CHICAGO — Real estate investment firm L3 Capital has purchased 914-26 W. Fulton Market, a 30,000-square-foot, two-story property from El Cubano Wholesale Meats. The purchase price was $14.5 million. El Cubano had used the property as a cold storage and office facility, but the property can easily be subdivided for multiple tenants. El Cubano will be moving its production and distribution operations to a 96,000-square-foot facility at 5275 S. Archer Ave. Keely Polczynski, CBRE senior vice president, represented El Cubano in the transaction.
CHICAGO — Developer Smithfield Properties is nearing completion of SoNu Digs, Chicago’s first ground-up, micro-apartment building. SoNu is located at 1515 N. Fremont St. in the Lincoln Park/SoNo neighborhood. The apartments, which will be ready for occupancy in December, range in size from 336 square feet to 438 square feet. Monthly rental rates range from $1,300 to $1,655. SoNu is the final part of a planned SoNo complex built by Smithfield Properties, which includes the SoNo East apartments and SoNo West condominiums. Calibrate Management will lease and manage the property.
BARTLETT, ILL. — Meridian Design Build has started construction on a new 421,403-square-foot speculative industrial building for Exeter Property Group in Bartlett, a northwest suburb of Chicago. The new facility will be located on a 34-acre site within Brewster Creek Business Park. The multi-tenant building, which features a 32-foot clear height, is designed to accommodate up to four tenants, 117 loading docks, four drive-in doors, 449 auto parking stalls and 110 exterior trailer stalls. Harris Architects is providing architectural services, while V3 Cos. is completing civil engineering work.
BRONZEVILLE, ILL. — EXP Realty Advisors, Inc. has arranged a $34 million sale of a building occupied by grocer Mariano’s in Bronzeville. The 74,000-square-foot building is located at 3857 S. Martin Luther King Drive, five miles south of Chicago. The building is triple net leased to Mariano’s, a division of Kroger. The buyer was a New York City-based real estate investor seeking a high-quality, well-positioned asset. Andrew Greenberg of EXP Realty Advisors represented the buyer.
Mixed-use projects are booming, and for good reason: the city as we know it is fundamentally changing. Millennials are flocking away from the suburbs and into the city center, driving development in walkable urban cores that incorporate everything consumers need to live, work and play. In Chicago, a dramatic increase in mixed-use development since the last recession has completely recast the way we think about how retail concepts fit into our unique urban landscape. Mixed-use buildings anchored by residential projects are well supported by the city’s political class because they increase density in a city that’s already bursting at the seams. Changes in the way the City of Chicago approaches zoning has led to an uptick in transit-oriented development, which allows for lower parking requirements in projects centered around mass transit hubs. The city’s transit-oriented development (TOD) ordinance, which was approved in 2013 and revised in 2015, has been the driver behind the massive influx of new mixed-use projects over the last four years. Mixed-use advantages From a purely economic standpoint, mixed-use projects boast a diverse tenant roster, which typically means less risk for investors. Land prices in Chicago have reached a point where in some cases standalone retail is …
LOCKPORT, ILL. — DFS Inc., a food and grains supplier, has signed a 62,598-square-foot lease at 355 Corporate Center building No. 2 in Lockport, Ill., about 35 miles southwest of Chicago. The new lease puts Panattoni Development Company’s 228,690-square-foot speculative building at 100 percent occupancy and marks the completion of Phase I, which consisted of two light industrial buildings. UPS leased the first building in its entirety immediately upon completion, and Illinois Industrial Tool took 166,092 square feet in the second building in August. Panattoni recently broke ground on Phase II of the project, a 300,158-square-foot building scheduled for completion in spring 2017. Mark Barbato and Adam Stokes of Nicolson, Porter & List represented Panattoni in the lease transaction with DFS.
CHICAGO — Mesa West Capital has provided a joint venture led by local development firm Sterling Bay with $82.6 million in debt to recapitalize 121 West Wacker Drive, a 41-story office building in downtown Chicago’s Central Loop. The financing included a first mortgage loan originated out of Mesa West’s open-ended Mesa West Core Lending Fund, and mezzanine debt provided by Pearlmark Real Estate on behalf of Pearlmark Mezzanine Realty Partners, IV, LP. The office tower recently underwent an extensive renovation, including a new lobby and retail level, updated building systems and a new tenant amenity floor overlooking the Chicago River.
SCHAUMBURG, ILL. — Ryan Companies US, Inc. is converting a former Dominick’s grocery store into an Art Van Furniture store in Schaumburg, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Dominick’s closed its operations in the Chicago area in 2013. The facility has been vacant since then. Ryan is undertaking a comprehensive renovation and modernization of the 72,000-square-foot facility, located at 1293 E. Higgins Road. The new Art Van Furniture store, the tenth in metro Chicago, will open later this fall.
WHEELING, ILL. — Lynmark Group is scheduled to break ground on Wheeling Town Center, a mixed-use development in Wheeling, this fall. The development will feature a 300-unit luxury apartment building with a modern amenity package and facilities and 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment venues. The apartment building will offer studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, a parking garage, courtyard, pool, bocce court, a fire pit, barbecue grills, a covered gazebo bar, putting green, pergola covered dining, lounge areas, and fitness and yoga rooms. The retail portion will be anchored a 40,000-square-foot, 10-screen CMX theater, which is a high-end, dine-in movie theater. Callison/RTKL is serving as lead designer and William A. Randolph is serving as general contractor for the project.
BLOOMINGDALE, ILL. — Brown Commercial Group represented Korpack in the lease of a 56,269-square-foot of industrial space at 290 Madsen Drive, Suite 101, in Bloomingdale. Korpack is a single-source supplier of standard and custom packaging, as well as packaging machinery and automation solutions. Additionally, the company subleased its original 18,252-square-foot headquarters at 1232 Hardt Circle in Bartlett, Ill., to an undisclosed subtenant. Dan Brown and Jim Peitrarosso of Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based Brown Commercial represented Korpack in the lease and sublease, respectively. Al Caruana of Cushman & Wakefield and Aaron Rosdal of Prologis represented the landlord, ProLogis, in the new headquarters lease.