This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet
Sterling Bay finished the environmental cleanup of Lincoln Yards, its mixed-use development along the North Branch of the Chicago River. The Chicago-based real estate developer and its partners removed more than 54 million pounds of polluted soil from the 53-acre site.
“For the last four years, we’ve been working with expert geologists and environmental engineers to reverse over a century’s worth of industrial damage in the North Branch Corridor,” Sterling Bay CEO Andy Gloor said in a press release. “The land we started with at Lincoln Yards was heavily polluted and unsuitable for community use, but today, Chicago residents are one major step closer to enjoying what will soon become a thriving new neighborhood that prioritizes the health and wellbeing of residents and visitors.”
Sterling Bay invested $9M to complete the Lincoln Yards cleanup effort, which included removing soil contaminated by PCBs, removing 36 underground storage tanks and recycling more than 69,000 tons of concrete, as well as nearly 5,000 tons of steel.
The company will also update the site’s obsolete energy infrastructure and pursue LEED-ND certification for the entire development.
Sterling Bay’s project partners on the cleanup were V3 Cos., RW Collins Co., TRS Group and Heneghan Wrecking.
EXECS
Core Spaces, a residential real estate developer and operator, brought Christine Richards on board as president of the firm’s property management platforms. Before joining the firm, she served as a senior executive at Greystar Real Estate Partners overseeing its domestic owned and managed student platform. In addition, Core Spaces’ Ben Modleski will move into the new role of managing director, strategy and research.
SALES
Barry Quadrangle Condominium Association sold in a $32.3M condo deconversion its three-building, 115-unit complex in the 800 block of West Barry Street in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. Kiser Group’s Andrew Friedman and Jake Parker represented both the seller and the buyer, North Park Ventures, in the transaction. The 115 units in the vintage walk-up property are spread across the 69-unit 835-855 West Barry St., the 34-unit 856-864 West Barry St. and the 12-unit 850-852 West Barry St.
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Industrial Realty Group acquired a 1.47M SF industrial site just outside Rockdale, a suburb of Joliet, Illinois. The 69-acre property includes several buildings along the Des Plaines River. The largest at 1.3M SF with 65K SF of office space is the former home of Caterpillar’s hydraulic manufacturing operations. IRG will begin renovating the property and marketing it for lease.
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R2 Cos. put up for sale the historic Germania Club building in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. The fully occupied, 46K SF property was built in 1888 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It features two grand ballrooms that frequently host corporate, civic and private events. The building’s tenant roster includes Lincoln Park Preschool, CorePower Yoga, and a local Thai and sushi restaurant. Danny Spitz and Jason St. John of Greenstone Partners will represent R2 in the sale.
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The owner of The Old Town Collection at 1553 North Wells St. listed the new property for sale at $14.25M. The fully leased, 23-unit apartment building was completed in 2019. It also includes one retail space, currently occupied by Phillz Coffee. Chicago-based Essex Realty Group will market the property for sale.
LEASES
Lendlease and its co-developer, Magellan Development Group, started pre-leasing at Cascade, a 37-story, 503-unit apartment tower at 455 East Waterside Drive in Chicago’s Lakeshore East neighborhood. The developers expect the first move-ins will happen this summer, coinciding with the opening of adjacent Cascade Park, a public green space that will connect the property to the lakefront and Chicago Riverwalk.
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Impact Networking signed a 31K SF lease expansion at 150 North Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago and will now occupy four full floors. CBRE Global Investors owns the 41-story, 661K SF building on behalf of the CBRE Strategic Partners U.S. Value 8 fund. Seth Tuscher and Kelsey Scheive of CBRE represented CBRE Global Investors in the transaction. Impact Networking was represented by Ryan Harding of Newmark and Kyle Harding and Andy Strand of JLL.
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Yahee Technologies signed a long-term lease for a 307K SF industrial building at 1010 Foster Ave. in northwest suburban Bensenville near O’Hare International Airport. The company will relocate from nearby Arlington Heights. Mark Baumhart of Lee & Associates’ Illinois office represented the owner, Prologis. Terry Herlihy of NAI Hiffman represented Yahee Technologies.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
GoldCoast Logistics Group broke ground on a $15M logistics headquarters at 1425 Madeline Lane in northwest suburban Elgin about 35 miles from Chicago. The 62K SF facility will include a 38K SF warehouse and a 23K SF office. Project partners include PanCor Construction & Development and Elgin Development Group. GoldCoast expects to complete construction by December 2021.
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EQ Office reopened Skydeck Chicago at Willis Tower on April 23 after completing an extensive redevelopment. The revamped Skydeck Chicago now includes a lower-level museum where visitors can hop aboard a full-scale L train replica and tour Chicago neighborhoods through several video displays. The new Skydeck was designed and constructed with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Thinc Design, Clark Construction Group and Chicago Scenic Studios.
THIS AND THAT
With people looking for more time to spend outdoors as soon as possible, some Chicago-area multifamily communities are bucking the tradition of opening outdoor pools on Memorial Day weekend — instead opting to open as early as mid-April.
Optima Signature in Streeterville officially opened its outdoor pool last week. Draper and Kramer, which owns and manages a number of downtown rental buildings, also opened in mid-April its outdoor pools at most of its Chicago-area properties, including Grand Plaza and Hubbard221. In addition, Related Midwest opened on April 16 its pools and outdoor recreational spaces at One Bennett Park, 500 Lake Shore Drive and Landmark West Loop.
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The downtown Chicago office market sank further in Q1 2021, according to MB Real Estate’s new market overview. The company’s researchers said there was a total of 942K SF of negative absorption in the central business district. The overall direct vacancy rate in the CBD increased by 114 basis points to 15.3% at the end of Q1 2021, up from 14.2% at the end of Q4 2020. The total vacancy rate, including sublease space, increased to 19.2%.
