This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Northwestern University’s men’s basketball team made history this season when it finally earned an invitation to the NCAA tournament. The school is riding the momentum and working on a $110M renovation to the team’s home, Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The project, which is in its early stages, will transform Welsh-Ryan Arena into a world-class playing and practice facility for Northwestern's basketball, volleyball and wrestling teams. The capital improvements will include chair-back seats replacing wood bleachers; wider concourses with improved lighting to alleviate congestion; improved accessibility for the mobility-impaired; five new elevators replacing the existing one; new restrooms, including the addition of accessible family restrooms; new concession areas with additional point-of-sale stations to increase efficiency; a nearly 50% expansion of the lobby; a new ticket office; new locker rooms; and new offices.

HOK is the architect of record and Northwestern hired Mortenson Construction to lead the build-out, which will be completed in the fall of 2018.

SALES

Quantum Real Estate Advisors’ Chad Firsel repped the seller in the $5.7M sale of a 15K SF, multi-tenant retail space at 901 West Madison St. in the West Loop.

***

Greenstone Partners repped the seller in the $7.4M sale of a 25K SF land site at the northwest corner of Halsted and Van Buren in Greektown. The buyer plans to build a 12-story residential building with 148 units, ground-level retail and 65 parking spots.

***

Essex Realty completed the following transactions:

• Jim Darrow and Jordan Gottlieb were the sole brokers in the $1M sale of 3307 North Kenmore, a four-unit property in Lakeview.
• Doug Fisher repped the seller, and Imber and Kate Varde repped the buyer in the $6.1M sale of 4706 North Beacon, a 44-unit apartment building in Uptown.
• Steven Livaditis and Joe Scheck were the sole brokers in the $7.8M sale of 512 West Belden, a 26-unit condo building in Lincoln Park.

***

Marcus & Millichap’s Sean Delaney and Michael Mele repped both parties in the sale of Canal Street Storage, a 792-unit self-storage facility at 1601 South Canal St. in the South Loop.

***

Draper and Kramer closed on the purchase of a three-acre parcel at Greenwood Avenue and Busse Highway in Park Ridge. The seller, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, was represented by NGKF’s Paul Buckingham and Terry Alexa. Draper and Kramer then sold a portion of the site to a developer for a luxury senior housing development. Stone Real Estate’s Jason Gustavson is marketing the remaining commercial parcel for Draper and Kramer.

***

Interra Realty’s Joe Smazal and James Clough repped the seller in the $2.3M sale of The Wrigleyview, a five-unit apartment building at 3718 North Wilton Ave. in Wrigleyville with luxury three-bedroom apartments, direct-to-unit elevator service, a shared rooftop deck and five parking spaces.

LEASES

Draper and Kramer and Property Solutions Group repped Aldi in a ground lease with JAMA 5501 for a 56K SF parcel at 5501 South Harlem Ave. in Garfield Ridge. The landlord was repped by Stone Real Estate’s Jason Gustaveson. A 19K SF Aldi store is scheduled to open on the site in December.

***

NAI Hiffman's Dan Leahy, Mark Moran and John Whitehead repped ML Realty Partners in a 100K SF pre-lease with Atosa Catering Equipment at 14555 South Gougar Road in Lockport. CBRE’s Jason Lev repped the tenant.

***

First Western Properties repped both parties in a new three-year lease with a bakery tenant at 4700 North Kimball in Albany Park.

***

Bradford Allen’s Ryan Moen and John Millner repped ownership in a lease expansion and extension with the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine at 25 Northwest Point in Elk Grove Village. ProTen Realty Group's Kurt Walsh repped the tenant.

HIRES/PROMOTIONS

The Gettys Group promoted Dan Welborn to principal, strategy and design.

***

Thornton Tomasetti hired Daniel Wojnowski as a senior vice president. A forensics professional with nearly 35 years of experience, Wojnowski will provide additional senior-level support to the firm’s forensics practice and help grow its market share in the Midwest. Wojnowski specializes in commercial construction structural failures, construction accidents, site safety/OSHA incident evaluations, agricultural structural failures and building code evaluations.

***

Kokua Hospitality hired Andrea Mue as executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Leslie Lerude as senior vice president. Both come to Kokua from Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants.

***

World Business Chicago hired Jimmy Odom as director of inclusive entrepreneurship for the newly formed ChicagoNEXT Inclusive Entrepreneurship Leadership Council. Odom was previously acting assistant director for the Department of Central Management Services of the State of Illinois. His initial focus will be on the Blackstone Challenge, a three-year pilot program that will award $3M in grants to innovative organizations that effectively support diverse entrepreneurs and scale startups in the Chicago area.

KUDOS

Kass Management Services was retained to handle property management for the following buildings:

• 1401 West School St./3258 North Southport Ave., two residential units atop Schoolyard Tavern & Grill in Lakeview owned by Four Corners Tavern Group.
• 900-02 West Armitage Ave., a six-unit residential building in Lincoln Park owned by Sterling Bay.
• McGovern House, a 73-unit newly constructed rental community at 760 Central Ave. in Highland Park; developed by Nexstep.

***

The Opus Group completed a new 175K SF corporate HQ for MC Machinery Systems in Elk Grove Village. The two-story building accommodates the company’s growing workforce and changing business needs featuring 50K SF of office space, 75K SF of warehouse and storage space and a 50K SF industrial machinery showroom to showcase the company’s equipment and host customer walk-throughs.