This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet
A $20M project from Garner's Pullman Hotel Group to bring a hotel to the historic and long-underserved Pullman neighborhood is in the works.
Chicago investor Andre Garner is seeking a $5M city grant to help develop a 101-room Hampton by Hilton hotel at 111th Street and Doty Avenue, a few blocks east of the area's iconic clock tower building that has been restored as a visitor center.
The hotel would be built on a vacant lot north of a retail building that is home to a Culver's along 111th Street. Visits to the restored Pullman National Monument nearby are expected to quadruple to 300,000 people per year, thanks to its affiliation with the National Park Service, Crain's Chicago Business reported.
"You've got a nice mix of factors that pointed toward the need for some lodging," Garner told Crain's.
While the investor has received $100K from the Chicago Community Trust, he is still awaiting full funding for the project, with grant announcements expected to come in November.
PEOPLE
Principle Construction Corp. hired eight new people to meet increasing industrial design and construction demands. John S. Cahill and Jim Greco are joining the team as senior project managers, and Patrick Byrne is assuming a new project manager role. Leslie Smedberg joins the team as a project accountant. Other new members include Stephen Augustyn as assistant superintendent, John Isaacson as senior superintendent, and Scott Nagle and David Plunkett as superintendents.
SALES
DarwinPW Realty President Rick Daly, principal Nick Krejci and Managing Broker George Cibula represented the Automobile Mechanics’ Local No. 701 Union in its sale of a 24K SF building at 450 Gundersen Drive in west suburban Carol Stream to the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council. The union is relocating from Western Springs. The two-story, Class-B building was constructed in 1980. Joseph Rossi & Associates’ Doug Pauly represented the buyer.
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DarwinPW Realty Senior Vice President Jeffrey Provenza and JLL Senior Vice President Brian Carroll represented a private investor as the buyer in the purchase of a 103K SF Class-B building on a 10.16-acre site at 3600 River Road in west suburban Franklin Park. The building is the site of the former Dean Foods location. DarwinPW Realty’s Jerry Sullivan and Axiom Advisors represented the seller, NDSM Franklin Park.
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A joint venture partnership between Clear Height Properties and Harbert U.S. Real Estate, an investment strategy sponsored by Harbert Management Corp., has purchased a 57K SF industrial building at 11058 Addison St. in west suburban Franklin Park. Located in the O’Hare submarket, the roughly 50% leased, two-tenant building is in close proximity to Interstates 90 and 294. Ed Lowenbaum of Cresa represented the seller. Alliance Paper & Food Service leases half the building.
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Chris Wilbur and Jeff Locascio of Entre Commercial Realty completed the sale of a 44K SF building at 143 West 154th St. in south suburban South Holland. Entre negotiated the sale of the cold storage facility on behalf of wholesale food distributor Martin Produce Inc. The property was sold to another wholesale food distributor that required the infrastructure that was already in place. Jordan Schnoll with Jameson Commercial represented the buyer.
LEASES
Peak Properties is taking over management of four independently owned mixed-use buildings in Oak Park and River Forest, including 13 fully occupied commercial units and three residential apartments. The Oak Park addresses include 126-138 Harrison St., 214-226 Harrison St. and 409-415 South Blvd. The River Forest property is at 349 Ashland Ave.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Maybach International Group, represented by NAI Hiffman, broke ground on Maybach’s new $20M, 62K SF headquarters on 12 acres at 1384 Madeline Lane in northwest suburban Elgin. Slated for completion in 2023, the warehouse will welcome 50-60 employees and will include 47K SF of warehouse and repair facilities and nearly 15K SF of offices. Executive Vice President Kelly Disser and Vice President Mike Freitag, both of NAI Hiffman’s industrial services group, aided Maybach with its site selection. Peter Kenny, director of project services with Hiffman National, consulted on the facility’s design and construction timeline and budgets.
FINANCING
Benjamin L. Kadish, president of Maverick Commercial Mortgage Inc., announced $3.5M in permanent financing in the closing of a first mortgage loan for two buildings: a 47K SF property at 8801 South Greenwood Ave. and a 16K SF property at 8835 South Greenwood Ave. Financing comes through an acquisition loan on the two adjacent industrial buildings leased to SCR Medical Transportation, with a 60-month term and a fixed interest rate of 4.15%. The lender funding the loan is a Midwest financial institution, and the borrower is a Maryland-based national real estate investment firm specializing in single-tenant net-leased industrial properties.
THIS AND THAT
Norton Rose Fulbright will move into the top two floors at the newly built 1045 on Fulton building in early 2023. The firm will occupy approximately 17K SF on the 11th and 12th floors of the tallest building in the Fulton Market Historic District at 1045 West Fulton Market St. The firm hired architecture and interior design firm Eastlake Studio to design its offices.
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Chicago earned the third-best score for top cultural destinations for remote workers in 2022, per a study by 42Floors. Following New York and Los Angeles, the metro scored well in jobs in arts and culture industries, number of libraries and number of musical festivals scheduled for this year.
