This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Summit Design + Build completed the renovation of the former Hotel Indigo Chicago Downtown. The project updated the nearly century-old hotel throughout its guest rooms, lobby, spa, restaurant and amenity areas.

The 13-story hotel at 1244 North Dearborn Parkway was built in 1923 and had been known as Hotel Indigo since 2005, when it was purchased by InterContinental Hotels. The current owners, Interwest Capital, acquired the property in 2016 with plans to rebrand the hotel, which has now assumed its original name of Claridge House.

The process of renovating and updating the hotel started with Summit taking on guest rooms in parts of five floors, using a single floor as a buffer to limit noise disruptions. Working top down, the guest rooms were then completed, followed by the lobby, with the back dining area done first and the reception, bar and elevators completed last.

The hotel’s 165 guest rooms received cosmetic upgrades. These upgrades included new paint and wallpaper, new carpet and luxury vinyl tile flooring, brass light fixtures, new shower fixtures, glass shower doors and lighted mirrors. All of the corridors were also updated with new wallpaper, paint, carpet and custom light fixtures. The installation of a new exterior canopy completed the renovation. 

Hirsch Associates served as the project architect and the Gettys Group served as the interior designer for the Claridge House renovation. Cooper Riley provided owner representative services. Oxford Capital Group is the hotel operator.

EXECS

Palatine-based Proper Title has hired Amanda Ley as senior escrow officer. Ley spent nearly two decades with Chicago Title & Trust Co. She will be handling both commercial and residential transactions out of Proper Title’s Northbrook office.

***

Northbrook-based Pine Tree has promoted Conor Bossy to senior vice president of acquisitions. According to the company, the promotion reflects its commitment to expanding Pine Tree's portfolio of shopping centers around the country.

***

CBRE appointed Chris Connelly as global president, asset services and investor leasing. Connelly will also oversee the asset services and investor leasing business lines in the Americas, in addition to globally. He is based in Chicago.

SALES

Clear Height Properties has acquired a 522K SF office and flex portfolio in DuPage County for $30M. Gary Nussbaum, Michelle Monhaut and Paige Gunn of Transwestern’s Chicago Capital Markets Group provided disposition services on behalf of the seller, Denholtz Associates. The portfolio includes:

• Butterfield Office Plaza, a 201K SF building at 2625 Butterfield Road in Oak Brook.
• A 140K SF business park at 747 North Church Road in Elmhurst, consisting of six single-story flex/office properties and one warehouse.
• A 96K SF flex project at 1050–1098 and 1100–1138 North Tower Lane in Bensenville.
• An 84K SF business park at 625–701 Executive Drive in Willowbrook. 

***

A&G Realty Partners will auction seven department store properties formerly owned by the Bon-Ton Stores on Sept. 20 in Chicago. All bids for the auction, which centers on fee-owned properties in six states, are due Sept. 18. With stores ranging from 46K SF to 150K SF, the available assets include two locations in Michigan as well as properties in Illinois, New York, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. They were formerly operated under the Carson's, Younkers, Elder-Beerman and Bon-Ton banners.

***

Jameson Commercial’s John Scuras represented both the buyer and seller of a 12K SF medical office building in Evanston for about $5.3M. The tenant, Access Community Health Network, is the Chicago area’s largest provider of community healthcare.

***

Two multifamily buildings totaling 110 units on Walden Parkway in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood have traded hands. The properties, 70 units and 40 units, are at 10206-30 South Walden Parkway and 10500 South Walden Parkway, respectively. The asset at 10206-30 South Walden sold for $6M and the asset at 10500 South Walden sold for $3.5M. Frank Micklin of SVN Chicago Commercial was the sole broker in the transactions.

LEASES

Iterum Therapeutics US Ltd., a subsidiary of Dublin, Ireland-based Iterum Therapeutics Plc, has leased more than 10K SF at 200 South Wacker Drive in Chicago for its U.S. headquarters. Iterum has been working with NKF to secure all of its strategic facilities, including this lease.

***

Iron Galaxy Studios, a major independent video game developer in the Midwest, has signed a lease for more than 15K SF at the National Building (125 South Clark) in the Loop. Iron Galaxy has worked with Skyrim, Destiny, Call of Duty, Killer Instinct, Wreckateer and Divekick. JLL represented the tenant. 

***

Indochino, a specialist in custom apparel, has opened a new showroom on West Armitage Avenue in Lincoln Park. It is the brand’s second Chicago location, built in response to growing demand for personalized apparel. The 2,500 SF showroom is about a block from the Armitage CTA station.

***

Gerber National Claims Services has renewed its lease for more than 15K SF at 150 Center Court in Schaumburg for its claims processing and administration departments. Gerber National Claims Services uses the space as a national call center; the tenant improvement package was valued at more than $500K. Avison Young's Rick Morris and Marc Fiedler represented the tenant. Jennifer Hopkins and Olivia Czyzynski of SVN Chicago Commercial represented the building’s owner, Performance Real Estate Services 3.

DEVELOPMENT

Conor Commercial Real Estate and Kensington Realty Advisors have broken ground on North Avenue Commerce Center, an industrial building on 17 acres at the southwest corner of North Avenue and Morton Road in Winfield. The 265K SF precast facility is divisible to 60K SF and offers a rear-load configuration for e-commerce, light manufacturing and warehouse users. 

THIS AND THAT

Rebuild Foundation has formed a partnership with Illinois Humanities to bring the Odyssey Project, a Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities, to Chicago’s Greater Grand Crossing community. Under the agreement, the Education and Grants Division of Illinois Humanities will establish office space and host students of the Odyssey Project within the Rebuild Foundation’s headquarters at the historic Stony Island Arts Bank, which was restored by Rebuild founder Theaster Gates, at 6760 South Stony Island Ave.