AURORA, ILL. — The Pizzuti Companies, and its partner Molto Properties, has unveiled plans to develop a 274,000-square-foot speculative industrial building in Aurora. The property will be situated on 16 acres on Mitchell Road. The project will feature a clear height of 32 feet, 52 loading docks, 49 trailer spaces, 238 car parking spaces and LED lighting. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring, with completion slated for the third quarter. David Prell and Jeff Kapcheck of CBRE will handle leasing for the property.
CHICAGO — Draper and Kramer Inc. has broken ground on 2111 S. Wabash Ave., a 24-story, 275-unit apartment tower in the McCormick Square area of Chicago’s South Loop. Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, the property will feature an asymmetric base topped with a glass tower. Apartment units will range from 529 to 1,411 square feet and will include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. A 25,000-square-foot amenity area on the fourth floor will feature a club lounge with a bar, coworking space, music rooms, fitness studios and an outdoor terrace. Monthly rents are expected to start at $1,800. Power Construction Co. LLC and Ujamaa Construction are serving as the general contractors. Completion is slated for summer 2020.
CHICAGO — AbelsonTaylor, a health and wellness advertising agency, has signed a lease to occupy nearly 85,000 square feet at the Old Post Office Building in Chicago. The firm plans to move all its operations to the building on March 1, 2020. The property owner, 601W Cos., is transforming the building into office space. Other tenants who have signed office leases at the building include Walgreens, candy manufacturer Ferrara and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Work on the $800 million adaptive reuse project is underway. Plans call for a food hall, fitness center, library and multi-acre rooftop park. Stephen Smith, Jamey Dix and Daniel Heckman of The Telos Group represented building ownership in the lease transaction with AbelsonTaylor. Jack Keenan of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant.
MT. CARMEL, ILL. — Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors has brokered the sale of a nonprofit healthcare campus in Mt. Carmel, located in the southern part of the state along the Indiana border. Arkansas-based General Baptist Health Care sold the property. The buyer was CareTrust REIT and its regional operating partner, WLC Management Firm. Although the price was not disclosed, Blueprint reports the purchase price translated to approximately $70,000 per licensed bed. The campus is made up of two adjacent healthcare buildings: Oakview Heights, a 90-bed skilled nursing and long-term care facility, and Oakview Villa, a 38-bed supportive living facility offering affordable assisted living services. Since acquiring the propertyin 1981, ownership continuously expanded the campus, adding a secure memory care unit, rehabilitation facility and supportive living building. Michael Segal and Josh Salzman of Blueprint handled the transaction.
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, ILL. — Cawley Chicago has arranged the sale of a 31,059-square-foot industrial building in Elk Grove Village for an undisclosed price. The property is located at 1001 Fargo Ave. Andrew Maletich of Cawley Chicago represented the buyer. Sam Durkin of JLL represented the seller.
CHICAGO HEIGHTS, ILL. — Colliers International has arranged the sale of a 223,517-square-foot industrial facility located at 300 E. Joe Orr Road in Chicago Heights. The sales price was not disclosed, but the asking price was $3.1 million. The one-story facility features 18 cranes. The building also features an interior rail spur for Union Pacific, 10 drive-in doors, five drive-through bays and more than 12,000 square feet of office space. John Basile of Colliers represented the seller, Esmark Steel Group, a processor and distributor of flat-rolled steel. Ed Wabick of Paine Wetzel represented the buyer, private investor 300 E. Joe Orr Road LLC.
HAMPSHIRE, ILL. — RMC Holdings Hampshire has sold two land sites within Metrix Industrial Park at the northwest corner of Interstate 90 and State Route 20 in Hampshire. In the first transaction, The McCoy Group purchased 13 acres for the development of a Truck Country facility. Construction of the 40,000-square-foot facility is expected to begin this spring. In the second transaction, Stream’s Edge Properties LLC purchased 18 acres. Dave Schmidt and Linda Kost of Realty Metrix Commercial assisted Stream’s Edge with its acquisition, along with the rezoning of the land parcel and coordinating site work to expedite construction, which is scheduled to begin this spring. Metrix Industrial Park is a 45-acre project focused on trucking. It is adjacent to the new 33-acre Love’s Truck and Travel Stop, which is currently under construction and expected to open in April.
CHICAGO — Co-developers Brinshore Development and Michaels have broken ground on 4400 Grove, an 84-unit apartment building in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. The development will include a mix of affordable and market-rate units, as well as street-level retail space, a public plaza and landscaped park space. The city of Chicago provided $7.2 million in tax-increment financing and $1.9 million in low-income housing tax credits. U.S. Bancorp and the Chicago Housing Authority are also project partners. The affordable units will be restricted to households earning up to 60 percent of area median income. Pappageorge/Haymes served as the architect. McShane Construction and UJAMMA Construction are the general contractors. First move-ins are expected in spring 2020.
EAST DUNDEE AND CAROL STREAM, ILL. — Cawley Chicago has arranged two industrial property sales in Illinois. In the first transaction, High Street Realty purchased a two-building portfolio totaling nearly 80,000 square feet in East Dundee. In the second transaction, Venture One Real Estate acquired a 16,072-square-foot building. The facilities were fully leased at the time of sale. Jack Brennan and Daniel Cawley of Cawley represented the sellers, both of which were private investment entities.
As we begin 2019, there are several opposing market forces at work that are sure to influence each of us, and our respective firms and clients. These market dynamics will ultimately dictate who has a great year and why — or why not. This year, it seems the signals are more mixed than in the past several years, so making predictions about the local industrial real estate market is somewhat daunting. Nonetheless, here is what to look for in 2019. A tale of two halves Listen carefully: skip vacations, stay in town, hunker down and make as many deals as you can in 2019. Based on current supply and demand dynamics with several significant users already in play (build-to-suits, new leases, renewals, etc.), plus a recent wave of speculative deliveries, look for the first and second quarters to be fairly robust in terms of gross absorption. This should extend the growing record of 35 straight quarters of positive net absorption, dating back to the second quarter of 2009, with at least two to three more such quarters. But, like in sports, what happens in the first half can be overshadowed by a shift in momentum or other significant change in …