other features include a new Ecolab cleaning and disinfecting guide, new social distancing guidelines and CDC-informed training on cleaning procedures for employees.

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Chicago-based Evergreen Real Estate Group was retained to manage affordable housing communities comprising 971 units across Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The assignments expand Evergreen’s management portfolio to about 8,500 units throughout the U.S., including Oso Apartments, a 48-unit family housing community in Chicago; Independence Apartments, a 44-unit senior community co-located with a Chicago Public Library branch; and Golda Meir House, a 127-unit senior community in Milwaukee.