KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Block & Co. Inc. Realtors has sold a 46,538-square-foot retail building formerly occupied by Best Buy in Kansas City for an undisclosed price. The property at 10500 Parallel Parkway sits on four acres within the 850,000-square-foot Plaza at the Speedway shopping center. Planet Fitness plans to utilize approximately 25,000 square feet of the building with remaining space available for lease. Construction is slated to begin immediately. Block & Co. headed the shopping center investment group that originally developed Plaza at the Speedway, which included the Best Buy building. The Best Buy property was sold to a national company and then repurchased by a Block & Co.-headed investment group in 2020. David Block, Max Kosoglad and Alex Block represented Block & Co. on an internal basis in the sale to Planet Fitness.
MILWAUKEE — Marcus & Millichap has negotiated the sale of Southport Apartments in Milwaukee for an undisclosed price. The 87-unit multifamily property is located at 2536 W. Warnimont Ave. and features a mix of one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Matthew Whiteside of Marcus & Millichap represented the sellers, Devo Southport LLC and 905 East Meinecke Ave LLC, and procured the buyer, 3 Sharks Properties LLC. Todd Lindblom, broker of record in Wisconsin, assisted in closing the transaction. The buyer plans to enhance units and common areas.
SPRINGDALE, OHIO — A group of investors operating as AV Cincinnati Acquisition LLC is set to transform the former Tri-County Mall site in Springdale, a northern suburb of Cincinnati, into a mixed-use destination named City Center Springdale. Plans call for roughly 600,000 square feet of retail, entertainment and restaurant space, 750,000 square feet of office space, 2,600 multifamily units, 200,000 square feet of fitness facilities and 400 hotel rooms. The new ownership group, which is led by MarketSpace Capital, purchased the property earlier this year. Lee & Associates is handling leasing and management for the project. The mall closed in 2022.
CHICAGO — Medline has expanded its office lease from 51,000 to 161,000 square feet at THE MART in downtown Chicago. Vornado Realty Trust owns the 3.7 million-square-foot property. Medline’s contiguous space will take up the majority of the 12th floor, and the lease term is through 2036. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., Medline is a medical-surgical product manufacturer, supply chain provider and clinical solutions partner. The company currently has more than 39,000 employees worldwide. Spanning two full city blocks, THE MART is home to companies such as Motorola Mobility, PayPal, Conagra Brands, Allstate and Grainger. The 25-story building also features more than 250 design showrooms. Vornado recently completed the final phase of a more than $70 million renovation, which incorporates a grand staircase leading to a second-floor amenity program and gathering space. There are a range of food-and-beverage options, a fitness and conference center, exclusive tenant lounge and landscaped River Park. J. Frank Franzese and Steven Bauer of Colliers represented Medline, while Andrea Saewitz, Wendy Katz and Ben Cleveland of Stream Realty represented Vornado.
CHICAGO — Chicago-based Logistics Property Co. LLC has received a $205 million permanent loan from PGIM Real Estate. The loan included five projects within the firm’s first develop-to-core fund, LPC Logistics Venture One LP. The five projects total nearly 2.7 million square feet across seven buildings. Frederickson ONE, Building 4 and Building 7 are in the Seattle market, 94 Logistics Park is in the Chicago market and Logistics 83 and North Penn Logistics Center are in the Southeast Pennsylvania/New Jersey market.
CHICAGO — Chicago office tower 161 North Clark has emerged from receivership with a new ownership group that has inked 75,000 square feet of leases so far this year. The 50-story property features a refreshed lobby and a soon-to-open Veteran Roasters coffee shop. The new ownership group is an entity doing business as 161 North Clark Newco LLC. Telos Group is overseeing leasing, CBRE is the property manager and Xroads Real Estate Advisors is the asset manager. The 1 million-square-foot property is situated directly across from Google’s new Chicago headquarters, which are slated to open in 2026. Established in 2017, the veteran-owned Veteran Roasters is opening in the retail space formerly occupied by Freshii. Visitors will also enjoy a multimedia art exhibit from local artist Tom Rossiter. Tenant amenities include a conference center, 12th-floor outdoor roof terrace, fitness center and lounge. The new ownership is working on plans to expand and update the amenity and conference center floor.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — SRS Real Estate Partners has brokered the $8.6 million sale of a 125,357-square-foot retail property occupied by Lowe’s Home Improvement in Columbus. Situated on 12.8 acres, the building at 2888 Brice Road features a corporate-guaranteed lease that was recently extended for 10 more years. The property is adjacent to Brice Park, a 158,000-square-foot shopping center. Matthew Mousavi and Patrick Luther of SRS represented the undisclosed seller. A West Coast-based private investor purchased the asset at a cap rate of 6.4 percent.
By Grant Mechlin, Sansone Group The St. Louis retail market showed impressive resilience in the second quarter of 2024, thanks to strong consumer spending and growing demand across various sectors. Despite challenges such as higher borrowing costs and persistent inflation, the market tightened considerably, with availability dropping to a record low 4.8 percent and well below the five-year average, according to CoStar. This strong absorption has persisted for nine consecutive quarters, highlighting the market’s ongoing strength. A major factor behind this is the limited new supply — only 770,000 square feet of retail space was added in the past year, with nearly all of it quickly absorbed, according to CoStar. This scarcity has fueled development, especially in areas like quick-service restaurants, banks and discount retailers, as tenants are forced to explore new construction as the only viable option to combat a lack of supply in the market. Meanwhile, the overall prices of goods and services in the St. Louis area saw a 3.4 percent rise over the past year, according to the Consumer Price Index. While food costs came down slightly, there was a 5.4 percent increase in energy costs and 4.3 percent for all other consumer expenditures. Despite …
BLOOMINGTON, IND. — The Annex Group has opened The Annex of Bloomington, a $23 million workforce housing community located on South Grant Street in Bloomington. The property features 102 studio, one- and two-bedroom units across two buildings. The community is within walking distance of the Indiana University campus. Retail space on the first level is home to a new Bru Burger location from Cunningham Restaurant Group and Coffee Beanery. The project team included Gilliatte General Contractors Inc., architect KTGY and engineer Smith Design Group Inc. STAR Financial Bank provided $18.1 million in funding.
TOPEKA, KAN. — The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center, Topeka’s nonprofit children’s museum, has broken ground on a $10 million expansion project that will more than double the size of the museum from 15,000 to over 30,000 square feet. The expansion will feature an indoor climbing structure, 11 new exhibit experiences, three new learning lab classrooms, a 3,000-square-foot traveling exhibit gallery, indoor-outdoor learning space connecting a teaching kitchen with a garden, Kansas-themed learning opportunities, an inventive makerspace as well as access and safety additions. The project will be funded by a combination of private donations, corporate gifts, grants, Gage Park Improvement Authority sales tax revenue and operating reserves. Public feedback collected on the project included public informational meetings, an online survey and three community listening sessions. Kansas Children’s Discovery Center opened in 2011. Visitors at the museum exceeded 120,000 in 2023, breaking the all-time attendance record set in 2019.