This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Bridge Industrial acquired 87 acres at 9301 West 55th St. in southwest suburban McCook, previously home to Caterpillar locomotive manufacturer Progress Rail and a 15-minute drive to Chicago Midway International Airport. Bridge plans to start demolishing this month several of the site’s structures and construct two warehouse buildings, one with 1M SF and the other with 190K SF, by mid-2023.   

Progress Rail announced plans to relocate its locomotive production in 2018 and shrank its footprint on the McCook site last year. The manufacturer will continue to operate on the area not sold to Bridge, but the sale shows the increasing importance of warehouses in the Chicago region’s historically tight market.   

“The larger building will be the biggest available building within a 20-minute drive of the City of Chicago," Nick Siegel, partner for Bridge's Chicago region, said in a statement. "Finding a site of this size and scale is so rare in this supply constrained area."

Bridge continues to expand its footprint in the Chicago region. It has more than 2.4M SF under construction and broke ground or closed on six new projects since the beginning of 2021, all set to be delivered throughout 2022, 2023 and 2025.

EXECS

JPMorgan Chase promoted Julie Thick to real estate banking central region market manager. The REB business provides customized debt solutions and treasury services to real estate developers, investors, operating companies and investment funds across the U.S. Thick previously served as director of national subscription lending, a platform she will continue to oversee as well as begin a search to backfill the position. Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase in 2010, Thick held various leadership roles in real estate financing with RBS Citizens Bank and LaSalle Bank.

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Skender promoted Jeff Reist and Lauren Torres to project executive. Reist joined Skender in 2015 and has 16 years of experience in the construction industry, including multifamily, adaptive reuse, historic restoration, hospitality and other commercial projects. Torres joined Skender in 2013 and has 13 years of experience in the construction industry, including some notable corporate interior projects in Chicago. The company also promoted Jacob Boyle to senior project manager. Boyle joined Skender in 2016 and has 12 years of experience in the construction industry, including corporate interiors, healthcare, mission-critical and life sciences projects.

SALES

A joint venture between Marquette Cos. and an institutional partner sold the seven-story City View at the Highlands, a 403-unit renovated apartment building at 2720 South Highland Ave. in west suburban Lombard, to Torchlight Investors. The Hayman Co. will provide leasing and property management services for the 5-acre site, which is adjacent to Butterfield Road and Interstates 88 and 355. Kevin Girard, Marty O’Connell and Matthew Lawton of JLL Capital Markets represented the sellers in the transaction.

JLL Capital Markets also arranged $73.5M in agency financing for Torchlight’s acquisition. JLL secured the 10-year, floating-rate loan through Freddie Mac Multifamily. This JLL team was led by Jimmy Conley and Carter Wroblewski. The loan will be serviced by JLL Real Estate Capital.

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Hillwood Development bought a 400K SF distribution center at 101 North Centerpoint Drive in Rochelle, Illinois, about 80 miles west of Chicago, from a fund advised by the U.S. real estate business of UBS Asset Management. Colliers International Chicago’s Jeff Devine and Steve Disse represented the seller. The logistics building sits on 21 acres and features a 30-foot clear ceiling height. It is 100% leased to global toy manufacturer Tomy, the building’s only tenant since its completion in 2004.

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Buol Properties sold for $10M a 54-unit mixed-use building at 1650 West Roscoe St. in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. The acquisition includes four occupied street-level retail spaces totaling more than 31K SF. Interra Realty’s Craig Martin represented both the undisclosed buyer and seller, which had owned and operated the property for four decades and undertook capital improvements during that time, including upgrading the electrical service and plumbing and installing new windows. The building was 22% occupied at the time of the sale.

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Venture One Real Estate, through its acquisition fund, VK Industrial V LP, a partnership between Venture One and Kovitz Investment Group, acquired a 41K SF industrial building at 10430 Argonne Woods Drive in west suburban Woodridge. The acquisition was a sale-leaseback. The building was constructed in 2000, expanded in 2017 and sits on 2 acres. Sean Henrick of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the transaction.

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HSRE Fund VI Holding Co. acquired a 36K SF industrial building at 9950-9970 West 190th St. in Mokena. Darwin Realty/CORFAC International’s Matthew Lee, Nick Krejci and Noel Liston represented the buyer, and the seller, 9950 Properties, was self-represented. The fully leased building was constructed in 2006 and houses 4K SF of offices.

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A private investor sold a 38K SF building at 1700-1730 Todd Farm Drive in northwest suburban Elgin for $3.25M. The four-unit building is fully leased and had been recently updated. Brown Commercial Group’s Dan Brown negotiated the sale. The buyer was a private investor who bought the building in 2018 for $2.85M in a transaction that was also negotiated by Brown.

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ML Realty Partners acquired 430 West Fullerton Ave., a fully leased, 24K SF industrial building in west suburban Elmhurst. The building’s tenant, PGW Auto Glass, has occupied the building for more than 25 years. Brendan Hill handled the acquisition for ML Realty Partners, and Paul Gearen of NAI Hiffman represented the seller.

LEASES

Braze, a customer engagement platform, agreed to occupy 50K SF on the 10th floor of the One North State Street building in Chicago’s East Loop. Savills’ Robert Sevim, Gabe Marans and Cullen Hurley handled the market search and sublease transaction for Braze. One North State Street was built in the early 1900s to serve as the flagship for the Mandel Bros. department store and was recently upgraded with a rooftop deck, fitness center and a large communal space. Allison Olszta, Brad Serot and Paul Reaumond of CBRE represented Showpad, the sublessor.

Vivid Seats, a ticket exchange and resale company, will occupy about 50K SF at 24 East Washington St. and make the building its national headquarters. Previously the historic Marshall Field’s building, 24 East Washington now provides 635K SF of offices on its top six floors. Jack O’Brien, Daniel Heckman and Caroline Colnon of The Telos Group represented ownership in the transaction. Brad Serot and Paul Reaumond at CBRE represented Vivid Seats. 

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Chicago-based The Habitat Co. broke ground on the first building at 43 Green, a $100M mixed-income, mixed-use, transit-oriented development in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. Habitat is developing the project in partnership with P3 Markets, a real estate development firm based in Bronzeville. Located on a vacant city-owned lot on the northeast corner of East 43rd Street and Calumet Avenue, just north of Hadiya Pendleton Park, the Phase 1 building will be the largest of 43 Green’s three buildings, which are centered around the 43rd Street Green Line L station.

The 10-story building will include 99 units, more than 5K SF of retail space and off-street parking. Half of the residences will list as market rate, with the other half offered as income-restricted units. Barring any supply chain and material delays, construction for the Phase 1 building is expected to be complete by February 2023, and first move-ins are projected for November 2023.

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McHugh Construction completed the caisson foundation and began vertical construction on Platform 4611, a nine-story mixed-use development at 4611 North Broadway St. in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The building will bring 200 rental units and about 9K SF of ground-floor retail space to the northeast corner of Broadway and Wilson Avenue, just steps from the Wilson CTA train station. Chicago-based The John Buck Co. and Free Market Ventures are the co-developers of the 154K SF project, which will top out in spring 2022 and welcome its first residents in late 2022 or early 2023.