This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet: City Council Approves $158M In Adaptive Reuse Projects

Cicadas are all the buzz this spring.

From the hum swarms are create outdoors and an “Orkinstra” celebration planned by pest control company Orkin to harmonize with their “singing” to insect-infused Malört cocktails bringing happy hour buzzes of a different kind, the elusive bugs that emerge just once in a blue moon are everywhere. 

And commercial property is not exempt from the onslaught. Two different broods representing trillions of cicadas have already begun emerging across parts of the Midwest and South. While their rare appearance has meant cause for celebration for some, landlords and property owners are girding for battle against an army of pests that have been known to wreak destruction.

The last time the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cicadas and the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year cicadas descended on the U.S., Thomas Jefferson was the nation's leader. Since then, smaller swarms have emerged and those who lived through them are getting prepared and taking lessons from the past.  “Everything I've got is water-cooled, so,…

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In Case You Missed It...

Eighties and nineties nostalgia was dealt a gut punch earlier this month when nearly 100 Red Lobster locations abruptly went dark amid the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Restaurants that took the U.S. by storm 30 to 40 years ago are beginning to drop like flies after a whirlwind past few years that forced rapid innovation in response to evolving consumer demands. At least 12 of the nation’s biggest casual chains plan to scale back their portfolios this year, and while reasons behind the reductions vary, the potential real estate impacts grow more layered as closures bloom.

The turnover of space is expected to create opportunities in retail markets where rapid population growth has led to historically low levels of vacancy. But in less desirable markets, the empty carcasses of once-beloved chain restaurants will be harder to reckon with.

“There might be restaurant chains that are willing to come in and maybe take over a lease or a location,” Placer.ai Head Of Analytical Research R.J. Hottovy said. “But it’s also possible, at least in the near term, that there might be a lot of dark restaurants.”  Fans of Cheddar…

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