This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet
The bulk of the 2.4M SF of new office space coming to downtown Chicago this year is from three buildings: McDonald's West Loop headquarters, CNA Center at 151 North Franklin and 625 West Adams. The latter two buildings made headlines last week with some marquee leases.
Monday, Facebook confirmed it completed a 263K SF lease at 151 North Franklin. Although the social media giant would not offer any details, it is believed it will consolidate its operations at CNA Center from its current space at 191 North Wacker. Cushman & Wakefield represented Facebook in the lease, while the building owner, the John Buck Co., was represented by Newmark Knight Frank's Bill Rolander and Jon Cordell.
Ferrara Candy, the Oakbrook Terrace-based maker of Red Hots and Lemonheads candies, is moving its corporate headquarters to 625 West Adams, which, at 438K SF, is the largest downtown speculative office project in years. Ferrara is negotiating a two-floor, 60K SF lease; it would be the building's first tenant once a deal is inked. The building's owners, a joint venture of White Oak Realty Partners, Vanderbilt Partners, CA Office and USAA Real Estate, are represented by NKF's Cordell, Rolander and Jason Houze.
SALES
The Boulder Group’s Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman represented the seller in the $15.5M sale of a single-tenant, net leased Jewel-Osco at 12803 Harlem Ave. in Palos Heights.
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HFF’s Marc Mandel, Steve Schrenk and Robin Stolberg represented the buyer in the $4.6M sale of 4,500 SF BP/Circle K service station and Marquette Bank ATM in Hickory Hills. The North American Group NNN REIT purchased the asset free of existing debt.
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Greenstone Partners’ Greg Dietz and Danny Spitz represented the seller in the sale of 2450 North Milwaukee Ave., a 4,900 SF mixed-use building in Logan Square. The street-level and first floors are occupied by Estereo, which is managed and owned by Heisler Hospitality. On the second floor is a four-bedroom, two-bath apartment. The building was rehabilitated in 2017.
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Jameson Commercial’s Clark Patterson was the sole broker in the $3M sale of a mixed-use building at 2100 North Halsted in Lincoln Park. The building contains seven apartments and ground-floor retail leased to French restaurant Chez Moi.
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SVN Chicago Commercial’s Olivia Czyzynski and Jennifer Hopkins represented the seller, and Sky High Real Estate’s Zishan Alvi represented the buyer, in the $2.4M off-market sale of Governor’s Plaza at 2260 West Higgins Road in Hoffman Estates.
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Lee & Associates’ Thomas Boyle represented the buyer, Kinter, and NKF’s Sergio Chapa and Mike Prost represented the seller, Zilber Property Group, in the sale of a 3.2-acre site at 3145 North Oak Grove Ave. in Waukegan. Kinter plans to build a 70K SF facility on the site.
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Marcus & Millichap’s Dominic Sulo and Chad Lieber were the sole brokers in the $1.2M sale of a multi-tenant, 8,400 SF retail property at 3552-64 Court St. in Pekin.
LEASES
CBRE’s Danny Jacobson, Luke Molloy and Stephen Ansani represented Walton Street Capital in a 3,700 SF lease with Mercedes-Benz for a pop-up store at 401 North Michigan Ave. The German automaker will occupy the space in late July for a three-month period and offer a rotating display of new models in the building’s plaza.
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First Western Properties’ Paul Tsakiris and Fahim Lakhani were the sole brokers in a lease with Jeffery Nails at 7621 South Jeffery Blvd.
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Lee & Associates’ Thomas Boyle represented Kinter in a 59K SF industrial lease at 7153 99th Ave. in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. The landlord, Zilber Property Group, was represented by NKF’s Sergio Chapa and Mike Prost.
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The Lynmark Group completed a 10K SF lease with The Learning Experience at Wheeling Town Center. The lease includes a 5K SF outdoor play area, and the tenant will open in 2019. The commercial portion of Wheeling Town Center is now 80% leased.
