ST. LOUIS — Tarlton Corp. is constructing a new $12 million parking garage in the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis. The five-level garage will provide spaces for 678 vehicles. Completion is slated for May 2019. HOK is the architect. The project is the first of three parking garage projects planned for the district. The Cortex Innovation Community is home to 350 technology-related businesses.
HOLLAND, OHIO — Signature Associates has negotiated the sale of a 104,200-square-foot industrial building in Holland, a suburb of Toledo. The sales price was not disclosed. The property is located at 6145 Merger Drive. Joe Banyai of Signature Associates brokered the transaction. Honey Baked Foods Inc. purchased the building from Merger Investment Group LLC.
SUGAR GROVE, ILL. — The Boulder Group has arranged the $10.9 million sale of a single-tenant property net leased to Jewel-Osco in Sugar Grove, a western suburb of Chicago. The 61,301-square-foot building is located on 7.9 acres at 465 N. Illinois Route 47. Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman of The Boulder Group represented the seller, a private real estate investment company based in the Southwest. A California-based private investor was the buyer.
CHICAGO — An affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners has acquired 303 East Wacker, a 944,000-square-foot riverfront office tower in Chicago’s East Loop, for $182 million. Completed in 1980 by Metropolitan Structures, the 30-story tower has two penthouse levels and floor-to-ceiling windows offering unobstructed, 360-degree views of the Chicago River, Lake Michigan and the city skyline. A lower-level retail concourse at the property connects it directly to the Swissotel and Hyatt Regency Chicago hotels. The building also features a 294-space parking lot. The JLL Capital Markets team of Bruce Miller and Nooshin Felsenthal brokered the sale on behalf of the seller, Franklin Street Properties, while Keith Largay and Heather Brown arranged acquisition financing for the buyer. Previous owners of the trophy office building include a joint venture between Hines and J.P. Morgan Fleming Asset Management. The companies held the property from 1997 to 2007, implementing a renovation program before selling to Franklin Street Properties. Hines was still managing the leasing of the property at the time of sale to Beacon. Fujikawa Johnson & Associates was the original architect of the property. Notable tenants include AECOM, Hewlett-Packard, Kelly Scott Madison, Maximus Inc., Northwestern University, Senior Lifestyle Management LLC and XPO Logistics. Beacon …
CHICAGO — Lendlease has opened The Cooper at Southbank, a 29-story, 452-unit apartment tower in Chicago’s South Loop. It is the first project both built and developed by the firm in the Chicago market. The Cooper is one of five residential buildings planned for Southbank, a seven-acre neighborhood development along the South Branch of the Chicago River. Floor plans range in size from 451 to 1,104 square feet. Monthly rents start at $1,710. In addition to apartment units, six penthouses and 26 townhomes will be available for rent starting in January. Amenities span more than 35,000 square feet on the sixth floor and include a terrace, pool, pizza oven, bocce ball court, fitness center with Peloton bikes, virtual sports simulator, musical instrument lounge and reading room. Pet amenities, including a dog run and grooming station, are located on the fifth floor. Southbank’s central amenity will be a two-acre park. Perkins+Will serves as the principal architect for Southbank. Hoerr Schaudt is the landscape architect. The Cooper is named after several Chicago creative pioneers, including the artistry of Frederick Cooper’s lighting, the craftsmanship of Oswald Cooper’s lettering and typefaces, the ingenuity of Martin Cooper’s inventions and the spirit of Jack L. Cooper’s early radio …
DAVENPORT, IOWA — Equity Investment Group has acquired a 113,713-square-foot shopping center anchored by Hv-Vee in Davenport for an undisclosed price. Known as Kimberly West shopping center, the property is 87.8 percent leased. Other tenants include Great Clips, Tony’s Chicago Style Pizzeria, Rent-A-Center, Citizens Finance Co., Amana Medical Care and Lily Massage. Amy Sands, Clinton Mitchell and Jules Sherwood of HFF represented the seller, Brixmor Property Group.
DETROIT — Greystone Bel has arranged the sale of Carlton Apartments in Detroit for an undisclosed price. The 144-unit, garden-style apartment community is located in the Lafayette Park neighborhood. Built in 1971 and located at 1387 East Larned St., Carlton Apartments offers studio, one-and two-bedroom floor plans. Cary Belovicz of Greystone Bel represented the undisclosed seller. Belovicz, along with John Marr of Greystone, also secured a 10-year Fannie Mae loan that features a 4.96 percent fixed rate on behalf of the buyers, Andover Real Estate Partners and The M-Group.
BELTON, MO. — Furniture Deals, a family-owned furniture retailer, has opened a 50,000-square-foot showroom in the North Cass Shopping Center in Belton, located about 21 miles south of Kansas City. Furniture Deals replaces Price Chopper as the anchor tenant of the shopping center. The showroom doubles the size of the company’s original Belton location at 1737 E. North Ave. Founded in 2004, Furniture Deals now employs 100 people and offers a selection of furniture, mattresses and home decor.
ADA, MICH. — MichiganLabs has expanded into the second floor at 452 Ada Drive in Ada, about 10 miles east of Grand Rapids. In December, the software developer leased 2,541 square feet on the third floor. The new office space, totaling 1,643 square feet, will be called “The Lab” and will allow the company to expand its services and hire additional developers. First Cos. is building out the space and Integrated Architecture is providing interior design services. MichiganLabs plans to occupy the new space starting Oct. 7. Jason Webb of Colliers International represented MichiganLabs in the new lease. Brian Sikma of Highpoint Real Estate represented the undisclosed landlord.
The most active commercial real estate category in the Twin Cities metro area over the last several years, in terms of leasing activity and new construction sales, has been industrial product. New construction has been trending toward office warehouse and bulk buildings with higher clear heights, as tenants are implementing new racking systems and growing upward to optimize their space. On the surface, this trend may sound like it will leave behind the lower-clear height flex and office showroom buildings. However, owners of flex and office showroom buildings in Minneapolis-St. Paul are finding new interest by providing creative amenities and repositioning assets that are attracting entirely new tenant prospect types and reinventing what an office showroom building can become. The ability to target a wider potential prospect pool including office users, retailers and non-traditional industrial users is reliant on proper vacancy preparation to be able to show the space as a true blank slate. Through white-boxing the space, owners show that the space has high ceilings with an industrial feel, an aesthetic that many office users are interested in, but at a significantly lower price point versus many office buildings. Another benefit of the office showroom product is that there …
