Iowa

DES MOINES, IOWA — First Hospitality has opened a 124-room Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel in Des Moines. The property is located at 2650 University Ave. on the Drake University campus. The hotel features two meeting spaces totaling more than 1,000 square feet, an indoor pool and an outdoor patio space with a firepit. Michael Weldon will serve as the hotel’s general manager. As a result of COVID-19, Hilton has created the Hilton CleanStay program in partnership with RB, maker of Lysol. This program includes increased cleaning schedules, changes to amenities and services and social distancing requirements. The project joins First Hospitality’s growing national portfolio of more than 7,000 hotel rooms.

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URBANDALE, IOWA — DealPoint Merrill LLC has acquired a 103,906-square-foot former Kmart shopping center in Urbandale near Des Moines. The property sits on 12 acres near I-35 and I-235. DealPoint Merrill plans to redevelop the asset into a 131,000-square-foot project with two outparcels. DealPoint Merrill’s CEO David Frank negotiated the transaction and President Sterling McGregor handled the due diligence and financing. The seller and purchase price were undisclosed.

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MARION, IOWA — MAG Capital Partners has acquired the corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility for Advanced Material Processing (AMP) in Marion, just north of Cedar Rapids, in a sale-leaseback transaction. The purchase price was undisclosed. AMP occupies the entire 48,237-square-foot property. The company focuses on material processing equipment for food and beverage, pharmaceutical and chemical sectors. May River Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm, owns AMP. Katie Elliott of Stan Johnson Co. represented the seller, May River Capital. Mary Garnett and Jim Tuesley of Barnes & Thornburg LLP represented Fort Worth, Texas-based MAG Capital Partners, which is led by Dax T.S. Mitchell and Andrew Gi.

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URBANDALE, IOWA — Essex Communities has purchased The Reserve on Walnut Creek in Urbandale near Des Moines. The 121-unit active adult community is reserved for residents age 55 and older. Essex plans to convert the community from an entrance-fee model to a rental model. It will be rebranded as The Arbordale and undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation. Essex will update apartment interiors and community spaces as well as expand services and amenities. The seller and sales price were undisclosed.

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JOHNSTON, WATERLOO AND URBANDALE, IOWA — Matthews Real Estate Investment Services has brokered the sale of three standalone properties, each occupied by Walgreens, in Iowa for $9.8 million. The assets are located at 6200 Merle Hay Road in Johnston, 3910 University Ave. in Waterloo and 4600 86th St. in Urbandale. Robert Goldberg, Ben Snyder and Bill Pedersen of Matthews brokered the transaction. The portfolio traded at a cap rate of 6.9 percent, but buyer and seller information was not disclosed.

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URBANDALE, IOWA — Stahl is underway on the construction of the Millard A. Olmsted Elementary School within the Urbandale Community School District near Des Moines. The two-story, 118,000-square-foot elementary school will feature classrooms, auxiliary spaces, a kitchen and cafeteria, gymnasium and administration area. The $28 million building, located at 7110 Prairie Ave., will replace the previous Olmsted Elementary School. Demolition of the old school began in July 2019. The new school is expected to house up to 650 students with future expansion capabilities. It is slated for completion in May 2021.

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DAVENPORT, IOWA — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a 3,305-square-foot retail property occupied by T-Mobile in Davenport. An undisclosed buyer purchased the asset for $2.2 million. The building is located at 3150 E. 53rd St. T-Mobile has more than eight years remaining on its 10-year lease. Dominic Sulo and Samuel Malato of Marcus & Millichap marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a limited liability company. Jon Ruzicka assisted in closing the transaction as broker of record in Iowa.

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MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, ILLINOIS AND IOWA — Saudi Arabia-based Arbah Capital and Chicago-based Brennan Investment Group have acquired a five-property industrial portfolio across four Midwest states. JLL Capital Markets arranged the joint venture partnership between the two companies as well as $22.9 million in debt financing for the acquisition. The portfolio spans more than 557,000 square feet and includes light industrial and flex space in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. The properties include: 5460 Executive Parkway in Grand Rapids, Mich.; 1865 Industrial Drive in Grand Haven, Mich.; 7550 49th Ave. in New Hope, Minn.; 4050 Ryan Road in Gurnee, Ill.; and 1100 E. LeClaire Road in Eldridge, Iowa. Four of the five properties are single-tenant assets. The portfolio is 97.5 percent leased to tenants in the automotive, manufacturing and telecommunications industries. Claudio Sgobba, Christopher Carroll, David Berglund, Matthew Schoenfeldt and Doug Childers of JLL arranged the partnership and financing. Wintrust Bank provided the five-year, floating-rate loan. The seller was undisclosed.

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By Scott Olson, Skogman Commercial Since starting a series of annual articles on Cedar Rapids in 2013 after the recovery from the historic floods of 2008 and 2016, I never anticipated the city would be facing an event in 2020 that would reach beyond those levels of flood impact. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has given our city new challenges for this year and beyond. Hopefully this is a once-in-a-lifetime health event that, unlike the floods, has impacted nearly every city in the country in many ways. But there is a reason Cedar Rapids was named “All America City” in 2014. Here is why I make that statement. In February 2020, SmartAsset.com named Cedar Rapids the No. 2 “Most Recession-Resistant City in America.” Then as the pandemic spread, Business Insider named Cedar Rapids the No. 11 “Top American City to Live in After a Pandemic.” With the historic low interest rates created by the pandemic and a decade-low inventory of listed residential properties, Cedar Rapids was ranked by lendedu.com as the No. 34 city with the most affordable homes in the U.S. That report showed that 96 percent of our homes are affordable for the average household living in the city. …

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BURLINGTON, IOWA — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $1.6 million sale of a Howard Johnson hotel in Southeast Iowa’s Burlington. The 96-room property is located at 2759 Mt. Pleasant St. near the Catfish Bend Casino and Burlington Regional Airport. Ebrahim Valliani, Allan Miller and Chris Gomes of Marcus & Millichap marketed the hotel on behalf of the seller, a limited liability company. The buyer information was undisclosed.

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