This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet
Visual Pak Cos. executed a 472K SF lease for an entire building at the newly developed first phase of the Bristol Highlands Commerce Center in Bristol, Wisconsin. The Waukegan, Illinois-based firm provides packaging and other services for food, personal care, automotive and healthcare brands. It will take occupancy of the facility in Q2.
Located at Wilmot Road and 136th Avenue near I-94 and the Wisconsin-Illinois border, it was the largest space available for lease during Q4 in Southeast Wisconsin, according to Colliers International. The deal will help continue the submarket’s run of healthy leasing activity. In Q4, the area saw more than 600K SF of leasing, Colliers found.
Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate developed the property with its partner, Boston-based Washington Capital Management. The new commerce center’s first phase has Visual Pak’s facility as well as a 157K SF warehouse. HSA plans to start construction this spring on a 447K SF distribution center as part of the second and final phase.
“The volume of tenant interest and pace of leasing activity has caused us to accelerate our plans for the third building at Bristol Highlands,” HSA CEO Robert Smietana said in a press release.
HSA now has more than 2M SF of warehouse space under construction or proposed throughout the Southeast Wisconsin region.
CBRE’s Whit Heitman represented Visual Pak Cos. in the lease transaction. Jeff Hoffman and Eric Fischer of Cushman & Wakefield | Boerke, together with Tim Thompson of HSA, represented ownership of the property.
EXECS
Savills added Brandon Nasatir and Barrett Stephan to its Chicago office as assistant directors. Nasatir will work primarily with office clients, and Stephan will focus on industrial clients. Nasatir was most recently at Avison Young, while Stephan previously worked at JLL.
***
Kiser Group hired Jeff Leibovich as an adviser. He will focus on Chicago's suburban multifamily market.
***
Professional services firm MGO LLP welcomed Marzee Devichand as senior manager and Danielle Faber as supervisor to its new Chicago office. The accounting and advisory services firm serves industries ranging from cannabis, life sciences, biotech and real estate.
SALES
Maven Real Estate Partners sold 1944 North Spaulding Ave., a 37-unit rental community in Logan Square, for $7.2M to Lauber Property Management in a 1031 exchange. Interra Realty’s Brad Feldman represented both the seller and buyer of the 1920s-era building. It was fully occupied at the time of sale, and Lauber plans to spend about $1M on renovations.
Feldman also represented both the seller, Robinson Rentals, and private buyer in the $6.4M sale of 909 Washington St., a 37-unit apartment building in north suburban Evanston.
***
A France-based investor bought a 14K SF, single-tenant Oak Street Health property at 1401 Western Ave. in south suburban Chicago Heights for $4.8M. The Boulder Group’s Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman represented the seller, a private real estate partnership.
LEASES
Hearn secured a 72K SF lease for its building at 70 West Madison St. in the Central Loop. Law firm Nixon Peabody LLP, already a tenant on the lower floors, will now occupy three floors near the top. The Telos Group’s Jamey Dix, Caroline Colnon and Steve Golz represented Hearn. Bob Chodos, Steve Levitas and Bill Anderson of Newmark represented Nixon Peabody.
***
Conor Commercial Real Estate completed a 215K SF lease with a large e-commerce retailer at its new North Avenue Commerce Center on the southwest corner of North Avenue and Morton Road in west suburban Winfield. The Daily Herald reported last summer that Village of Winfield documents showed Amazon would be the property's tenant. McShane Construction Co. and Ware Malcomb provided construction and design services for the development. Conor was represented by David Haigh and John Cash of NAI Hiffman. The tenant was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Jason West.
***
Strategic Properties of North America selected RMK Management Corp. to manage The Kent, a 19-story, 133-unit luxury apartment building at 2625 North Clark St. in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
***
SOLVD Health, a life sciences company specializing in data-driven disease prevention, will relocate its corporate headquarters from Carlsbad, California, to Sterling Bay’s life sciences research facility at 2430 North Halsted St. in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. SOLVD Health intends to expand future operations to Sterling Bay’s Lincoln Yards development along the Chicago River. SOLVD Health will also continue using its manufacturing, research and development and commercial lab facilities in California.
***
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society will move from 33 West Monroe St. into 30K SF of sublease space in River North Point at 350 North Orleans St. The member-based association advises industry stakeholders on best practices in health information and technology. Its new office space was listed for sublease by Gartner Research, which was represented by JLL’s Christine Bower and Matt Carolan. Chad Bermingham of Avison Young represented HIMSS. There is 6.1M SF of sublease space in downtown Chicago, according to CoStar.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Holladay Properties purchased 460 Crescent Blvd., a development site on the northwest corner of Crescent Boulevard and Glenwood Avenue in downtown Glen Ellyn, for about $2.8M. The company intends to build a mixed-use development called Glenwood Station on the site. It will include 86 apartments and more than 1K SF of retail space. Holladay expects to begin demolishing the existing 13K SF structure as early as November. Essex Realty Group’s Brian Karmowski, Jim Darrow and Jordan Gottlieb were brokers on the transaction.
***
ML Realty Partners acquired a 21-acre parcel 3 miles west of I-355 in Glendale Heights, where it plans to break ground this summer on two industrial buildings totaling 292K SF. The 32-foot clear buildings will be available for occupancy by spring of 2022.
