ADDISON, ILL. — Brennan Investment Group has acquired a 97,568-square-foot industrial building in the Chicago suburb of Addison. Located near the I-355 expressway in the Northern DuPage submarket, the property features convenient access to the O’Hare International Airport as well as the Chicago central business district. The transaction marks the fifth acquisition within Brennan’s inaugural Opportunity Fund, which primarily focuses on the user-owned market.
CINCINNATI AND CHICAGO — First Financial Bancorp. (Nasdaq: FFBC) has agreed to acquire BankFinancial Corp. (Nasdaq: BFIN) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $142 million. Upon completion of the transaction, BankFinancial’s consumer, trust/wealth management and selected commercial credit lines of business will be incorporated into First Financial’s respective business lines, and all BankFinancial bank employees will become First Financial associates. The merger agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to customary closing conditions, regulatory approvals and approval of BankFinancial shareholders. As of June 30, Cincinnati-based First Financial Bancorp. had $18.6 billion in assets, $11.8 billion in loans, $14.4 billion in deposits and $2.6 billion in shareholders’ equity. The company’s subsidiary, First Financial Bank, founded in 1863, provides banking and financial services to businesses and consumers. The company operated 128 full-service banking centers in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois as of June 30. Chicago-based BankFinancial is a commercial lender with 18 full-service banking offices located in Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will counties within Illinois. BankFinancial NA operates as a subsidiary of BankFinancial Corp.
CHICAGO — Developer Vista Property and general contractor Skender have broken ground on a 32-story apartment tower at 370 N. Morgan St. in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood. Designed by Antunovich Associates, the 539,000-square-foot property will feature 494 units, including 99 affordable housing units. Floor plans will range from studios to two bedrooms. A residential lobby, leasing offices and 4,500 square feet of retail space will make up the ground floor. A parking podium with 192 spaces, 20 percent of which will have electric vehicle charging capabilities, will extend from floors two to four. The exterior aesthetic is inspired by a modern Mies van der Rohe design. Outdoor amenities will include a 30th-floor pool deck, yoga terrace, fire pits and outdoor grill kitchens. Inside, residents will have access to a fitness center, coworking areas, a lounge, private event and dining rooms, a golf simulator and various common areas. A new landscaped plaza will front the intersection of Kinzie and Morgan streets. In late 2024, demolition on the site began with the removal of the old single-story Fox Deluxe Foods building. The apartment tower is slated for completion in the second quarter of 2027. The project team includes DeSimone as the structural …
GLENVIEW, ILL. — Bottling Group LLC, operating as Pepsi Beverages Co., a division of PepsiCo. Inc., has leased Building 10 at The Logistics Campus in suburban Chicago’s Glenview. The lease for the 351,520-square-foot build-to-suit facility commences in February. Dermody is the property owner. Bottling Group LLC manufactures, distributes and sells a portfolio of nonalcoholic beverages, including soft drinks, bottled water, energy drinks and fruit juices. Site work for Building 10 is underway with delivery planned for the first quarter of 2026. Colliers represented Dermody, and Cresa represented Pepsi in the lease. The Logistics Campus is a master-planned, 10-building campus totaling 3.2 million square feet. Dermody recently completed construction on Phase 1, which consists of more than 1.2 million square feet across five buildings.
CHICAGO — The Boulder Group has arranged the $3.3 million sale of a single-tenant, net-leased Chick-fil-A property at 11301 S. Corliss Ave. in Chicago. The newly constructed building, which features a drive-thru, is operating under a 15-year ground lease with 10 percent rental escalations every five years and eight five-year renewal options. The property is positioned directly west of I-94 and at the southeast corner of the newly revitalized Pullman Park development. Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman of Boulder Group represented the seller, a real estate developer in Chicago. The buyer was a local private investor. Today, there are nearly 3,000 Chick-fil-A locations across 48 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.
