CHICAGO — Ready Capital has provided a $44.4 million loan for the acquisition and stabilization of a 473,000-square-foot Class B office building in Chicago’s East Loop. The nonrecourse, floating-rate loan will provide funds for the leasing costs associated with extending tenants long term and stabilizing the rent roll at market rents, according to Ready Capital. The loan features a 48-month term and a loan-to-cost ratio of 71 percent, with one extension option and flexible prepayment. The borrower was not disclosed.
CHICAGO — Tishman Speyer has released renderings for 320 N. Sangamon, a 13-story, 270,000-square-foot office project in Chicago’s Fulton Market District. Along with its co-developer Goodman & Associates, Tishman Speyer plans to break ground on the project on Thursday, Sept. 26. Completion is slated for the first quarter of 2021. The building will feature floor plates ranging from 25,000 to 28,000 square feet. Employees at the property will have access to ZO, Tishman Speyer’s offering of lifestyle services and amenities. Solomon Cordwell Buenz is the project architect. Ellen May and Joe Gordon of Tishman Speyer will market the property for lease.
CHICAGO — International coworking company Offix has opened its first U.S. office at Catalyst Lofts in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Offix occupies 6,394 square feet at 917 W. 18th St. Besides flexible workspace and private offices, Offix members have access to meeting rooms, business lobbies, a fully equipped kitchen and event lounge. Chad Schroedl and Adam Thomas of SVN Chicago Commercial represented the undisclosed landlord in the lease transaction. Leibel Moscowitz of Vandon Forbes Real Estate represented the tenant.
CHICAGO — JLL has arranged a $140 million loan for the refinancing of Gallagher Way, a recently completed mixed-use development adjacent to Chicago’s Wrigley Field. The project includes more than 93,000 square feet of office space, 85,100 square feet of retail space, the 173-room Hotel Zachary and an 8,000-square-foot open-air entertainment plaza. Office tenants include American Airlines and the Chicago Cubs. Danny Kaufman, Christopher Knight, Jeff Bucaro and Nicole Aguiar of JLL arranged the 30-year, fixed-rate loan on behalf of the borrower, Hickory Street Capital, the real estate arm of the Ricketts family. Barings, an international investment management firm owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., provided the loan, proceeds of which will replace the construction financing arranged by the same capital markets team in 2016. The Ricketts family owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
BOLINGBROOK, ILL. — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has signed a 25,523-square-foot industrial lease in Bolingbrook. The car manufacturer will use the space as a training facility for its employees. The 112,049-square-foot building is located at 1325 Remington within Carlow Corporate Center. The property features a clear height of 28 feet, 242 car parking spaces, three drive-in doors and 11 loading docks. FCA will begin occupying the space in January. Jordan Decker and Chris Cobb of Cushman & Wakefield represented FCA in the lease transaction. Dominic DeRose, Vern Schultz and Charles Canale of Colliers International represented the owner and developer, Opus Group.
CHICAGO — Amazon has unveiled plans to expand its Chicago tech hub and create an additional 400 jobs in fields including cloud computing, advertising and business development. To accommodate the job creation, Amazon will expand its office in downtown Chicago by more than 70,000 square feet. This will double the company’s tech workforce within the city. Amazon’s Chicago tech hub is one of the company’s 18 North American tech hubs. Amazon employees in Chicago currently build and support products and services for Amazon Web Services, Amazon Advertising and the company’s transportation and operations units. Together with its customer fulfillment and retail facilities, Amazon has created more than 11,000 full-time jobs in Illinois and invested over $4.4 billion in the state since 2010.
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, ILL. — Krusinski Construction Co. has broken ground on the new headquarters for Yamazen Inc. in Elk Grove Village. The 138,000-square-foot, two-story building will be located at 111 NW Point Blvd. Yamazen, which sells and distributes machine tool equipment and is a subsidiary of Japan-based Yamazen Corp., will relocate its current operations and staff from Schaumburg. Completion is slated for summer 2020. The facility will feature 50,000 square feet of offices, conference rooms and product demonstration areas. The distribution space will include two loading docks, two drive-in doors and 137 car parking spaces. The project team includes Cornerstone Architects Ltd., civil engineer V3 Companies Ltd. and owner representative Ketone Partners.
DES PLAINES, ILL. — The Opus Group has completed construction of Ellison Apartments, a 113-unit apartment complex in Des Plaines. The project, which includes 1,349 square feet of street-level retail space, was a joint venture with Berkshire Residential Investments. Amenities include a fitness center, clubroom, pet spa, game lounge and outdoor amenity deck. A grand opening event is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 26. Opus served as developer, design-builder and structural engineer. ESG Architects designed the property.
ELWOOD, ILL. — Premier Design + Build Group has delivered a new warehouse for Midwest Warehouse & Distribution System in Will County’s Elwood. This is the second project Premier has completed for Midwest Warehouse, a full-service logistics company based in Woodridge. Built on a 24-acre site, the new 407,338-square-foot warehouse features a clear height of 36 feet, 70 exterior truck docks, three drive-in doors, 104 trailer parking stalls and 95 car parking stalls. It also includes offices, a conference room, training room and lounge. The build-to-suit project is located at 21157 Walter Strawn Drive, south of Joliet. The project team included Cornerstone Architects Ltd., Manhard Consulting Ltd. and Structures Unlimited.
CHICAGO — The Concord at Sheridan, a 111-unit mixed-income development, has opened in Chicago’s Rogers Park community. Located at 6438 N. Sheridan Road, the site was formerly a surface parking lot. Of the 111 apartments, 65 are designated as affordable for low-income residents and will be leased to renters from the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) wait list. The other 46 units will be leased as market rate. The project includes 29,400 square feet of retail space, including a 23,200-square-foot Target. Common area amenities include a lounge, game area, fitness center, conference room, amenity terrace and coworking space. The development has a walk score of 92. The seven-story project is the result of a public-private partnership including the CHA and co-developers Three Corners Development, Iceberg Development, Lightengale Group and Cubit Development Group. Market-rate rents begin at $1,041 while the affordable rents are based on a resident’s income. Renters must earn up to 60 percent of the area median income to qualify. Architecture firm GREC designed the project, while Riteway Madison LLC served as the general contractor.