This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Abbott Laboratories has leased more than 100K SF on two floors in the Willis Tower in hopes of attracting employees reluctant to travel to the company's north suburban headquarters.

Crain’s Chicago reported the healthcare and medical devices company will build out the new space on the 25th and 26th floors — an expansion that could bring up to 450 workers downtown. With the new satellite office, Abbott's first in downtown Chicago, the company hopes to retain workers as it reckons with remote work.

"We're always looking for new and better ways to work at Abbott and the pandemic experience has further supported the use of the wide range of flexible work arrangements we offer," Abbott CEO Robert Ford wrote in a letter to employees.

Chicago has seen a notably slow return to the office since the pandemic, although the city saw a marked 4.2% improvement in back-to-work numbers, according to keycard security firm Kastle Systems, which maintains a 10-city return to office tracker. As of the week ending June 8, Chicago's office occupancy was 41.4% of pre-pandemic levels, according to Kastle, though that trails the national average of 44%.

EXECS

Chicago-based Redwood Capital Group, a real estate investment manager concentrated on the multifamily sector, has announced the promotions of three employees in Chicago. Christopher Baran now serves as senior vice president of construction and facilities. Kadi Mancuso is the firm’s director of marketing, and Lyndsay Thie serves as human resources manager.

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Transwestern Real Estate Services added J.C. Griffin as vice president in the firm’s capital markets group. The Chicago-based Griffin will focus on deal sourcing and execution in urban core and opportunistic markets. Griffin joins Transwestern from Avison Young’s development services and U.S. capital markets group, where he led investment sales transactions and secured urban-centric development and project management assignments.

SALES

Commercial real estate brokerage Marcus & Millichap brokered a $5.2M, 56K SF industrial property deal at 7760 North Merrimac Ave. in northwest suburban Niles, within the hot O’Hare industrial market. Marcus & Millichap represented the property’s longtime owner, Quality Elevator Products Inc., which will remain the building’s sole occupier on a long-term lease with multiple renewal options. 

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Interra Realty, a Chicago-based commercial real estate investment services firm, brokered the $2.65M sale of 6403 North Wayne Ave., a 16-unit mixed-use building with two first-floor commercial spaces, located along the border of Chicago’s Edgewater and Rogers Park neighborhoods. 

Interra Senior Managing Partner Brad Feldman represented both the seller, a local private investor, and the buyer, a local real estate partnership. The sale price equates to $165,625 per unit and includes one three-bedroom and 13 two-bedroom apartments, along with the two commercial units, a dry cleaner and Sky Thai Cuisine. 

Interra Realty brokered the $1.41M off-market sale of a three-building, 18-unit mixed-use portfolio. Properties in the portfolio include 5329 West North Ave., a 10-unit apartment building with two ground-floor retail spaces in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood; 550 North Avers Ave., a four-unit rental community in East Garfield Park; and 3908 West Ferdinand St., a four-unit property also in East Garfield Park. Interra Managing Partner Ted Stratman and Director Jeremy Morton represented the seller, Chicago-based investment and management group Ocean World Ventures, as well as the confidential buyer, a long-term client of Stratman’s. The average price per unit was $78.3K.

LEASES

Chicago-based Dayton Street Partners signed a lease with the GSA Justice Department for a new 55K SF space at its industrial property at 2500 York Road in Elk Grove Village. Across the street from O’Hare International Airport, it is one of a few crane-served properties in the O’Hare submarket. The warehouse sits on 3.3 acres and features two interior docks, three drive-in doors and parking for 110 cars.

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Savills represented Senior Lifestyle Corp. in a nearly 34K SF, multiyear extension at 303 East Wacker Drive in the Loop, where it has resided for almost 10 years. The tower, owned by Beacon Capital, recently finalized a $35M renovation. Senior Lifestyle, a privately held owner-operator, developer and manager of senior housing communities with a portfolio consisting of 128 communities across the U.S., wants to remain in The Loop to be close to transportation hubs. 

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

PREMIER Design + Build Group will break ground on a large new industrial build for an end user client that specializes in the design and manufacture of packaging solutions. The new 438.7K SF facility will be located at 2601 Mason Road in northwest suburb Elgin. The project is set to be completed by February 2023 and will serve as the new Midwest branch location for the firm. 

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A unit of San Antonio-based Lynd Group is using a $66M construction loan to build 178 townhomes in southwest suburban Oswego, Crain’s Chicago reported. The development will feature two- and three-bedroom units of between 1,500 and 1,700 SF with monthly rents starting at $2,700, expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2023. Plans are also in place to develop single-family rental homes next door.

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Chicago-based Shapack Partners has filed two zoning applications to bring 2,200 new apartment units and a 141-room hotel to several sites located between the planned Bally's casino and the meatpacking district. Crain’s Chicago reported Shapak plans to transform a shuttered Salvation Army family store and donation center along Grand Avenue between Desplaines Street and Union Avenue into living and hotel ventures. 

FINANCING

Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, a national commercial and multifamily mortgage banking company, has closed $60M in loans to finance six properties, three of which are in Chicago. Ryan Morris, assistant vice president in BWE’s Chicago office, originated the loan deals for East West Corporate Center in west suburban Naperville and Addison Mall in northwest suburban Addison. Executive Vice President Dan Rosenberg and Assistant  Vice President Matt Terpstra originated a loan deal for Coeval in the South Loop. 

THIS AND THAT

New York City-based hospitality firm The Group will expand its collection of restaurants to bring French concept restaurant La Grande Boucherie and Japanese dining experience Omakase Room to 431 Dearborn St., as well as upscale Italian restaurant Olio e Più to 445 North Dearborn St., in the next two years. The Group engaged Friedman Properties to source out locations for the new restaurants coming to River North. Olio e Più is anticipated to open in winter 2022, and La Grande Boucherie and Omakase Room are slated to open the following spring.