CHICAGO — Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. (NYSE: SHO), a California-based lodging REIT, has sold two hotels in Chicago for a combined gross sales price of $129.5 million. The properties include the 368-room Embassy Suites Chicago and the 361-room Hilton Garden Inn Chicago Downtown/Magnificent Mile. Buyer information was not provided. The sale marks Sunstone’s exit from the Chicago market, which has been hindered by excess supply and an inability to drive meaningful rate and profitability growth, says CEO Bryan Giglia. For the month of February, Chicago’s hotel occupancy rate of 43.8 percent was the second-lowest rate across the nation, according to hospitality data firm STR. The average occupancy rate nationally for the month was 56.9 percent. Sunstone’s stock price opened at $11.69 per share Tuesday, March 22, down slightly from $12.82 per share one year ago.
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, ILL. — Greystone has provided a $57.1 million loan for the acquisition of Terrace of Elk Grove Apartments in Elk Grove Village. The buyer, Bayshore Properties, is converting the 427-unit property from condos into apartments. The complex, originally built as a rental apartment property in 1968, consists of eight three-story buildings. Amenities include a pool, clubhouse, fitness center, game room, business center, laundry facilities, courtyards and onsite management. Eric Rosenstock and Dan Sacks of Greystone originated the nonrecourse bridge loan, which features a 24-month term. Under the Condominium Property Act in Illinois, condo unit owners can elect to sell a property if 75 percent or more are in agreement. Sellers then have the option to either move out of their units or lease them back from the new owner.
CHICAGO — Commercial real estate firm Cresa has signed a 21,000-square-foot office lease to relocate its headquarters to Chicago from Washington, D.C. The firm will occupy space at 167 Green St. in Chicago’s Fulton Market district. Cresa says the decision to relocate follows the announcement of several high-level, Chicago-based leadership hires. The new office will house Cresa’s tenant advisory practice, project management and lease administration teams. The office will feature a mix of collaborative and private work areas. Cresa, which exclusively represents occupiers, maintains more than 80 offices and 1,000 employees.
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, ILL. — A joint venture between Clear Height Properties and Blackbird Investment Group has sold a 56,500-square-foot industrial building located at 1400 Greenleaf Ave. in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village. The sales price was undisclosed. The partnership acquired the property in January 2021 and invested $720,000 in renovations. Originally constructed in 1973, the building features a clear height of 18 feet, three loading docks and 9,500 square feet of office space. Justin Lerner of Transwestern represented both the sellers as well as the buyer, Ideal Property Investments. Avatar Financial Group provided a $1.5 million bridge loan for the acquisition.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — It Gym, a locally owned fitness studio that offers personal training and group exercise classes, will open a 3,300-square-foot facility at Bell Works Chicagoland in Hoffman Estates. The gym, owned by local personal trainer Gina Kaiser, is slated to open this summer. Bell Works Chicagoland is a redevelopment of the former AT&T corporate campus. Somerset Development is the owner.
CHICAGO — Interra Realty has arranged the $8.5 million sale of a four-building multifamily portfolio in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The 24-unit, fully leased portfolio includes two buildings on Blackstone Avenue, one building on Dorchester Avenue and one on Greenwood Avenue. They were all built in the early 1900s. Joe Smazal of Interra brokered the transaction. A private seller sold the portfolio to an East Coast-based buyer that maintains a significant presence in Chicago.
PEORIA, ILL. — The Boulder Group has negotiated the $7.9 million sale of a single-tenant retail property net leased to Best Buy in Peoria. The 46,432-square-foot building is located at 5001 N. Big Hollow Road. Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman of Boulder represented the seller, a West Coast-based investor. A Midwest-based real estate company was the buyer. Best Buy has more than four years remaining on its lease.
CHICAGO — Chicago-based Harrison Street has sold a portfolio of 12 self-storage facilities located across four states for an undisclosed price. Storage Post and Life Storage were the buyers. The portfolio consists of 625,598 rentable square feet across properties in Texas, New York, North Carolina and Illinois. Harrison Street operated the facilities in joint venture partnerships with Advantage Self Storage, Storage Post and Reliant Real Estate Management. Life Storage managed one of the properties on a third-party basis. The portfolio was 91 percent leased at the time of sale.
When it comes to which office properties will succeed in the coming years, success may boil down in part to who is minding the store. Like most big cities, Chicago’s office market has been tested by the pandemic, and office property owners face a far more competitive environment. Year-end 2021 office vacancy rates were nearly 18 percent in the central business district (CBD) and over 25 percent in the suburbs, or 44 percent and 35 percent higher, respectively, than two years prior, according to NAI Hiffman research. Hybrid work is here to stay, and some employers are shrinking or shifting their office footprints. When the pandemic is finally in the rearview mirror, office demand is not going to be the same as it was a couple of years ago, although we are still figuring out just what it will be. Which office properties survive and thrive in post-pandemic Chicago and nationwide will depend on many factors, including the property’s age or condition, its location and, increasingly, how well the property is programmed and run. That includes satisfying tenants in terms of everything from air quality to event assistance; meeting lenders’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements and other new demands; …
CHICAGO — JLL Capital Markets has arranged an $8 million loan for the acquisition of a two-property industrial portfolio totaling 90,849 square feet in Chicago. Jeff Sause, Brian Walsh and Wyatt Strahan of JLL represented the borrower, California-based Unilev Capital Corp. A national bank provided the loan. Unilev’s industrial platform, which launched less than 18 months ago, has acquired $120 million worth of industrial assets nationwide.