The Deal Sheet
WP Carey just paid $48M for Smuckers’ Chicago distribution facility, and we have a hunch it's because they love the Internet mega-hit “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” as much as we do.
The net-lease REIT picked up the Class-A 825k SF property in south suburban University Park from Exeter Property Group (Smuckers has nine and a half years of lease term remaining). Originally built in 2008 at 575k SF and one of only six Smuckers-operated distribution centers in the country, the building was expanded last year for the distribution of coffee under the Folgers brand (acquired by Smuckers in ’08, because the best part of waking up is jelly in your cup). The REIT used revenue from its investment manager subsidiary to raise $500M in equity during the downturn, we learned from CEO Trevor Bond (above) last week at NAREIT’s REITWeek. This year it's raised $800M, and it also uses its own balance sheet for acquisitions, especially for deals in which the cost of capital would be too high for a fund, he says.
SALES
Podolsky|Circle CORFAC International principals John Homsher and Adam Tarantur, along with managing principal Randy Podoslky, repped a regional bank in multiple sales: 1932 15th Ave (above) in Melrose Park, a 26k SF manufacturing building sold to MNS Warehouse; 600 N IL Rte 31 in Crystal Lake, a 5,280 SF single-story multi-tenant office building sold to Blackhawk Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America (repped by MJ Munaretto’s Robert Munaretto); 200 W Hubbard, a 6,768 SF infill land site sold to a private individual in a 1031 exchange; 3209-3215 N Elston Ave in Avondale, a 12k SF land site sold to Dolyva Development (repped by Sergio & Banks’ Demetrius Simpson) for a planned multi-story residential building; and 1809-1835 W Devon Ave, two graded level lots totaling 29k SF sold to Banner Acquisitions (repped by SVN | Chicago Commercial’s Wayne Caplan) for a planned self-storage facility.
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Essex Realty Group completed the $4.5M sale of 7900-20 N Caldwell Ave, a 60-unit apartment complex in Niles (built in 1968) consisting of three 20-unit buildings around a communal grass courtyard. Matt Welke and Jason Fishleder repped the seller; Doug Fisher repped the buyer.
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First Western Properties' Paul Tsakiris and Fahim Lakhani completed the sale of a 4,500 SF mixed-use property (one office, two apartments) at 2240 W Armitage in Wicker Park, along with the sale of two mixed-use buildings at 2003 and 3215 W Cermak Ave (each with one storefront and seven units) in Pilsen and Little Village.
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Cushman & Wakefield completed the direct sale of 57 E Oak St (above) to Wharton Realty Group. The seller was 57 E Oak St LLC, Barn 63 LLC, Naskra LLC, and Oak Street Real Estate No 2 LLC. Repping the buyer and seller: senior directors Michael Marks, Evan Halkias, Meredith Oliver, Danny Jacobson, and Luke Molloy, along with director Nick Kanich. The 8,072 SF three-story property’s tenants include Lester Lampert Jewelers.
LEASING
Savills Studley completed a lease renegotiation for 27k SF for Lincoln International at 500 W Madison St. Executive managing director Lisa Davidson and senior managing director Tiffany Winne repped Lincoln. Transwestern’s Michael Lirtzman and Courtney Baratz repped the landlord.
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Brown Commercial Group completed six industrial leases totaling about 11k SF at SFP Commercial Real Estate’s Touhy Court Industrial Complex in Des Plaines, boosting occupancy to 97.4%. President Dan Brown repped the landlord in all six deals; sales associate Mason Hezner repped the tenant in the first four and the landlord in the other two. The deals: Quality Building Solutions leased 1,755 SF at 112 Touhy Ct; TCH Construction renewed a 3,249 SF lease at 158-160 Touhy Ct; Xtreme Cover Bands signed a 1,147 SF lease at 124 Touhy Ct; Professional Masonry Restoration leased 1,690 SF at 110 Touhy Ct; Southern Air (repped by Berkson & Sons’ Steve Galindo) inked a 1,438 SF lease at 128 Touhy Ct; and Car Wraps & Graphics (repped by GC Realty & Development’s Jeff Piser) signed a 1,692 SF lease at 172 Touhy Ct.
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First Western Properties Kellen Duggan and Paul Tsakiris recently completed the following leases: 2,000 SF to a yoga studio at 1234 S Michigan Ave in the South Loop; a lease to Cocomero Frozen Yogurt at 956 Harlem Ave in Glenview (Kellen repped the tenant, Paul repped the landlord); and a lease to Bobby’s Bike Hike at 540 N Lake Shore Dr. Paul also leased space to a dentist at 3300 Chicago Rd in South Chicago Heights, where co-tenants include Save-A-Lot and Family Dollar.
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Markel Corp and USI Insurance Services signed new leases at 222 S Riverside Plaza (above), a 1.2M SF building now 88% leased. Markel (repped by Studley’s Jonathan Metzl and Steven LaKind) will move from 111 N Canal to a 16k SF space on the 22nd floor and USI Insurance Services (repped by Cushman & Wakefield’s Jim Ward) will move from 100 S Wacker to an 8,100 SF space on the sixth floor. JLL managing director Steve Smith and SVP Nikki Kern repped ownership, TIER REIT.
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GNC leased 1,200 SF at Parrot Plaza, a 100%-leased neighborhood strip center at 1401 W North Ave in Melrose Park. An affiliate of Next Realty has owned the property since 2010, and co-tenants include Chipotle, T-Mobile, and Loya Insurance. The center is across the street for power center Winston Plaza.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Dermody Properties and AEW Capital Management broke ground on LogistiCenter McCook, a two-building industrial complex at 1st Avenue and 47th Street in McCook. The site will offer 663 SF of industrial manufacturing and distribution center space at the entrance ramp to I-55. Avison Young principal Brendan Kelly repped Dermody in acquiring the 34-acre site in partnership with AEW last year.
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Inland Real Estate Group of Cos tapped Chong Huan as CIO. He will also serve as CEO of Inland Computer Services. Chong was most recently CTO and head of infrastructure for Cole Real Estate Investments. He received his executive master of technology management degree from Wharton; master’s in business administration from Northeastern, BS in engineering from Oxford; and he’s a Moore Fellow at Penn Engineering.
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Chuck Johanns joined JLL Capital Market’s Midwest platform as EVP, focused on raising debt and equity for acquisitions and development. He previously served as managing director and head of real estate for Houlihan Capital. Chuck earned his MBA from Kellogg and BS in finance from the U of I.
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ML Realty Partners tapped Jason Gundrum as project manager, coordinanting tenant improvements and assisting development efforts in Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Houston. He was most recently project manager at Villa Capital Partners and has a degree in construction management from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
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Kevin Rogers will join the suburban Chicago tenant rep team at JLL as EVP. The 18-year industry vet was previously a suburban tenant rep with CBRE. At JLL, he’ll partner with managing director Andrea Van Gelder and senior associate Kellen Monti with a geographic focus on the East-West Corridor in DuPage County.
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Kyle Payne joined Auctions by ATG as a business development rep, working to identify and secure multi- and single-unit properties to add to the company’s auction inventory. He previously owned a LaGrange-based wholesale REO and tax lien servicing business and started his career as a foreclosure specialist at Dovenmuehle Mortgage.
