APPLETON, WIS. — Maurices Inc. has leased 4,664 SF of space at 3825 E. Calumet St. in Appleton, about 30 miles southwest of Green Bay. Duluth, Minn.-based Maurices is an American clothing retail chained that has more than 850 stores nationwide, and was founded in 1931 by E. Maurice Labovitz. Ascena Retail Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ASNA) owns the retail chain. CBRE arranged the lease. Eisenhower Properties LLC is the landlord of Horizon Plaza.
SOUTH BEND, IND. — Wharf Partners has begun construction on a $23 million luxury condominium project in South Bend. Planned for occupancy in 2014, The Cascade will include two eight-story buildings with two units on each floor spanning between 2,500 to 3,000 square feet. The complex will include enclosed parking, card-access entry, elevator service, private balconies and a ground-level courtyard. Panzica Building Corp. will construct the buildings to be LEED certified. Wharf Partners is the developer and owner of the project. The condominiums will be sold starting in the mid-$500,000 to $700,000 range.
MOUNT PROSPECT, ILL. — Shaker and Associates Inc. has arranged the $18 million sale of 10 residential buildings located at Colonial Greens, a condominium complex in Mt. Prospect, a northern suburb of Chicago. The buildings are situated on 21.5 acres and were constructed in 1969. Windy City R.E. was the buyer, and the seller was a privately held local investment group. The buildings include 251 one- and two-bedroom apartments and were fully leased at closing.
WAUWATOSA, WIS. — Premier Design + Build Group and HSA Commercial Real Estate have begun construction on a 255,000-square-foot retail redevelopment project near Milwaukee. Located two blocks north of Mayfair Mall, the retail space has been preleased to Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ulta Cosmetics, Old Navy and Nordstrom Rack. Plans for the large-scale development include demolishing portions of an old produce warehouse complex and removing a former water tower. Slated for a spring 2014 completion, the retail project will include space for up to 20 tenants. Phase I of the redevelopment project will complete the retail and warehouse segment of the Mayfair Collection in the Burleigh Triangle area.
LAPEER, MICH. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the $4.9 million sale of Kmart Plaza, a 131,033-square-foot retail property in Lapeer, located about 20 miles east of Flint. Rick O'Connor, a retail investment specialist in Marcus & Millichap’s Detroit office, marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a New York-based real estate investment firm. O'Connor also represented the buyer, Charlie Laurencelle of Laurencelle Properties, a Michigan-based private investor, in the transaction. Kmart Plaza is located at 863 S. Main St. and was 94 percent occupied at the time of sale. Anchored by Kmart, other tenants also include O’Reilly’s Auto Parts, Dollar Tree, Pet Supplies Plus, Rent A Center, Radio Shack and Maurice’s.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — The Opus Group has completed construction on the 208,000-square-foot headquarters for Freightquote in Kansas City. The new building accommodates the freight shipping provider’s current workforce of 1,100 employees and includes space for its growing operations with capacity for 1,800 employees on the 30-acre site. Located on Carondelet Drive just east of State Line Road with easy access to I-435, the four-story headquarters is steel frame and features architectural precast concrete with glass curtain wall. Construction began in August 2012 and was completed in early June. Opus Design Build LLC served as the design-builder, and Opus AE Group LLC served as the architect and engineer. VanTrust Real Estate provided development services, and RED Brokerage LLC was the brokerage firm representing Freightquote.
GRAYSLAKE, ILL. — The Prairie Med building, a 39,000-square-foot medical office and research facility in suburban Chicago, has become the first building in Illinois awarded two green certifications, according to Leopardo Cos. The facility earned a LEED Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, and a Three Green Globe sustainable certification from the Green Building Initiative. Multiple biofilter strategies were employed at the building to remove pollution from surface runoff water, including micropools, bioswales and rain and community gardens. Located in Grayslake, the two-story building uses 21 percent less water after installing low flow fixtures and existing landscaping that does not require an irrigation system. While being built, more than 90 percent of the wood used for the project was harvested from sustainable forests. The building is the 16th building in the United States to earn dual green certifications, according to Leopardo. SJS Prairie Med LLC developed the project with architect Partners in Design Architects and contractor Leopardo Cos.
GREENFIELD, IND. — Spectra Premium Industries, a manufacturer and distributor of automotive parts, has signed a lease for 250,000 square feet at Axcess70 in Greenfield, about 25 miles east of Indianapolis. Axcess70 is a two-building, 673,000-square-foot industrial development and is fully occupied following Spectra’s lease. Completed in 2009, the development is a joint venture between Browning Investments and Real Estate Capital Partners.
PARMA, OHIO — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of State Hill Plaza, a 14,659 square-foot retail property in Parma, located about nine miles south of Cleveland. Craig Fuller, Erin Patton and Scott Wiles, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Cleveland office, marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a local investment company. The buyer, a private investor, was secured and represented by Ryan Moore, an investment specialist in Marcus & Millichap’s Cleveland office. State Hill Plaza is located at 5566-5590 State Road and sold for $867,500.
The figures for past and projected new industrial building completions are anemic in Northeast Ohio, leaving a lot of commercial real estate brokers concerned that there will not be enough buildings to meet a steady increase in buyer and tenant demand. From 2008 to 2012, a paltry 1.4 million square feet of new industrial buildings were added to the Cleveland landscape, the majority of which were designed specifically for owner occupants or were fully pre-leased. Projected new construction, as reported by real estate research firm Reis, does suggest an increase in future building velocity. However, absorption is forecast to outpace new buildings through 2017 by a factor of 4 to 1. If this were to occur, Cleveland would see a drop in vacancy rates to historically low levels, approaching five to six percent. That may not seem alarming to some observers, but when you back out functionally obsolete inventory in some of the older pockets of industry, the true vacancy rate will hover at or below four percent. “There is simply not enough product to show prospective buyers and tenants,” says Robert Wetzel of CRESCO Real Estate. “We hope this spurs some speculative construction. Depending on a prospect’s needs, we …