By Jeff Bender, Thomas McCormick and Seattle Stein, Cushman & Wakefield We’ve been doing this for a while. Every cycle with gang-busters demand and absorption comes to an end, as does every downturn. So, with the Cincinnati industrial market, we find ourselves in the doldrums since mid-2023, and we may not fully turn the corner until next year. Perspective and context matter, though. We’re coming off record absorption and demand at the end of 2020 and through 2022, when we also closed the year with an unsustainable 1.7 percent vacancy rate. Before the entire world paused for COVID in early and mid-2020, we had a record year in 2019 as well. While vacancy hovers around 6 percent at mid-year, that is basically the Cincinnati industrial market’s historical average. Four consecutive quarters of negative net absorption certainly defines “doldrums,” but that must be weighed against the previous 48 consecutive quarters of positive net absorption through mid-2023. We’ve also seen a slight increase in asking rental rates, up to $6.25 per square foot, despite negative absorption. So, despite a lackluster past 12 months, we have positive momentum, and that’s bolstered by many of the factors that have always made Cincinnati one of …
GREENFIELD, IND. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of Sandalwood West, a 142-unit build-to-rent community in the eastern Indianapolis suburb of Greenfield. The sales price was undisclosed. Completed in 2023, the property features a mix of three-, four- and five-bedroom homes. Scott Harris and Samuel McCarthy of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, D.R. Horton, and procured the buyer, a real estate fund managed by Up&Up. The property is situated in Hancock County, which is experiencing multifamily vacancy of 1.5 percent and rental growth of 11.4 percent over the past 12 months, according to Harris.
ANN ARBOR, MICH. — Bernard Financial Group (BFG) has arranged a $7.9 million loan for the refinancing of a 100,007-square-foot flex office property in Ann Arbor. Dennis Bernard and Adam Ferguson of BFG arranged the loan on behalf of the borrower, an entity doing business as 2725/2805 Associates LLC. Genworth Life Insurance Co. provided the loan.
ST. CHARLES, MO. — IMPACT Strategies Inc. has broken ground on a new pre-owned car dealership for Clement Auto Group in St. Charles, a northwest suburb of St. Louis. Clement will be able to stay operational throughout the project. IMPACT will manage the demolition of the existing sales building and construction of a new building at 3621 Veterans Memorial Parkway off I-70. The project consists of an 11,700-square-foot building featuring a showroom, celebration bay, service drive and new sales lot. Completion is slated for spring 2025. Clement maintains four new car dealerships and two pre-owned dealerships in metro St. Louis.
KIRKWOOD, MO. — The Napoli Group has signed a lease to open its sixth location at The James apartment complex in Kirkwood, a western suburb of St. Louis. Napoli Kirkwood, which will feature the restaurant group’s signature wood-fired pizza, is slated to open during the fourth quarter. The restaurant will occupy the 4,684-square-foot, ground-floor retail space and will also feature a 1,000-square-foot outdoor patio. High Street Residential, the residential subsidiary of Trammell Crow Co., opened The James in March. Greystar is handling leasing and management for the apartment units.
BOLINGBROOK AND ROLLING MEADOWS, ILL. — Brown Commercial Group has negotiated two retail leases that will bring the first Parlor Doughnuts franchises to the Chicago market. Luke Dummitt, Dan Brown and Trinity Scurto of Brown Commercial Group represented a private investor in leasing two suburban locations that will be used for high-end doughnut and coffee shop locations. The properties include 1301 Algonquin Road in Rolling Meadows and 227 Weber Road in Bolingbrook. Each store will total nearly 3,000 square feet and is expected to open by year-end. Parlor Doughnuts launched in Evansville, Ind., in 2019 and now maintains more than 70 locations nationwide.
CHICAGO — The owners of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks have unveiled plans for the transformation of the area around their shared venue, the United Center. The initiative is known as The 1901 Project, and development costs are estimated at $7 billion. Michael Reinsdorf, CEO of the Bulls and son of owner Jerry Reinsdorf, formally announced the project on Tuesday, July 23. The elder Reinsdorf, along with Blackhawks owner Danny Wirtz, co-owns the United Center, where both teams have played since 1994. The name is a reference to the venue’s address at 1901 W. Madison St. The 1901 Project will be privately funded by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families and developed in phases over approximately 10 years. The areas in question span roughly 55 acres on the city’s west side. Phase I could commence as soon as next spring, pending the completion of various permitting and approvals processes. Preliminary plans call for a mix of uses, including more than 1,000 transit-oriented residential units and a new entertainment venue that can accommodate up to 6,000 people. The residential component will feature both market-rate and affordable housing units. International architecture firm RIOS will lead design and planning. The 1901 …
EDGERTON, KAN. — Barings has provided a $244 million loan for the refinancing of a 10-building industrial portfolio totaling 6.4 million square feet within Logistics Park Kansas City in Edgerton, about 40 miles southwest of Kansas City. A joint venture between an Ares Management Real Estate fund and NorthPoint Development owns the portfolio, which was developed between 2014 and 2017. On average, the buildings feature a clear height of 35 feet and 706 dock doors. The portfolio is currently 93 percent leased to tenants such as Amazon, Stanley Black & Decker, Sam’s Club, Assa Abloy and Smart Warehousing. All 10 properties offer immediate access to BNSF Railway’s intermodal rail facility.
CUDAHY, WIS. — Colliers has brokered the sale of a 10-building industrial portfolio known as Mitchell Industrial Park in Cudahy, a southern suburb of Milwaukee. The sales price was undisclosed. The portfolio totals 879,704 square feet and is 99 percent leased to 22 tenants, including DHL, National Packaging Services, Menasha Packaging and Fastenal. The buildings, constructed over the course of several decades, range in size from 24,000 to 212,000 square feet. The assets are located on the immediate southeast corner of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. Tom Shepherd, Jennifer Huber-Bullock, Bill Langhoff, Joe Langhoff, Jeff Devine, Steve Disse and Tyler Ziebel of Colliers represented the seller, an affiliate of Oak Realty Group Inc. A joint venture between DRA Advisors and Capital Partners purchased the portfolio. According to Colliers, the deal marked the largest industrial sale year to date in Wisconsin in terms of both size and value.
CHICAGO — Interra Realty has arranged the $8.2 million sale of The Synagogue, a 40-unit apartment building in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Constructed in 1922, the building at 5029 N. Kenmore Ave. is an adaptive reuse of a former temple that was reopened as apartments in 2019. Previously home of Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation, the synagogue closed in 2008 and was put on the market by its board in 2012 after the facilities had fallen into disrepair. Cedar Street purchased the property in 2016 and subsequently converted it into apartments, retaining the temple’s historic exterior as well as several original interior features. The building features eight studios and 32 one-bedroom units, which were almost fully occupied at the time of sale. Jon Morgan and Michael Duckler of Interra represented Cedar Street in the sale as well as the buyer, a local investor.