STURTEVANT, WIS. — Meridian Design Build has completed a 76,320-square-foot expansion to an existing industrial plant in Sturtevant for Kerry Ingredients & Flavours. The fully air-conditioned building addition includes 10 new loading docks and dedicated warehouse space to accommodate spice storage. Meridian also completed interior renovation work within the existing plant including construction of new blending cells, the expansion of existing employee facilities and relocation of quality assurance facilities to accommodate increased production output. Thirty-six additional parking stalls were also added. This was Meridian Design Build’s fourth project for Kerry since 2009. Harris Architects provided architectural services. Pinnacle Engineering Group completed civil engineering work for the project.
Midwest
HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — J.C. Anderson has completed a 70,000-square-foot, three-floor office build-out for Omron Corp. in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Omron, an automation company, is relocating its head office for its North and South America Group from Schaumburg to the Greenspoint Office Park in northwest suburban Hoffman Estates. Located at 2895 Greenspoint, Omron will occupy the first three floors of the office building. The new offices feature open office areas, private offices and conference rooms as well as a training center, fitness room, lunchroom and laboratory facilities. The space also includes high-end finishes, wood slat ceilings and decorative metal screens throughout. Gensler provided the architectural services for the project. JLL served as the project manager. J.C. Anderson’s team who led the project included Steven Boulukos, Seth Erlich and Marty Powers.
CHICAGO — Cohen Financial has secured a $108 million equity investment for the acquisition of Three First National Plaza, a 57-story office tower located at 70 West Madison St. in Chicago. The property is more than 90 percent leased to anchor tenants including law firms K&L Gates LLP and Ungaretti & Harris LLP, private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC and credit-card security software provider Trustwave Holdings Inc. Kevin O’Grady of Cohen Financial’s Miami office, Mark Strauss of the San Francisco office and the company’s Chicago office secured the equity investment with GEM Realty Capital Inc., a Chicago-based commercial real estate investor, and Farallon Capital Management LLC, a global institutional asset management firm. The operating sponsor is The Hearn Co., a Chicago-based owner/operator of commercial real estate properties across the U.S.
WEST DES MOINES, IOWA, PEORIA, ILL., AND INDIANAPOLIS — Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, has arranged the sale of the OREP Portfolio, a three-property, 1,056-unit multifamily portfolio in the Midwest, for $58 million. The properties include the 420-unit Wellington Apartments located at 4700 EP True Expressway in West Des Moines, Iowa; the 312-unit Seven Oaks Apartments located at 4010 N. Brandywine Drive in Peoria, Ill.; and the 324-unit Wildwood Village Apartments located at 3491 Timbersedge Drive in Indianapolis. IPA’s Peter Von Der Ahe and Scott Edelstein, along with Alex Blagojevich and David Gaines of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a partnership between Onex Real Estate Partners and New York Life Insurance Asset Management. The team also represented the buyer, Fireside Financial. Barry A’Hearn of Marcus & Millichap’s Cedar Rapids office is the firm’s broker of record in Iowa. Josh Caruana of the firm’s Indianapolis office is Marcus & Millichap’s broker of record in Indiana.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, MICH. — Landmark Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. has arranged the $13.4 million sale of the Orchard Square Shopping Center in Washington Township. Kroger, Dollar Tree and O’Reilly Auto Parts anchor the 92,450-square-foot shopping center. Kevin Baker and Daniel Kukes of Landmark represented the buyer, a non-traded REIT, and the seller, a Michigan-based full services commercial, residential and industrial firm.
LOVELAND, OHIO — Cassidy Turley has arranged the $2.3 million sale of a 70,350-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center in Loveland. Pioneer Real Estate Investments sold the industrial facility located at 107 Northeast Drive to Red Carpet Studios. Tom McCormick and Ben McNab of Cassidy Turley’s Cincinnati office represented Pioneer Real Estate Investments in the sale. Red Carpet Studios is planning to expand its office and warehouse operations at the new location.
BUCKTOWN, ILL. — A new Mariano’s grocery store has opened at the intersection of Ashland and Webster Avenue in the Bucktown neighborhood. Mariano’s leased the freestanding, 80,000-square-foot building for 20 years from owner Chicago Ashland Webster LLC. Transwestern’s project management team, led by Robert Klinger, completed the project in eight months. The new development marks the 23rd Mariano’s store for Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Inc., a grocer in the Midwest.
Before the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009, many developers believed they could continue to build commercial product and demand would follow. But as the economy came to a screeching halt, reality kicked in and many owners and developers were stuck with product that couldn’t be sold or leased. Fast forward to 2014, and that stagnant product has slowly been absorbed as the economy has gradually recovered. From 2008 to 2014, construction of commercial real estate fizzled, resulting in lower vacancy rates and increased net absorption. Now, construction activity is beginning to increase and speculative construction is back in action. This uptick in construction and speculative development is especially apparent in the industrial real estate market. In Ohio, the industrial vacancy rate sits at an average of 6.8 percent for 962 million square feet of industrial space that Colliers|Ohio tracks in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton. Colliers|Ohio recorded more than 10 million square feet of positive absorption in 2013, and 6.9 million square feet during the first half of this year. Colliers has tracked an uptick in absorption in the industrial market for several years, and the supply of quality Class A bulk product has diminished significantly. Developers have taken …
McCOOK ILL. — Bridge Development Partners has sold its 365,359-square-foot build-to-suit corporate facility in McCook, a southwest suburb of Chicago, for an undisclosed price. Bridge purchased 40.9 acres at 8201-8401 W. 47th St. one year ago for the construction of build-to-suit and speculative projects. The facility built for Dallas-based Freeman Decorating Services Inc. was sold to American Realty Advisors for one of its client portfolios. In July 2013, Freeman, represented by Jerry Sullivan and Ed Wabick of Chicago’s Paine/Wetzel TCN Worldwide, and Tom Sutherland of CASE Commercial Real Estate Partners in Dallas, signed a 15-year lease for the build-to-suit transaction. Bridge acquired the McCook site with Akard Street Partners, an investment partnership operated by Hunt Realty Investments Inc. Phase II of the development on the remaining 15 acres of the site is a 226,196-square-foot speculative industrial facility, divisible to 50,000 square feet. Vern Schultz and Tom Condon of Colliers International are the exclusive leasing agents for the project. Itasca, Ill.-based Cornerstone Architects Ltd. designed both McCook facilities and Des Plaines, Ill.-based Premier Design + Build Group LLC constructed the properties.
CLEVELAND — Love Funding has secured a $5.3 million FHA loan for Governor’s Village, a Cleveland-area assisted living facility. The funding from the loan will be used to expand the facility. Robert Smallwood of Love Funding’s Cleveland office secured the loan through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 232/241(a) loan insurance program. The program backs supplemental loans to fund repairs, additions and improvements at existing FHA-insured healthcare facilities. Randall Residence, the majority owner and operator of the property, built the facility in Mayfield Village in 2001. The property currently has 24 traditional, assisted living units and 24 memory care units. Upon completion, 38 assisted living units will be added, while subtracting one memory care unit, bringing the total capacity at the facility to 85 units. The Douglas Co. will build the project based on plans created by architecture firm C.C. Hodgson.