NORTHLAKE, ILL. — STREAM Capital Partners has brokered the $5.7 million sale-leaseback of a 26,000-square-foot grocery store in Northlake, a western suburb of Chicago. The property, Farmer’s Best Market, is located at 23 W. North Ave. The buyer was a West Coast-based REIT. Jordan Shtulman and Jonathan Wolfe of STREAM represented the seller, Farmer's Best. The grocer agreed to lease back the property under a long-term, absolute triple-net lease.
Midwest
ST. PAUL, MINN. — Cassidy Turley has arranged the $1.1 million sale of a 32,878-square-foot office/warehouse building in St. Paul. The property, built in 1987, is located at 69 Empire Drive. A local financial institution sold the building to LP Stcynske LLC of Roseville, Minn. David Stokes and Boston Weir of Cassidy Turley represented the seller.
LAFAYETTE, IND. — Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty Services has arranged a 237,900-square-foot industrial lease in Lafayette, approximately 63 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Toyota Tsusho America Inc., a trading company headquartered in Japan, has leased the industrial building located at 1521 Kepner Drive. Jim Shook Jr. of Coldwell Banker represented the tenant, Toyota Tsusho America Inc. The landlord, Stag II Lafayette LLC, represented itself in the transaction.
WHEELING, ILL. — Meridian Design Build LLC has begun renovation work on a 147,006-square-foot industrial building to create a state-of-the-art sorting and distribution center in Wheeling, a northern suburb of Chicago. The distribution center, which is being developed for an undisclosed national package delivery company, is located near the Chicago Executive Airport. The facility will include a 139,693-square-foot package sorting and distribution center and 7,300 square feet of office space. Site modifications will be made to accommodate 23 exterior trailer positions, 34 van storage positions, and a 129-car employee parking lot. In addition, six new loading docks and five drive-in doors will be added at the facility. The project is being completed on a design/build basis. Illinois-based Cornerstone Architects Ltd. will provide architectural services for the building and Spaceco Inc. of Rosemont, Ill. will conduct civil engineering work. Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties is the developer for the project.
The Toledo industrial market remained stuck in a bit of a soft patch through most of the second half of 2013. Transaction activity was tepid until mid to late fourth quarter when deal flow began to increase. Consequently, the overall market vacancy rate and average asking rental rate have been essentially flat since mid-2013. With the delivery of the newly built and fully occupied FedEx building in Perrysburg Township contributing materially, the market did absorb more than 316,000 square feet during the last six months of 2013. Encouraging Signs There are a number of factors suggesting that real estate fundamentals in Toledo’s industrial market will start moving in a positive direction this year, in some cases quite dramatically. The first is a new construction boom, which we have been anticipating for some time. With the groundbreaking for the new 1.6 million-square-foot Home Depot warehouse in Troy Township, there is now more space under construction than at any time since before the recession. Several other build-to-suit projects are already in the works and poised to launch in 2014. Secondly, a rebound in demand from users at the end of 2013 year suggests there will be more transaction activity in the coming …
As predicted, the Columbus industrial market saw a wild end to 2013 with more than 1 million square feet of leasing activity in the final weeks. During the first two months of 2014, the market continued this aggressive pace, as Denver-based DCT Industrial Trust leased its final block of 500,000 square feet. Several other prospective tenants for both existing big-box spaces and build-to-suit facilities are ready to ink deals. The perfect storm is now brewing in Columbus for speculative construction as tenant demand remains strong and vacancy rates continue to fall. Only one Class A bulk warehouse and one Class B bulk warehouse currently remain vacant in the market for existing available product. Flurry of a Finish The Columbus market was feverish with activity near the end of 2013, resulting in Almo Corp. leasing 240,000 square feet, food safety innovator Handgards leasing 312,000 square feet and Government Liquidation leasing 516,000 square feet. When you combine that last-minute rush with several other deals that were signed during the final months of the year, Columbus recorded more than 2 million square feet of positive absorption during the fourth quarter of 2013. This final burst of activity for the year resulted in just …
BOLINGBROOK, ILL. — Iris Construction Services has completed the build-out of a new distribution center for the Chicago Tribune. The 20,000 square foot facility is located at 1000 Crossroads in Bolingbrook. The facility will house core services and inserting services for the Tribune’s existing network. Iris Construction Services completed work on a fully finished office, drive-in-door, lighting and power for the facility. The build was completed ahead of the 60-day project deadline. Midwest Industrial Funds owns the building.Chris Porter of Cushman & Wakefield represented the Chicago Tribune in the transaction. Jeff Galante of Lee & Associates worked on behalf of Midwest Industrial Funds. MRSA Architects provided architectural services for the project.
SCHAUMBURG, ILL. — The Missner Group has acquired two single-story office properties totaling 75,000 square feet in Schaumburg, a northwest suburb of Chicago. The buildings are located at 1 E. Commerce Drive and 55 E. Commerce Drive and are situated on seven contiguous acres. Omron Global, an automation company, placed the properties on the market in 2013 upon announcing its planned consolidation and relocation to Hoffman Estates.The buildings, which measure 52,000 square feet and 23,000 square feet, recently underwent interior and exterior improvements. Each building offers a parking ratio of four stalls per 1,000 square feet. Edward Adler led the acquisition of the properties on behalf of The Missner Group and was represented by Jason Simon of Colliers International. Andrea Van Gelder and Sean Reynolds of JLL represented Omron in the disposition.
CHICAGO — Englewood Construction has completed work on Harry Caray’s 7th Inning Stretch restaurant and the Chicago Sports Museum in Chicago’s Water Tower Place building. Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group hired Englewood to build a new complex to pay tribute to Harry Caray, the late legendary baseball broadcaster renowned for his seventh-inning rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at Chicago Cubs games at Wrigley Field. The 22,928-square-foot complex, which opened April 2, is on the seventh floor of Water Tower Place located at 835 N. Michigan Ave. The 250-seat restaurant and bar serves American cuisine and the 8,000-square-foot museum features five exhibits, ranging from unraveled sports mysteries to hall of legends. Chicago-based firms Barker/Nestor Architecture + Design and Ingrassia Design designed the project.
WARREN, MICH. — Colliers International has arranged the $900,000 sale of a 151,953-square-foot warehouse in Warren, which is approximately 19 miles north of downtown Detroit. The property is located at 21001 & 21033 Groesbeck Highway. The warehouse was the former headquarters for Gardner White Furniture. Raffi Derbabian of Colliers represented the buyer, Safa Dabish, who will use the building for a food business.