This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Venture One Real Estate signed leases with CJ Logistics America and ScottsMiracle-Gro for its Crossroads 55 development in Channahon. The pair of deals will bring the 3.3M SF Crossroads 55 Business Park to 100% occupancy.

“The location of Crossroads 55 at the intersection of I-55 and I-80 offers users access to a very deep labor pool along with excellent access to the region and immediate proximity to the UP and BNSF intermodals,” Venture One principal Ryan Stoller stated in a press release. “These factors helped facilitate a tremendous success story of industrial absorption in Chicago.”

CJ Logistics America took occupancy of the 1M SF distribution facility at 24101 South Frontage Road. Lynn Reich and Suzanne Serino of Colliers International represented the distributor.

Venture One also began building a 1.3M SF build-to-suit for ScottsMiracle-Gro at 24231 South Exchange Blvd. Clayco is the design-builder and plans to deliver the building in Q4. ScottsMiracle-Gro was represented by CBRE’s David Prell and Philip Pelok.

Colliers’ Jim Estus and Brian Kling represented Crossroads 55.

Venture One also completed a 1M SF build-to-suit for Amazon at 23714 West Amoco Road in November.

EXECS

Stream Realty Partners hired an eight-person leasing team. Mark Bâby, Benjamin Cleveland, Mark Gunderson, Brittany Hughes, Wendy Katz, Matt Lerner, Jack McKinney Jr. and Andrea Saewitz joined the office business unit in Stream’s Chicago office. McKinney and Bâby will serve as managing directors; Cleveland, Gunderson, Katz, Lerner and Saewitz joined as executive vice presidents; and Hughes joined as associate.

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Waterton hired Lee Everett as director of research and strategy. Prior to joining Waterton, Everett was head of research and strategy at Benchmark Senior Living. He was previously at CoStar Portfolio Strategy, where he was a multifamily strategy consultant.

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CRG, the real estate development and investment arm of Chicago-based Clayco, expanded its residential business unit with three hires. The firm added Tom Shanabruch as vice president of capital markets, Louie Colella as vice president of leasing and operations, and Bob Barton as senior project manager. The firm plans to pour $1B into multifamily development over the next two to three years. Both Colella and Barton previously worked at CA Ventures. Shanabruch joins the firm after nearly 10 years at McCaffery Interests.

SALES

A joint venture between Ryan Cos. and Allstate Investments sold 10500 Woodlawn Ave. in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood to an investment group. Amazon occupies the recently completed 144K SF logistics center, from which it serves customers within a 45-minute radius. Officials from Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, one of the developers, told Bisnow the price was $65M.  

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OZ Impact Funds, a Salt Lake City-based private investment group, bought for $100M the Midwest MHC Portfolio, a 21-property, 2,789-site manufactured home community portfolio located throughout Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The portfolio was 83% occupied. Newmark’s Andrew Shih and Todd Fletcher, in cooperation with local brokers, represented the undisclosed seller. The acquisition increased OZ Impact Funds’ manufactured home portfolio by 30%.

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Bradford Allen Investment Advisors acquired 570 Lake Cook Road in north suburban Deerfield. Bradford Allen Realty Services will handle leasing, while Bradford Allen Management Services will manage the property. The newly renovated, 137K SF office building is located at the Lake Cook Metra stop and has 40K SF of vacancies, as well as an ongoing spec suite program.

LEASES

Chicago-based Fifield Cos. leased 75% of the apartments in its newly constructed, 220-unit Logan Apartments at 2480-2252 North Milwaukee Ave. in the Logan Square neighborhood. The building opened in the spring of 2020, just as the pandemic was taking hold. The 62K SF of total ground-floor retail is now 72% leased.

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Trammell Crow Co. signed Talis Biomedical Corp. as a tenant at its Fulton Labs at 1375 West Fulton St. Talis will join Xeris Pharmaceuticals and Portal Innovations at the 725K SF campus, which is dedicated to life sciences. Talis, represented by David Saad and Chad Freese with CBRE, will occupy 26K SF. The campus comprises the 300K SF building at 1375 West Fulton and a 425K SF building nearby at 400 North Aberdeen St., which broke ground in July. TCC anticipates it will finish the latter facility by early 2022.

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Brownson, Rehmus & Foxworth signed a relocation lease in downtown Chicago. Colliers International Chicago’s Tony Karmin and Corby Marx represented BRF in the firm’s new lease for 11K SF on the 18th floor in The Franklin at 227 West Monroe St. The privately held wealth management company will relocate from 200 South Wacker Drive in the summer. Tishman Speyer Properties’ Carey Spignese represented building ownership in the transaction.

FINANCING

KBS secured a $375M refinancing loan for Accenture Tower, a 40-story, 1.4M SF office building at 500 West Madison St. in Chicago’s West Loop. It is owned by KBS REIT III. The loan consists of a 75% term loan and 25% revolving loan with a three-year initial term with two one-year extension options and floats over Libor. U.S. Bank and Bank of America jointly led the loan’s arrangement, with U.S. Bank serving as the administrative agent and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank joining the lender group at closing. 

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Berkadia secured $39.1M in combined HUD-insured financing for Covington Place Apartments and Cape Cod Village Apartments. Located in Missouri and Illinois, both properties are market-rate, garden-style multifamily properties. Paul Matusiak of Berkadia’s Chicago office arranged the HUD Section 223(a)7 multifamily loans on behalf of the sponsor, Missouri-based Stewart Properties. Covington Place Apartments, located at 1247 Covington Manor Lane in St. Louis, is a 400-unit complex. Cape Cod Village Apartments, located at 2010 West Jackson St. in Morton, Illinois, is a 200-unit property.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 

General contractor Skender started construction on Vista Property Group’s Class-A office development at 609 West Randolph St. in the West Loop. Antunovich Associates designed the 15-story, 100K SF building.

THIS AND THAT

Cumming Corp., an international construction consultancy, launched a construction intelligence team to track and forecast market trends. Led by Chicago-based Daniel Pomfrett, the team will publish Cumming Insights, a quarterly report that breaks down economic trends and projections for regional construction markets across the country.

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Zumper released its latest National Rent Report and found Chicago ranked as the 16th most expensive rental market in the nation last month. Prices of one- and two-bedroom units settled at medians of $1,540 and $1,890, respectively. The price of two-bedroom units in Chicago is up 9.2% since this time last year.