This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

A joint venture of GFH Financial Group, Lincoln Property Co. and Crestlight Capital sealed the top suburban office acquisition of 2017: the $129M sale of Central Park of Lisle. 

Blackstone bought the two-building, 690K SF campus for $116M in 2013, so the sale marks a small but tidy return for the firm. Lincoln Property leased the buildings for Blackstone, and believes it can continue the momentum long term as Chicago's downtown office market is expected to soften with new inventory and tenants seek strong performing assets in the city and suburbs.

Suburban office real estate improved steadily in 2017 with renewed interest from tenants seeking office space and investors looking to acquire strong-performing assets. 

HFF’s Bryan Rosenberg, Patrick Shields, Jamie Fink, Mark Katz and Jeff Bramson represented Blackstone Group. The HFF team worked on behalf of the buyer to secure financing for the acquisition through Citigroup.

SALES

Podolsky Circle CORFAC International’s Alissa Adler, John Homsher and Paul Tesdal represented Syndicated Equities in the $21M sale of 400 Skokie Blvd. in Northbrook, an eight-story, 195K SF office building, to Ameritus Real Estate Management. Podolsky Circle will continue to serve as the building’s property manager.

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SVN | Chicago Commercial completed the following transactions:

• Chad Schroedl, Drew Dillon and Scott Maesel represented the seller, Gerling Elden, and John Livaditis represented the buyer, RDG Funds, in the sale of a 28K SF loft office building at 156 North Jefferson in the West Loop. RDG plans to redevelop the fully vacant building.
• Deena Zimmerman and Kate Meyers represented Acrelec America in the $1.3M purchase of a 3,964 SF office condo at 1327 West Washington Blvd. in the West Loop.

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Kiser Group completed the following transactions:

• Rick Ofman and Lee Kiser were the sole brokers in the $3.6M sale of a 41-unit studio apartment building at 4070 North Kenmore Ave. in Uptown.
• Lee Kiser and Noah Birk were the sole brokers in the $1.6M sale of a 29-unit apartment building at 6945 South Crandon in Jackson Park.

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Millennium Properties’ Brad Thompson was the sole broker in the sale of a 41K SF light industrial building at 140 West 62nd St. in Chicago.

LEASES

JLL’s Brad Despot and Annie Nicolau represented Irvine Company Office Properties in two leases at 71 South Wacker. Andersen Tax signed a 26K SF lease and will relocate from 222 West Adams in May. The tenant was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Steve Schneider. JAMS will expand to 19K SF and was represented by CBRE’s Todd Lippman and Jarrett Annenberg.

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NKF’s Adam Marshall, Brian Carroll and Mark Deady represented Animal Supply Co. in a long-term, 220K SF lease at 1323 Brewster Creek Blvd. in Bartlett. Lee & Associates’ Jeff Janda and Steve Bass represented ownership.

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Mid-America Real Estate’s Dick Spinell and Paige Schiesser represented the landlord, and JLL’s Adam Cody represented tenant At Home, in a 105K SF lease at Fayban Crossing shopping center in Geneva, Illinois. This will be the Texas-based home décor retailer’s fourth Illinois location.

HIRES/PROMOTIONS

Avison Young hired Chris Lydon and Chris Tecu as principals to work in tandem in the firm’s industrial brokerage division. Lydon was previously a senior director at Cushman & Wakefield, while Tecu comes to AY from CenterPoint Properties, where he was a vice president. The two previously worked together at Trammell Crow.

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Cushman & Wakefield hired Suzanne Mehta as chief experience officer for the firm’s global occupier services practice.

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Stantec Architecture hired Jae Choi as design lead for its buildings practice.

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Mid-America Real Estate promoted Andrew Becker, Sean Bossy and Michael Wexler to senior vice president and Carly Gallagher to vice president.

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Podolsky Circle CORFAC International hired Robert Dahlgren as senior director of property management. Dahlgren comes to Podolsky Circle from Bridge Development Partners.

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Proper Title hired Kathy Kwak as director of title in its downtown Chicago office, Steve Connors as director of business development in its Palatine office, Laura Bendikas as closing director and Joseph Allegretti as attorney business development manager.

CONSTRUCTION

Skender Construction completed a 90K SF headquarters relocation for Wilson Sporting Goods, on the fifth and sixth floors of One Prudential Plaza. Skender, serving as general contractor, worked with architect Gensler and ownership representative Newmark Knight Frank to create a sports-inspired, open office workspace that incorporated brick walls, a wood ceiling, a café and a staircase that required Skender to remove a large section of the sixth-floor slab and provide structural reinforcement around the new opening.

KUDOS

Kiser Group’s Noah Birk and Aaron Sklar were recognized with the firm’s 2017 top closer and top producer awards, respectively.