SKOKIE, ILL. — A joint venture between Wingspan Development Group and Tucker Development has delivered the first rental townhomes at The Henry at Harms Woods, a 294-unit multifamily property in Skokie. Located next to Life Time Fitness and near Westfield Old Orchard mall just west of I-94, the 11-acre development will include 245 apartment units, 49 rental townhomes and approximately 13,000 square feet of commercial space. First move-ins for the townhomes start this month, with the balance slated for this fall. Designed by HKM Architects + Planners and built by Nicholas & Associates, The Henry at Harms Woods will offer studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury apartment units and three- and four-bedroom townhomes. The four-bedroom Maple and Oak floor plans, which span approximately 2,500 square feet, start at $6,800 per month. Amenities include expansive courtyards, an outdoor pool, fitness center and work-from-home stations.
VERNON HILLS, ILL. — The Nicholas Family of Cos. has acquired Glacier Ice Arena, a 63,000-square-foot indoor ice arena with two NHL-regulation rinks in the Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills. Nicholas will own and manage the hockey and ice skating rink and will commence large-scale renovations later this year. Nicholas Family’s portfolio of ice rink facilities includes Mount Prospect Ice Arena at Nicholas Sportsplex in Mount Prospect; Rosemont Ice Arena, which is set to open this month in Rosemont; and Elk Grove Ice Arena, which is scheduled to begin construction this month. All will be operated by the company’s internal sports and recreation firm Spectate Group. Glacier Ice Arena is affiliated with Ice Dogs Hockey Club and serves as the primary venue for the Ice Dogs Hockey Association, which is home to roughly 15 teams. There is potential for Nicholas Family’s integrated hospitality company, Big Fish Hospitality Group, to be incorporated into future phases of planning following the acquisition. Glacier currently has 10 locker rooms, study rooms, party and meeting rooms, a snack bar and video game room.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — Claire’s U.S., the operator of Claire’s and Icing stores across the United States, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. The jewelry retailer listed both its liabilities and assets between $1 billion to $10 billion. Hoffman Estates-based Claire’s previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018. Claire’s says that the proceedings will enable the company to immediately commence the monetization process for its assets to maximize value for the business. The retailer is continuing a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives, including discussions with potential partners that began prior to the filings. “This decision is difficult, but a necessary one. Increased competition, consumer spending trends and the ongoing shift away from brick-and-mortar retail, in combination with our current debt obligations and macroeconomic factors, necessitate this course of action for Claire’s and its stakeholders,” says Chris Cramer, CEO of Claire’s. Claire’s retail stores in North America will remain open and continue to serve customers. However, in its bankruptcy filings the retailer noted 18 Claire’s and Icing stores that “should be exited” and is requesting the approval of store closing sales. These include: Claire’s U.S. intends to seek approval for a consensual use of cash collateral to …
CHICAGO — SVN Chicago Commercial has brokered the nearly $6 million sale of an 80,000-square-foot land parcel at 2221 W. Oakdale Ave. in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood. Developer Zev Salomon of ZSD Dorp. purchased the site with plans to transform the long-vacant parcel into a 35-unit row home community called RiverWard Row Homes. Wayne Caplan and Adam Thomas of SVN Chicago represented the undisclosed seller, while Matthew Lucas of Accretive LLC and Kale Realty represented the buyer. The deal took more than a year to close due to a zoning change and coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers on river access, according to Caplan.
CICERO, ILL. — CRG has begun development of The Cubes at Cicero, an 85,680-square-foot speculative industrial facility in Cicero, just west of Chicago. The project at 5401 W. Roosevelt Road will feature a clear height of 32 feet, 16 dock-high loading doors, two drive-in doors and approximately 2,000 square feet of office space. Thomas Rodeno, Patrick Turner and Sean Austin of Colliers will market the development for lease. DSI is the general contractor. Lamar Johnson Collaborative, CRG’s integrated architecture and design firm, is the project architect.