INDEPENDENCE, MO. — Fresh Warehousing has signed a 108,926-square-foot industrial lease at 1600 N. State Route 291 in Independence, an eastern suburb of Kansas City. Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society, based in Omaha, Neb., owns the property. Cameron Duff and Doug Hedrick of Colliers International represented Fresh Warehousing in the transaction. John Smith of LS Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord. Fresh Warehousing is a third-party logistics company that owns and operates more than 3 million square feet of warehouse space in the greater St. Louis and Indianapolis metropolitan areas.
Midwest
DETROIT —Rock Ventures and its real estate arm, Bedrock Real Estate Services, have purchased two mixed-use properties in downtown Detroit totaling 84,000 square feet. The properties are located at 1505 Woodward Ave. and 1265 Griswold St. The eight-story, 48,000-square-foot building at 1505 Woodward was designed by renowned architect Albert Kahn and built in 1931. Its original tenant was the Richman Brothers clothing store. The six-story, 36,000-square-foot 1265 Griswold building was built in 1897 by architectural firm Spier & Rohns. Bedrock Real Estate Services brokered the acquisitions and will oversee renovations, management and leasing of the currently unoccupied spaces.
LENEXA, KAN. — Darland Construction Co. has begun construction on the new Renner 89 @ City Center Lenexa, a 20,000-square-foot mixed-use complex in suburban Kansas City. The two-story development will feature retail and restaurant space on the first floor, while the second floor will include a conference center and meeting rooms for global enterprise software provider Perceptive Software. Kansas City-based Copaken Brooks is the developer, and Klover Architects is providing design services.
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, MINN. — The Opus Group has completed the new 96,000-square-foot student activities center for Saint Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, a southeast suburb of Minneapolis. Named Vincent J. Flynn Hall, the new facility provides spaces for art and music, academics and athletics. The athletics areas include a competition gymnasium seating more than 1,300 and an auxiliary gymnasium. The facility also features a large meeting room, health education classrooms, weight room, locker room and office space for coaches and physical education instructors. A two-story structure connects the new athletic facility to the school’s existing main building and includes a main entrance and lobby, classrooms and a school bookstore on the ground level. The upper level houses fine arts space with a band and choir suite, and a new art and multimedia room. Opus completed the project in August.
WESTMONT, ILL. — Centene Corp. has signed a 40,521-square-foot office lease renewal and expansion at 999 Oakmont Plaza Drive in Westmont, about 22 miles west of Chicago. The 117,841-square-foot One Oakmont Plaza is a Class A, six-story office building that includes amenities such as covered parking, a new deli, tenant lounge and conference facility. Patrick Kiefer and Jud Henry with NAI Hiffman’s office services group represented the building’s owner, Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, in the transaction. Scott Bazoian of Cassidy Turley in St. Louis represented Centene Corp., a healthcare service provider.
CLEVELAND, OHIO — Cuyahoga County has selected Hilton Worldwide to operate a 600-650 room convention center hotel that is currently under development in downtown Cleveland. The hotel will feature subterranean links to the Global Center for Health Innovation and the new convention center, which is also under development. The hotel will also feature approximately 55,000 square feet of meeting space, a full-service restaurant, lobby bar, an indoor pool and fitness center. The new convention center hotel is scheduled to open by 2016. Cuyahoga County is the owner of the hotel, which financed the project through a combination of tax-exempt bonds and other tax-revenue sources. VOA Associates and Atlanta-based Cooper Carry are the joint architectural firms involved in the project and New York City-based Andersen-Miller is managing the interior design.
LAKE FOREST, ILL. — Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions has completed the new $16 million Moore Hall redevelopment at Lake Forest College in suburban Chicago. The project began in August 2012 with the demolition of the previous Moore Hall structure. Construction on the new 62,000-square-foot building began in September 2012 and was completed in August. The 165-room student housing property includes two-bedroom, two-bath suites, as well as single-bedroom with bath floor plans. The north and south wings are connected by a midsection that contains a central lobby, laundry room, kitchen, multipurpose rooms and two elevators. Chicago-based architect Solomon Cordwell Buenz designed the new Moore Hall. Walsh Construction, also out of Chicago, was the construction and demolition partner on the project.
CHICAGO — Reed Construction has completed a 32,000-square-foot build-out for the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) in Chicago. AGD purchased the building at 560 W. Lake St. in Chicago’s West Loop and is relocating its headquarters from 211 E. Ave. Reed Construction was selected to complete an interior build-out for AGD on the sixth and seventh floors of the property. The new space features include an open wood beam and column loft space with glass-front, private offices. The office also includes eight conference rooms, four team collaboration areas, a video production area and a design production room. AGD is a professional association of more than 38,000 general dentists providing dental care and oral health education to the public. IA Interior Architects provided the architectural services for the project.
CHICAGO — Kiser Group has arranged the sale of four apartment properties in Chicago totaling $9.2 million. The properties include a 14-unit building in Humboldt Park, a five-unit property in Lakeview, a 32-unit building in Old Irving Park and a 35-unit building in Rogers Park. The building at 1713-15 N. Humboldt Blvd. sold for $1.9 million and includes a mix of two- and three-bedroom units. The property located at 3437 N. Paulina St. sold for $1 million, and 4014-22 W. Melrose St. sold for $1.9 million. The 35-unit apartment building at 7522 W. Greenview Ave., which includes 25 parking spots, sold for $2.4 million.
ELGIN, ILL. — DCT Industrial Trust Inc. has acquired DCT Fox River Business Center, a six-building industrial portfolio in Elgin, a suburb of Chicago. The portfolio totals 1.1 million square feet and has a current occupancy rate of 59.1 percent. The buildings range from 73,000 to 431,000 square feet and are in proximity to the O’Hare Airport. Noel Liston, principal at Darwin Realty & Development, represented DCT Industrial in the transaction.