This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Interest rates remain low, which gives industrial real estate investors and developers another tool to work with when choosing whether to sell a portfolio or refinance one for a longer-term hold. A joint venture of Brennan Investment, Arch Street Capital Advisors and Gatehouse Financial Group chose the latter. The venture refinanced a seven-state, 11-property portfolio to the tune of $159.2M.

The properties are near Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Akron, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Dallas, are triple net leased to nine tenants and features single-tenant buildings ranging from 90K SF to 578K SF. The locations in Illinois are at 13701 George Bush Court, Huntley, and 1717 Gifford Road, Elgin.

HFF's Claudio Sgobba, Christopher Carroll, Robin Stolberg, Kurt Sarbaugh, Matthew Schoenfeldt and Jules Sherwood placed the 67% loan-to-value, 10-year, fixed rate loan with Goldman Sachs.

SALES

Interra Realty completed the following transactions:

• Patrick Kennelly represented the seller in the $1.45M deconversion sale of a 10-unit building at 244-46 South Marion in Oak Park.
• Joe Smazal was the sole broker in the $2.9M sale of a 12-unit apartment building at 3748-54 West School in Avondale.

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Colliers International’s Chris Volkert and Brendan Green represented GHP Group in its acquisition of a 225K SF warehouse at 1501 Nicholas Blvd. in Elk Grove Village. The seller, Prologis, was represented by Lee & Associates’ Chris Nelson, Ken Franzese and John Cassidy.

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Jameson Commercial Real Estate’s Jose Colon was the sole broker in the $6.9M sale of an 82K SF building at 2525 North Elston.

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SVN Chicago Commercial’s George Lau represented the seller in the $2.3M sale of a 28-unit multifamily building at 4719-25 South Michigan Ave. in Bronzeville.

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Baum Realty’s Danny Spitz, Greg Dietz and Patrick Forkin represented the seller in the $4M sale of a Family Dollar at 2274-2282 North Milwaukee in Logan Square. The 4.8% cap rate is the lowest for a single-tenant Family Dollar on record.

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Chicago Real Estate Resources completed the following transactions:

• Justin Moore represented the buyer in the $3M acquisition of a historic landmarked bank building in Lincoln Park. The developer plans to develop eight luxury condos inside the building.
• Nate Gautsche was the sole broker in the sale of a three-building multifamily portfolio.
• Nate Gautsche was the sole broker in the sale of a 65-unit, double courtyard apartment building at 7109-29 South Bennett in South Shore.

LEASES

Luxury beauty retailer Bluemercury signed an 1,800 SF lease with Tucker Development at 900 West in Fulton Market. Bluemercury will open at the corner of Randolph and Sangamon streets this summer.

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Chicago Real Estate Resources’ Justin Moore represented Studio Three, and Eric Janssen represented ownership, in a 16K SF lease at 2401 North Halsted in Lincoln Park. Studio Three, a fitness company, is expected to open in late 2018.

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NAI Hiffman’s Mark Moran and John Whitehead represented Valencia Properties in the following transactions at 1701-1735 West Armitage Court in Addison:

• Whole Cubes signed a 14K SF lease and was represented by Colliers’ International’s Steve Kohn.
• Northern Machinery signed a 4,194 SF lease.
• 2MC Hydro Graphics signed a 4,129 SF lease and was represented by Brown Commercial Group’s Daly Guzaldo.

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NAI Hiffman’s Adam Johnson represented the DuPage County Bar Association in a lease with HighPoint Planning Partners at 126 South County Farm Road in Wheaton. Cawley Chicago’s Tony Russo represented the tenant.

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Jameson Commercial Real Estate completed the following transactions:

• Dave Curry represented Actuate Law Group in a 10K SF lease at 641 West Lake. The building is owned by R2 Cos.
• Steve Goldstein represented Teen Living Programs in a seven-year, 2,727 SF lease at 180 North Michigan.

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NKF’s Adam Marshall, Mark Deady and Jerry Jacobs represented Leslie’s Poolmart in a 125K SF lease renewal at 320 Industrial Drive in West Chicago. CBRE’s David Prell represented the landlord, Colony NorthStar.

FINANCING

American Street Capital’s Igor Zhizhin arranged $3M in financing for a self-storage portfolio in Branson, Missouri. The portfolio consists of five facilities, 20 buildings and 694 units totaling over 127K SF, and was 95% occupied at the time of closing.

HIRES/PROMOTIONS

Savills Studley hired Nick Foussaines as corporate managing director. A 30-year industry veteran, Foussaines started his career at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and has held leadership positions with JLL and Colliers International. His client roster includes Microsoft, Citigroup, BP America, Crum & Forster, Aon, Willis, Sears, Maytag and Wilson Sporting Goods.

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Kiser Group promoted Steven Haen and Rick Ofman to broker.

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SomerCor hired Rick Klug as senior vice president of business development. Klug was most recently regional vice president - central and western U.S/field sales for REIS, where he established the top revenue-producing region within the company.

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Morgan/Harbour Construction hired Sean Hughes as an estimator. Hughes was most recently an estimator at Northern Builders.

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Mid-America Real Estate-Wisconsin promoted Jim Vaillancourt to principal.

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Cawley Chicago hired Frank Melchert as executive vice president and Stevan Arandjelovic as vice president. The pair joined Cawley from NelsonHill.

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ReadyCap Commercial hired Mark Blaha as a director of originations for the Chicago and Midwest regions.

CONSTRUCTION

Cicero’s Development Corp. completed a 4K SF renovation for Clutch Studios at 1021 West Adams.

KUDOS

The American Lung Association of Greater Chicago, together with site sponsor Waterton, exceeded its fundraising goal for the 2018 Fight for Air Climb at Presidential Towers. The event raised nearly $502K, and has raised more than $3.6M since the event launched in 2008.

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CBRE’s Jack Fraker earned a top transactions award from the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors for the $475M sale of a 7.8M SF industrial portfolio across Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Columbus and Memphis last year. The transaction was the highest ever reported to SIOR.

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The Silverman Group selected Cushman & Wakefield to market 350 South Church St. in Addison for lease. Britt Casey and Jeff Matella are the exclusive leasing agents.

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Morgan/Harbour Construction raised nearly $26K for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Jim Novak, Ben Warriner, Ryan Frost, Seamus McCarron, Tom Delby, Dave Sonnicksen and Clay Scheller also shaved their heads in solidarity with kids fighting cancer at the Willowbrook event held March 18 at the Kerry Piper.