This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

The Chicago office of Duke Realty started construction on two build-to-suit logistics developments totaling 1.8M SF in the southwest suburbs for two national retailers. The first is a 1.2M SF e-commerce fulfillment center for Wayfair at Airport Logistics Center Phase 2 in Romeoville. In addition, Duke Realty is constructing a 655K SF facility in Bedford Park for a national home improvement retailer.     

“Increased e-commerce activity continues to be a growth driver for Duke Realty and has accelerated the need for state-of-the-art industrial space and opportunities for infill redevelopment,” Duke Realty Vice President of Leasing and Development Susan Bergdoll said in a press release. “These two large-scale projects accommodate our customers’ requirements for modern, convenient facilities close to airports, interstate highways and consumers in a community with a robust talent pool.”

The Romeoville development is on 81.8 acres at 1040 West Renwick Road. It will employ as many as 500 workers during peak times of the year. Wayfair will occupy 100% of the facility and agreed to a long-term lease.   

The 655K SF development at 6600 West 68th St. in Bedford Park will help complete same-day and next-day deliveries to customers close to I-294 and I-55. The national retailer will occupy 100% of the facility and agreed to a long-term lease.

Duke Realty will seek LEED certification for both.

CBRE’s John Suerth and Jon Varholak represented the tenant, and Cushman & Wakefield’s Jason West and Sean Henrick represented Duke in negotiating the lease at the 1040 West Renwick Road project. Tony Kepano and Matt Mulvihill at CBRE served as the tenant representative, and Chris Gary at NAI Hiffman served as the listing broker for the 6600 West 68th St. project.

EXECS

LaSalle Investment Management appointed Kristy Heuberger and Brad Gries to co-heads of the Americas, effective March 31. Heuberger and Gries will succeed Jason Kern, who has served as the firm’s Americas CEO since 2013 and agreed to step down from this role to pursue other interests. Heuberger serves as LaSalle’s head of U.S. asset management, and Gries serves as Americas co-chief investment officer and head of U.S. transactions.

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Proper Title, a Palatine, Illinois-based insurance agency serving the residential and commercial real estate industries, promoted Sabrina Bier to director of digital media and education. Shortly after the March 2020 lockdown, Bier created Virtual Real Estate Chat, a Facebook page where she posted video interviews with area brokers. She also moved attorney-led continuing legal education training courses online and began facilitating virtual Q&A forums where attorneys could get the latest industry updates from company leaders on many topics.

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Inland Bank and Trust appointed Joe Rubinas as vice president of commercial real estate lending. Prior to joining Inland Bank, he served as vice president of commercial real estate for Beverly Bank & Trust Co. N.A., a Wintrust community bank.

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Colliers International promoted several Chicago-based professionals. Suzanne Serino was promoted to executive vice president, and Ned Frank and Patrick Turner were promoted to senior vice presidents with the firm’s industrial advisory group.

SALES

HP Ventures Group-Development Services acquired East Village Apartments at 717 Rogers St. and 5001 Prospect Ave. in Downers Grove for $7.1M. Kiser Group’s Ron Plonis represented both the seller, Forth Group Real Estate, and the buyer. The 20-unit, three-story building was constructed in 2018.

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The Board of Commissioners of the Chicago Housing Authority cleared the way for new ownership of the Barbara Jean Wright Court apartment complex on the South Side. The board agreed to provide the new owner, the Jonathan Rose Cos., with project-based Section 8 vouchers for up to 160 apartments in the 272-unit complex. Rose will pay off a $16M debt to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and spend $35M on renovations. Rose has been acquiring and preserving affordable housing properties in the Chicago region since 2012. 

Regency Development Group and its sales and marketing firm, @properties Developer Services, sold out The Revival, the adaptive reuse and conversion of a landmarked church at 921 North Hoyne St. in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood into nine luxury condominiums. @properties launched sales at the former St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in August 2019.

LEASES

Law firm Ice Miller LLP signed a long-term lease extension and expansion at 200 West Madison St. The firm will increase its 23K SF to 36K SF, remaining on the entire 35th floor and expanding to the 36th. JLL’s Corey Siegrist, Bill Rogers and Brian Means represented Ice Miller in the negotiation. Transwestern’s Jeff Dowdell represented owner BentallGreenOak.

FINANCING

Schaumburg, Illinois-based Industrial Outdoor Ventures, a national investor focused on outdoor storage facilities, and its equity sponsor BLG Capital Advisors forged a recapitalization and go-forward joint venture with San Francisco-based Stockbridge. IOV sold an interest in its 26-building portfolio to Stockbridge. The properties are located in major markets throughout the U.S. CIBC Bank and a group of co-lenders provided a new $145M credit facility to the venture. CBRE National Partners, led by Mike Caprile, Zach Graham and Ryan Bain, arranged the recapitalization and JV. 

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 

James McHugh Construction Co., along with its joint venture partner Powers & Sons Construction Co., completed the $100M construction of Sable at Navy Pier, a 223-room, seven-story hotel. Part of Hilton’s Curio Collection, the ACRON USA-owned hotel opened March 18 on Navy Pier’s east end. The 201K SF hotel is more than 800 feet long, and every room offers waterfront views. KOO LLC was the project architect, and Thornton Tomasetti served as the structural engineer.

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Developer Janko Group hired Peak Construction Corp. to begin site infrastructure work for Bristol Business Park, an industrial park in Bristol, Wisconsin. The park totals 170 acres and is fully entitled for up to 2.2M SF in six buildings. Peak also began construction on the site's first industrial project. The building will be 314K SF with a 36-foot clear height. Janko plans to complete it in August. Harris Architects Inc. is the architect, Manhard Consulting is the civil engineer and Cushman & Wakefield is the marketing agent.

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Optima officials say their construction team topped off Optima Lakeview, a new seven-story, 198-unit rental building with 14K SF of street-level retail at 3460 Northway Broadway St. in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Optima Lakeview’s first move-ins are scheduled for spring 2022. The firm served as both designer and general contractor. Work on the building, a former Treasure Island grocery store, began five months ago.

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Evanston, Illinois-based Morgante Wilson Architects, an architecture and interior design firm, completed the interiors for Westerly, a recently opened 11-story, 188-unit rental community in Chicago’s River West neighborhood developed by Fifield Cos. Westerly was designed by FitzGerald Associates Architects and built by James McHugh Construction Co.

THIS AND THAT

The Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate at Roosevelt University will host a virtual two-week summer program this year that will expose high school students of color from Chicago and across the country to college and career opportunities in commercial real estate. The MBIRE Real Estate Exchange Summer Program session, sponsored by the Real Estate Executive Council and the commercial real estate development association NAIOP, will be offered virtually July 12-23. It may include some in-person components if coronavirus protocols allow.