CHICAGO — The Tile Shop, a specialty retailer of manufactured and natural stone tiles, will open a new 13,000-square-foot retail store along the Clybourn Corridor in downtown Chicago. The new location, the ninth retail store for The Tile Shop in the Chicago area, will feature up to 2,000 products and be located in Blackhawk on Halsted, a mixed-use property located at 1460 N. Halsted St. Blackhawk on Halsted is a 225,000-square-foot property featuring healthcare businesses such as Town and Country Pediatrics and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The property is home to The British School of Chicago, a private school with 750 students, and the only REI retail store in the city of Chicago. The Tile Shop has partnered with Structured Development, the developer of Blackhawk on Halsted, to develop the new store on the ground floor of the mixed-use development. The new Lincoln Park Tile Shop location is expected to open in mid-February 2014. Construction on the space will begin in December. The project will be led by general contractor Power Construction and architecture firm Valerio Dewalt Train Associates.
ITASCA, ILL. — ARC Property Investment LLC has purchased a 40,134-square-foot flex building located at 150 Spring Lake Drive in Itasca, a western suburb of Chicago, for $2.3 million. Jeff Janda and Jim Planey, both principals, and Mike Plumb, senior vice president at Lee & Associates of Illinois LLC, represented the seller, Spring Lake Partners. Joe Karmin of Newmark Knight Frank Epic, represented the buyer in the transaction.
BROOKFIELD, WIS. — TekSystems, an information technology staffing firm, has signed a lease for 10,622 square feet of office space in Brookfield, a western suburb of Milwaukee. TekSystems new office is located at 13935 Bishop’s Drive. Pinnacle Property Holdings is the landlord. David Barry of Cassidy Turley Barry represented TekSystems in the lease transaction.
LANSING, MICH. — Gillespie Group has broken ground on Midtown, a mixed-use development located along the Michigan Avenue corridor in Lansing, the state capital. Midtown will include 66 luxury apartment units and an 1,800-square-foot PNC Bank branch with drive-thru facilities. The development is on property formerly occupied by the Silver Dollar Saloon. Completion of Midtown is slated for August 2014.
ST. JOSEPH, MICH. — Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. (MMCC) has arranged a $17 million loan for the construction of a luxury boutique hotel and marina in St. Joseph, a city in southwest Michigan. Harbor Village Hotel will include 92 hotel rooms, 14 luxury condominiums, conference space, spa and 60-slip (boat ramp) marina. The three-year, interest-only loan features a 70 percent loan-to-value advance. Dean Giannakopoulos in the firm’s Chicago office and Steven Rock in its Manhattan office arranged the loan.
NORMAL, ILL. — Phillips Edison–ARC Shopping Center REIT Inc. has acquired The Fresh Market Shopping Center, a 76,017-square-foot retail property in Normal, a northern suburb of Bloomington. The Fresh Market grocery store anchors the fully leased center. Other tenants at the property include Dick's Sporting Goods, Michael’s and Marshalls. A portion of the purchase price included the assumption of a $6 million mortgage loan. Cincinnati-based Phillips Edison–ARC purchased the center from Wisnor LLC, a Wisconsin limited liability company.
PLYMOUTH, MINN. — Carter's and Oshkosh B'gosh have opened a combined 7,422-square-foot store at 4190 Vinewood Lane North at Rockford Road Plaza in metro Minneapolis. Rockford Road Plaza is located on Rockford Road, east of Interstate 94 in Plymouth. Matt Friday with SRS Real Estate Partners represented the tenants, Carter's and Oshkosh B'gosh, in the transaction. Rick Spector of Regency Centers represented the landlord. Carter's and Oshkosh will be joined by SuperTarget, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, PetSmart and Kohl's, which open early next year.
CHICAGO — Avison Young and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) have completed an equity raise totaling approximately $300 million on behalf of ECHO Realty LP. H&R REIT acquired a one-third interest in Echo Realty, which holds an 8 million-square-foot portfolio of commercial properties located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia. Pittsburgh-based ECHO Realty’s $1.2 billion portfolio features 173 properties, including 62 grocery stores, five office buildings, six industrial properties and three parcels. The Avison Young team included James Solomon, former head of the firm's U.S. capital markets team, along with Earl Webb, president of U.S. operations, and Matt Hoffman, assistant vice president. Bruce Westwood-Booth and Guy Ponticiello, managing directors, led the JLL team in this transaction.
WADENA, MINN. — Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. has begun construction of the new $12 million Maslowski Wellness and Research Center in Wadena, a city in western Minnesota. The facility will combine a community center and swimming pool, both of which were destroyed by a hurricane that wiped out 20 city blocks of Wadena on June 17, 2010. The 52,500-square-foot wellness center will include a gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, fitness center, racquetball courts and community meeting spaces. Designed by Minneapolis-based Steve Miller Architects, the two-story facility is slated for a fall 2014 completion.
DETROIT — Commerical Property Advisors (CPA) has arranged the sale of Marwood Apartments in the New Center area of Detroit. The 53-unit apartment community sold for $905,000, or $17,075 per unit. The property was completely renovated between 2003-2005. Cary Belovicz, managing partner, and Scott Sutphin of CPA represented the seller, Cp Cominvest LLC, and the buyer, Marston New Center Real Estate LLC, in the transaction.