MINNEAPOLIS — Wells Fargo & Co. has provided a $125 million senior secured loan to refinance the IDS Center. Located in downtown Minneapolis, the property offers 1.38 million square feet of Class A office space. The borrowers are Inland American Real Estate Trust and its majority owned and consolidated Florida-based Minto Builders subsidiary. Scott Solis and Michael Svets of Real Estate Banking Group’s Chicago office originated the loan.
Midwest
CLEVELAND — Ardent Products Corp. has acquired a 23,524-square-foot warehouse facility, which is located at 6401 MidTown Commerce Park Dr. in Cleveland. The 2.17-acre property sold for an undisclosed price. Tom Gustafson and Kevin Riley of Colliers represented the buyer; Scott Garson of NAI Daus represented the seller, Hill Floral Products, in the transaction.
HAMILTON, OHIO — Huff McDermott CRES has placed a $3 million loan for Belle Tower Apartments in Hamilton. The independent senior-living facility features 122 units and two retail spaces. Built in 1978, the 13-story property is located at 631 Woodlawn Ave. James Huff of Huff McDermott secured the 5-year loan for the borrower, Belle Tower LLC.
INDIANAPOLIS — Apartment Investment & Management Co. (AIMCO) has completed the disposition of Lake Castleton Apartments, a 1,261-unit multifamily property in Indianapolis. The property is located at Shadeland Avenue and 75th Street in Indianapolis’ northeast side. The buyer was an affiliate of Los Angeles-based QVT Mt. Auburn Capital. Bluestone Property Management, which will manage the property, participated in the transaction as a co-investor. Tikijian Associates brokered the transaction. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
MILWAUKEE — Dallas-based Aimbridge Hospitality and Milwaukee River Hotel have opened Aloft Milwaukee Downtown, which is located at 1230 Old World Third St. in Milwaukee. The 160-room hotel features a lobby area and bar, a fitness center, an indoor heated pool, wireless Internet access and a 24-hour food and beverage area. A 4,600-square-foot meeting and banquet space is currently under way at the hotel. Completion is scheduled for March 2010. The hotel is owned by Milwaukee River Hotel and managed by Aimbridge.
LAKE COUNTY, ILL. — RML Capital has secured a $12.5 million first mortgage for the Ponds Assisted Living Facility, which is located at 170 Jameson Lincolnshire in Lake County. The property, which can accommodate 110 residents, is currently 90 percent occupied. The loan has a 35-year term and a 35-year amortization schedule. The financing was placed with a HUD and Cambridge Realty Capital was the processor. The borrower was The Ponds LLC.
MANHATTAN AND OLATHE, KAN., AND INDEPENDENCE, MO. — Arbor Commercial Funding, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arbor Commercial Mortgage, has completed three Fannie Mae DUS loans totaling $7.87 million for multifamily properties in Kansas and Missouri. In the first transaction, the firm secured a $1.47 million loan for Prairie Glen East Cooperative, a 100-unit multifamily property in Manhattan. The 30-year loan has a 30-year amortization schedule and carries a note rate of 7.33 percent. In the second deal, Park North Cooperative, a 100-unit complex in Olathe, received a 30-year $2.5 million loan, which has a 30-year amortization schedule and a note rate of 7.54 percent. Finally, the firm arranged a $3.9 million loan for Highleah Townhomes Cooperative, a 330-unit complex in Independence. The 15-year loan has a 30-year amortization schedule and carries a note rate of 6.06 percent. Michael Jehle of Arbor’s Bloomfield Hills, Mich., office originated the loans.
Several factors have contributed to the softness in the St. Louis apartment market and are expected to continue to present operational challenges in the near term. A spike in construction has been met with the weak demand caused by the slumping labor market. In fact, demand for rental housing contracted 2.2 percent year-over-year in the third quarter — the largest decline in more than 20 years — and will likely fall until payrolls begin to expand. Owners have increased concessions to roughly 26 days of free rent. With vacancy on track to rise further this year, concessions will remain elevated, particularly in the Maryland Heights/Northwest County submarket. Area operators are currently offering renters nearly 40 days of free rent, the most of any submarket in the metro area. Nonetheless, many residents are opting to relocate out of the area and into St. Charles to capture lower rents or into Clayton to be near the metro’s healthiest employment corridors. As such, owners in the Clayton/Mid-County submarket have kept concessions relatively flat during the past 12 months. Turning to investment sales, transaction velocity has slowed in the St. Louis market due primarily to reduced pricing and increased buyer caution regarding weakened fundamentals. …
With little demand for new retail space and even less money to fund new development, developers and owners have been focused on improvements at existing properties, tenant retention and strategic redevelopment. Westfield has plans to relocate the food court at Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted, Ohio, to allow for a new anchor and restaurant space with exterior entrances, which continues with the trend of turning malls inside out. In Solon, Giant Eagle has won a rezoning effort to replace its store at Solar Shopping Center with a new 99,000-square-foot store and Getgo fuel station. The remainder of the center is slated to undergo a complete redevelopment as well. Giant Eagle has also replaced its stores at Southland Shopping Center in Middleburgh Heights and the Day Drive location in Parma with new larger prototypes. Coral Company has revised its development agreement with the city of South Euclid to allow for the Cedar Center North redevelopment project to be completed in phases; leasing for the all-retail first phase is currently under way. The largest retail development in the Cleveland market is Visconsi Companies’ Plaza at Southpark in Strongsville, which has just opened with Costco, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Best Buy …
CHICAGO — Reed Construction has been selected to complete a 70,000-square-foot build-out for a research laboratory in Chicago. The project includes interior and exterior renovations for the property, which is located on the southwest side of Chicago. Interior renovations include the build-out of private offices, open workstations, a fitness center, locker rooms, laundry facilities and laboratory suites. Exterior construction includes the addition of a parking lot with underground storm water storage, a new entrance canopy, landscaping and new roofing systems. Holabird & Root is providing architectural services for the project, which is scheduled for completion in early 2010.