This Week’s Chicago Deal Sheet

Commercial real estate industry veteran John Picchiotti will join Dermody Properties as senior vice president of asset management and national leasing.

Picchiotti will support Dermody Properties’ national leasing activities, assisting with proposal development and deal execution. He will help manage established brokerage relationships regionally and nationally and act as primary manager of national industrial brokerage contacts. He will also be in charge of developing and executing strategies to maximize the value of Dermody Properties’ portfolio assets.

Dermody Properties is a national private equity real estate investment, development and management company focused exclusively on the logistics real estate sector.

Prior to joining the company, Picchiotti was the managing director and Chicago industrial brokerage lead for JLL. Picchiotti’s lengthy career also includes 16 years as market officer in charge of operations for Prologis and four years as chief operating officer at NAI Hiffman.

“John’s expertise with operations and developing key customer and broker relationships nationally will be a strategic advantage in serving our clients,” Dermody CEO and President Douglas A. Kiersey Jr. said in a press release. “His accomplished career, national presence and deep knowledge of the industry gives him the insight necessary to ensure our asset management, property management and accounting teams continue to excel.”

PEOPLE

The Chicago Department of Planning and Development has named Patrick Murphey, the city zoning administrator, as its acting commissioner. Murphey will succeed outgoing DPD Commissioner Maurice Cox, who has run the department since 2019 and announced his resignation last month. Murphey will take charge of a department with a staff of 172 individuals and continue to lead the zoning bureau. 

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Wingspan Development Group has added Mirela Vukovic to its team as corporate property and asset manager. Vukovic will be in charge of managing Wingspan’s national multifamily portfolio, overseeing third-party management firms, ensuring resident satisfaction, controlling expenses and optimizing revenue. Vukovic comes to Wingspan with over 20 years of experience in property and asset management.

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Barnes & Thornburg hired Eric A. Berg to the firm’s Chicago office as a partner in the litigation department. Berg has more than 30 years of experience litigating and providing counsel on a breadth of construction law issues. The industry vet earned his law degree from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and his undergraduate degree in political science from Yale University.

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DarwinPW Realty/CORFAC International tapped Thomas Engel to join the firm as an associate. He will be responsible for ownership, tenant and buyer representation, as well as investment analysis with a focus on the O’Hare area. Prior to joining the company, Engel worked as a retail sales manager.

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JPMorgan Chase bolstered its agency lending team with two new hires, John Hofmann and Todd Linehan. Hofmann joins the firm as head of agency production, with the goal of expanding the national agency production team to provide solutions for multifamily and commercial borrowers. Linehan comes on as a managing director, responsible for managing and executing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily transactions, originating loans and developing key agency relationships.

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Mid-America Real Estate Corp. brought on Brendan Reedy as principal and Jimmy Danaher as vice president, both specializing in retail landlord representation in the Chicago market. Reedy has finalized more than 1,200 lease and sales transactions in his 19 years in the industry. Danaher has a deep background in product leasing, specializing in the leasing and re-leasing of suburban power and lifestyle centers, as well as the leasing of ground-up developments.

SALES

Greenstone Partners sold 1414 North Noble St., a 13.7K SF multifamily property in Wicker Park, for $3.6M. The fully leased 10-unit property is half a block from Pulaski Park and half a mile from the Division Blue Line Chicago Transit Authority Station. Greenstone Partners represented the seller, a Chicago-based private investment firm.

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Kiser Group closed a deal on a property at 3935-45 West Division St. in Humboldt Park for an undisclosed price. The building has a total of 41 units, made up of 37 apartment units and four retail spaces. 

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Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of a medical office property in Westmont for $6.3M. Senior Managing Directors, Austin Weisenbeck and Sean R. Sharko, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Chicago Oak Brook office, sold the property on behalf of the seller, a limited liability company.   

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Entre Commercial Realty finalized the sale of a 66.7K SF industrial building at 5940 Oakton St. in Morton Grove to Venture One. The building offers 18-foot ceilings with four docks and four drive-in doors and has a special-use permit in place for an auto repair/body shop. Entre’s Denise Chaimovitz was the sole broker in the transaction.

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CP Capital sold The Monarch, a 236-unit, four-story, wrap-style multifamily community in Des Plaines. The project, which was finished in 2020, sold at 100% leased and 99% occupied. The buyer and purchase price weren't disclosed. 

LEASES

Lee & Associates, a national commercial real estate provider, negotiated two industrial lease transactions in the DuPage submarket totaling 67.2K SF. Kenneth Franzese and John Cassidy, principals at Lee & Associates of Illinois, represented Woodland Group in a 38.4K SF lease renewal at 325 West Lake St., Suite B, in Elmhurst. Jeff Janda and Michael Plumb, principals at Lee & Associates of Illinois, represented landlord Link Logistics in a 28.7K SF lease expansion at 775 Belden Ave. in Addison.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Principle Construction Corp. began construction on the tenant improvements of a roughly 283K SF building at 2000 Deerpath Road in Aurora for Tailored Brands. The fashion retailer owns popular brands such as Men’s Wearhouse, Joseph A. Bank and K&G Fashion Superstore. Principle will add a boiler and dry-cleaning room with a dedicated structural pipe support mezzanine, as well as a new 4,000-amp electrical service. The construction company is also installing 20 rooftop air conditioning units for the warehouse and dry-cleaning areas.  

THIS AND THAT

Xroads Real Estate Advisors, a national full-service real estate asset management and advisory firm, opened for business. The company will offer customized asset management and advisory services, including property management, agency leasing, capital markets strategies and back-office accounting services. Xroads has 5M SF of commercial real estate under its management.