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NAI Hiffman’s Dan Leahy, Mark Moran and John Whitehead represented ML Realty Partners, and Mohr Partners' Trent Smith and Eric Beichler represented Kane is Able, in a 380K SF lease at Heritage Crossing, 14630 South 147th Court in Lockport.
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Mid-America Real Estate’s Max Jacobson represented Punch Bowl Social in a 24K SF lease at the Milwaukee Bucks’ entertainment block in downtown Milwaukee. Punch Bowl Social is expected to open its location in spring 2019.
FINANCING
HFF’s Matthew Schoenfeldt worked on behalf of Cermak Plaza Associates to secure an $18M refinancing package for Cermak Plaza, a 307K SF retail center in Berwyn. Loan proceeds were used to retire an existing loan and fund capital improvements in conjunction with the termination of a lease with Meijer and new lease with top local grocer Tony’s Finer Foods.
HIRES/PROMOTIONS
CBRE hired Dave Brown as a senior vice president. Brown, based in Chicago, will lead the firm’s retail specialty leasing and alternative revenue practice. He was most recently president of Covington Realty Partners. Prior to Covington, he worked for GGP in specialty leasing and strategic partnerships.
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Franklin Partners hired James Cleary as portfolio project manager, a role that includes chief engineer duties across the firm’s Illinois portfolio. He will oversee all capital and tenant improvement projects, participate in due diligence for future asset acquisitions, supervise new engineering hires for future assets and coordinate the development of best practices for building engineers throughout the firm and its buildings.
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HFF hired Stella Pappas as a director on its debt and equity placement team. She joins the firm from Allstate Investments, where she worked for eight years in the Real Estate Private Equity Group sourcing, structuring and executing joint venture and fund investment strategies.
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Sterling Bay hired Howard Blair as director of construction. He leaves Development Resources after a 32-year career in which he was involved with significant rehab projects, including 224 South Michigan, 120 South LaSalle and 110 North Wacker Drive. Most recently, Blair oversaw completion of CNA’s new headquarters at 151 North Franklin.
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The Laramar Group hired Jeanne Schwab and Stacy Valentine as senior vice presidents. Schwab returns to Laramar after positions at Forum Real Estate, The Irvine Cos. and Cortland Partners and will be responsible for joint venture, affordable and client service/third party platforms. Valentin comes to Laramar with 20 years of real estate experience, most recently with Forum Real Estate Group, and will oversee “Local by Laramar,” which is the firm’s growing urban neighborhood platform.
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Thornton Thomasetti promoted Carol Post to the newly created position of chief quality assurance officer. She served as a leader on the firm’s standards and quality assurance/quality control committees and played a key role in the development of the QAQC protocol in the structural engineering practice.
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Krusinski Construction Co. made the following hires:
- Stephanie Aguilar joined the firm as marketing coordinator.
- Elaine Mariscal joined the firm as pre-construction coordinator.
- Jeff Vis joined the firm as a help desk specialist.
- Ed Zygowicz joined the firm as a senior project superintendent.
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Clear Height Properties named Gary Rose as managing director of asset management and acquisitions and Jason Pammler as managing director of project and development services. Most recently, Rose oversaw asset management, disposition and acquisition efforts for Equity Group Investments, where he focused on a portfolio of private real estate investments controlled by Sam Zell.
CONSTRUCTION
The Opus Group started construction on a 113-unit luxury multifamily mixed-use development at 1555 Ellinwood in Des Plaines. The transit-oriented development will feature 1,400 SF of ground-floor retail. The development is a joint venture with Berkshire Group.
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Meridian Design Build started construction of a 125K SF speculative multi-tenant industrial facility at 2379 Davey Road in Woodridge, for Molto Properties. Architectural services are being provided by Harris Architects and civil engineering work is being completed by Kimley-Horn. Colliers International’s Jim Estus is marketing the development.
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Crow Holdings International broke ground on its first Midwest project, a 252K SF industrial building at 24601 South Frontage Road East in Chanhannon Corporate Center. CHI is partnering with ARCO/Murray on the project, which will deliver in early 2019.
KUDOS
Proper Title opened a new 2,400 SF office at 1010 Jorie Blvd. in Oak Brook.
