HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — Sears Holdings Corp. plans to close 96 underperforming stores by February 2020, according to the retailer’s parent company, Transform Holdco LLC. The closings will consist of 51 Sears stores and 45 Kmart stores, leaving 182 operational Sears and Kmart stores remaining in the United States. The closing stores are scattered throughout all regions of the country, including 28 located in California. A full list of store closures can be found here. “Since purchasing substantially all the assets of Sears Holdings Corp. in February 2019, Transformco has faced a difficult retail environment and other challenges,” the company noted in a press release. “We will endeavor to create and deliver value through a strategic combination of our better-performing retail stores and our service businesses, brands and other assets, and expect to realize a significant return on our extensive portfolio of owned and leased real estate.” Ahead of the holiday season, Transform secured a $250 million lifeline financing from lenders including its owner, Eddie Lampert. Lampert bought Sears out of bankruptcy for $5.2 billion in January and, at the time, the sale prevented liquidation of 425 properties. “None of this is a surprise. Sears continues to morph from a …
Illinois
WARRENVILLE, ILL. — McShane Construction Co. has been selected by Atlantic Residential to build a 259-unit multifamily community in Warrenville, a suburb of Chicago. Known as Everton Flats, the seven-building property will comprise sustainable features such as solar panels and LED lighting. Amenities will include a pool, grilling area, lounge and playground. Floor plans will range from studios to two-bedroom units. Completion is slated for summer 2021. HKM is the project architect.
CHICAGO — Uber Capital Group has arranged a $12.5 million loan for the acquisition of Ford City Mall in Chicago. The 1.2 million-square-foot mall is located at 7601 S. Cicero St. JC Penney anchors the property, which is home to more than 135 retailers and restaurants, including a 14-screen AMC Theatres. Joel J. Gorjian of Uber arranged the three-year, fixed-rate loan at 75 percent loan-to-value with a 20-year amortization schedule. A New York-based private real estate investment group was the borrower.
CHICAGO — Interra Realty has brokered the sale of a 37-unit apartment property in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood for $4.3 million. Located at 6415-6425 N. Richmond St., the asset was 95 percent occupied at the time of sale. Built in 1937, the property features 24 one-bedroom units and 13 two-bedroom units. Joe Smazal of Interra represented both the private seller and private buyer. At $115,405 per unit, the sale was the largest multifamily sale in the neighborhood this year, according to CoStar Group.
CHICAGO — Chicago-based private equity firm RDG Funds LLC has acquired 13Thirteen Randolph Street Lofts in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood for $40.1 million. The Class A multifamily asset includes four retail tenants and 74 apartment units. The property comprises two historic buildings, originally constructed in 1892 and 1927. Both buildings were renovated and transformed into residences in 2013. Shared amenities include a rooftop deck, resident lounge, media center, theater room and fitness center. RDG has retained Greystar to assist with its business plan for the property. Todd Stofflet and Jason Stevens of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, JP Morgan Asset Management. Monthly rents start around $1,600.
CHICAGO — Colliers International has brokered the sale of Jackson Throop Place in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood for an undisclosed price. The 93-unit luxury apartment building is located on West Jackson Boulevard. Built in 2016, the property includes 18 one-bedroom units, 72 two-bedroom units and three three-bedroom units. The apartments feature hardwood floors, quartz countertops and stainless-steel appliances. Tyler Hague and Lauren Stoliar of Colliers represented the buyer, Newcastle Limited. Michigan Avenue Real Estate Partners was the seller.
ELGIN, ILL. — Conor Commercial Real Estate and partner Globe Corp. have completed development of Northwest Pointe III in Elgin. The project consists of two buildings spanning a combined 349,080 square feet. The property marks Conor’s third development within the Northwest Corporate Park. The site is located 1.5 miles from the Randall Road four-way interchange, which provides access to I-90. The buildings each feature a clear height of 32 feet, 20 dock doors and two drive-in doors. McShane Construction Co. was the general contractor and Ware Malcomb was the architect.
GLENVIEW, ILL. — JLL has brokered the sale of a newly constructed, 18,000-square-foot retail property that is triple net leased to Goodwill in the Chicago suburb of Glenview. The sales price was not disclosed. The building is situated on 1.7 acres at 2740 Old Willow Road. JLL marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a Chicago-based developer. Florida-based Best Properties LLC purchased the asset while completing a 1031 tax-deferred exchange. Goodwill Industrials of Southeastern Wisconsin Inc., which is the largest of the more than 165 Goodwill organizations worldwide, began store operations at the property in February with a 10-year lease.
CHICAGO — Chicago-based real estate development firms Golub & Co. and Farpoint Development have acquired Prairie Shores, a large-scale workforce housing apartment community in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. The purchase price was not disclosed, but Crain’s Chicago Business reported earlier this year that the buyers were slated to pay $180 million for the property. The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group was the largest equity investor in the acquisition. The 20-acre Prairie Shores campus, located between 26th and 31st streets on Martin Luther King Drive, includes five 19-story buildings totaling 1,675 units. Originally developed between 1957 and 1961, the buildings include several fitness centers and resident lounges. “Prairie Shores has been a mainstay in the Bronzeville neighborhood since the late 1950s, and we plan to build on its solid reputation while continuing to serve the hard-working families and individuals who currently live there,” says Michael Newman, principal, president and CEO of Golub. The community is part of a Near South Side section of the city that is flourishing from new development and destinations such as the Wintrust Arena, Historic Motor Row and McCormick Place, according to the buyers. Collin McKenna and Michael Goldman of Golub and Rami Peltz and Eric Helfand of …
LOS ANGELES — Chicago’s office market maintains its top status in the 2019 edition of CBRE’s Green Building Adoption Index, an annual report that measures the energy sustainability of the top 30 office markets in the United States. The index (GBAI) reviews the various office markets’ adoption of two green building certifications — the EPA’s Energy Star rating and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification. The GBAI is tracked in terms of both square footage and number of buildings. More than 167 million square feet of Chicago’s office space is certified green, or approximately 71.1 percent of the metro’s total office inventory (235 rentable million square feet). Coming in behind the City of Broad Shoulders is San Francisco (67.5 percent), Atlanta (59.3 percent), Minneapolis/St. Paul (57.1 percent) and Los Angeles (56.6 percent). Chicago is a growing and thriving office market. Tech firms such as Uber, Amazon and LinkedIn, as well as coworking concepts Spaces, Industrious and WeWork, have all taken down large swaths of office space in the metro area. According to third-quarter data from CBRE Research, more than 5 million square feet of office space is under construction in metro Chicago. “Going green is one key to any …