This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet
Merchandise Mart is one the most sought-after addresses for tech-focused companies. There were two big moves at the Mart this week that the building's owner, Vornado, believes open new opportunity.
Publicis Groupe is vacating 132K SF on the Mart's fourth and fifth floors when its lease expires in July. Publicis is consolidating its operations to the Leo Burnett Building, 35 West Wacker. Vornado said it is confident it can fill the space with new tenants at market-rate rents.
In the other big move, PayPal affiliate Braintree announced its third lease expansion at the Mart since it moved there in 2014. Braintree, which provides software to firms like StubHub and Uber, will add 40K SF on the ninth floor, in former showroom space Vornado cleared out to make way for the firm's growth. Braintree will occupy 120K SF on the Mart's eighth and ninth floors.
SALES
The Boulder Group’s Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman represented the seller in the $4M sale of a single-tenant PNC Bank ground lease at 8700 South Cottage Grove Ave. in Chicago.
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Mid-America Real Estate’s Joe Girardi was the sole broker in the sale of Main Street Square in Downers Grove. The 56K SF retail center is anchored by a Kohl’s and was purchased by St. Louis-based Bianco Properties.
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Millennium Properties completed the following transactions:
- Chet Evans was the sole broker in the sale of a 3,541 SF office condo at 1500 Eisenhower Ave. in Lisle.
- Brad Thompson was the sole broker in the sale of a 25K SF industrial property at 250 Alice St. in Wheaton.
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NKF’s Adam Marshall and Boris Shraybman represented the seller in the sale of 440 South McLean Blvd., a 75K SF industrial facility in Elgin, to Plymouth Industrial REIT. Newmark Grubb Phoenix Realty Group’s Bryan Bartlett represented Plymouth.
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Kiser Group’s Ben Smith was the sole broker in the $1.8M sale of a 10-unit building at 3434 West McLean in Logan Square.
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Marcus & Millichap’s Scott Harris was the sole broker in the $1.5M sale of Lakeview Apartments, a 28-unit apartment property at 136 Main St. in Hobart, Indiana.
LEASES
JLL’s Anthony Genovese, Jason Press and Lew Kornberg represented Salon Lofts in a lease with Hubbard Street Group and Centrum Realty & Development at Wicker Park Connection in Wicker Park.
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Cushman & Wakefield’s Sean Henrick represented Duke Realty, and Interstate Tenant Advisors’ Jim Herbst represented Acer Service Corp., in a 166K SF lease at 16508 South John Lane Crossing in Lockport. With this lease, the building is 55% leased.
HIRES/PROMOTIONS
CBRE promoted Jon Milonas to senior vice president within the firm’s advisory and transaction services, occupier group. Milonas joined CBRE as an intern in 2007 and is one of the youngest senior vice presidents at its Chicago office.
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HFF hired Ryan Lindgren as director. Lindgren will focus on hotel investment advisory transactions and will be a member of HFF’s national hotel team led by Daniel Peek. He comes to HFF from Waterton, where he was assistant vice president of acquisitions for the hotel team.
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Westmount Realty Capital hired Laura Collins as director of asset management and Deborah Hill as senior property manager.
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Sheppard Mullin promoted Kathy Levecke and Michael Roth to partner.
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Draper and Kramer hired Blas Puzon as senior vice president on the company’s acquisitions, development and asset management team. Puzon comes from Seattle, where he held several roles in the Pinnacle family of companies.
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Mid-America Real Estate Group hired Westin Kane as an associate broker. Kane will focus on landlord and tenant representation in Chicago.
CONSTRUCTION
Skender Construction started interior construction of the 225K SF office space for HERE Technologies at 425 West Randolph. Throughout eight floors of the Boeing building, the HERE Chicago office will have space for more than 1,400 employees in an open-floor-plan seating arrangement. Skender is working in collaboration with Gensler, JLL and ESD Global to complete the build-out by September.
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Krusinski Construction completed a 57K SF headquarters build-out for Haumiller Engineering in South Elgin. Krusinski broke ground last May on this sustainable facility and completed the manufacturing and corporate office in November with the support of architect Ware Malcomb and civil engineer Pinnacle Engineering Group.
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The Missner Group was selected to build out a Naf Naf Grill at 1775 East Golf Road in Schaumburg. Heath Yarger is project manager, with Scott Nomellini serving as project superintendent. Wilkus Architects will provide the architectural services and LS Engineers will provide the engineering services.
KUDOS
Proper Title opened its new office in Bucktown at 2323 North Damen. Proper Title now has seven offices covering Cook, DuPage and Lake counties.
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McShane Construction opened an office in Madison, Wisconsin. The office will be led by Madison native Allison Gorham. She will help execute business development efforts in the Wisconsin market and lead the growth of the new office.
