AURORA, ILL. — Inland Real Estate Brokerage has completed the sale of an auto dealership, located at 1621 E. New York St. in Aurora, for $690,000. The 2-acre property contains a 5,620-square-foot building with a 3,000-square-foot service center. The property was purchased by the owner of a local used car dealership, who wishes to expand into the new facility. Inland’s Richard Kehoe, Paul Montes and Eric Spiess represented the seller, a local investor.
LANSING, MICH. — Mason, Mich.-based Dart Development has announced plans to build a speculative office building within Oakwood Executive Park, the company’s 100-acre business park located in Lansing. The project will total 40,500 square feet. It will feature suites divisible from 10,125 square feet; each suite will feature a truck dock and a grade-level door, as well as an office area with two office, a break room and a conference room. The construction timetable was not released.
CHICAGO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Energy Star designation to 123 North Wacker Drive, a 30-story office tower located in Chicago’s West Loop. Completed in 1987, 123 North Wacker contains 541,000 square feet of trophy office space. It was acquired in 2005 by Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors on behalf of tenant-in-common investors. The Energy Start program was introduced by the EPA in 1992 as a voluntary way for consumer products, homes and commercial buildings to reduce their environmental impact through energy efficiency.
LINCOLN, NEB. — NAI FMA Realty has brokered two leases in Lincoln. In the first transaction, the Nebraska practice of CPA and advisory firm BKD LLP has signed a lease for approximately 15,000 square feet at Wells Fargo Center. The firm plans to move into the space in August. It was represented in lease negotiations by Mike Van Buskirk of Zimmer Real Estate Services • ONCOR International. The landlord, Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., was represented by Richard Meginnis and Tom Graf of NAI FMA Realty. Wells Fargo Center is an 11-story, 260,000-square-foot office tower located in downtown Lincoln. Additionally, Panera Bread has signed a lease to occupy 4,714 square feet at Arbor Day Plaza, located at the intersection of 12th and P streets. The restaurant will open in mid-July. Tom Graf of NAI FMA Realty represented the landlord, the National Arbor Day Foundation. The tenant was represented by Frank Berber of the Lerner Company.
NORTHLAKE, ILL. — St. Louis-based Ascent Corp. has commenced development of its second Chicagoland data center. Known as CH2, the center will consist of an approximately 250,000-square-foot data center facility. It will feature fully customizable suites divisible from 10,000 square feet. Individual suites can be built out from basic core and shell to fully constructed, turnkey space. Suites also can be built to include separate docks, entrances and lobbies. Users can choose from raised or slab floors, chilled water or air-side cooling, container-based computers or racks, and varying levels of power density and energy efficiency. The new data center will feature its own dedicated utility substation, which is being constructed on-site. Completion is slated for the end of the year. The project is being built near CH1, a 707,000-square-foot data center that was developed by Ascent last year, and subsequently leased by Microsoft Corp. The facility is now known as Northlake Data Center.
VERNON HILLS, ILL. — Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Van Vlissingen & Co. has broken ground for a build-to-suit expansion within The Corporate Woods – Vernon Hills, located in Vernon Hills. Construction will consist of a 129,000-square-foot expansion to a distribution and manufacturing facility currently occupied by ZF Services North America, bringing its total space occupied to 289,000 square feet. ZF Services will be consolidating its Sheffield, Ohio, operations into the Vernon Hills facility. Ringwood, Ill.-based Gillespie Design Group is serving as project architect, and a joint venture between Arlington Heights, Ill.-based Build Corps and Libertyville, Ill.-based Ziccarelli Brothers is serving as general contractor. The completion date is not yet set.
LAKE VILLA, ILL. — Bannockburn, Ill.-based Principle Construction Corp. has broken ground for the construction of a new flex facility, located in Lake Villa. The project will consist of a 21,044-square-foot facility situated on 1.2 acres. It will contain 16,086 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space, 3,959 square feet of office space and a 999-square-foot mezzanine. The building will feature two exterior docks, one drive-in door and 35 parking stalls. The facility is being built for ID Label Inc. The project is being built adjacent to the company’s current facility, located at 461 Park Ave. Design services are being provided by Partners in Design Architects. The construction timetable was not released.
BATAVIA, OHIO — Sidney, Ohio-based Industrial Property Brokers (IPB) has arranged the lease of 22,000 square feet of industrial space, located in Troy. The space will be occupied by The Monsanto Company, and will house the company’s seed laboratory and farm equipment. The facility had previously been occupied by Multi-Color Corp., which recently consolidated its operations into a new facility, also in Batavia. IPB’s Tim Echemann negotiated the transaction with the assistance of Grubb & Ellis. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
For Doug Malone, a retail brokerage and leasing associate with Wichita, Kansas-based J.P. Wiegand & Sons, “The good news about Wichita is that we have been a little pocket of prosperity for a number of years, and we didn’t get hit until just recently with the economic problems that the rest of the country had.” While retail in larger markets struggles, the smaller Wichita market has remained steady. This is due partly to the conservative nature of real estate professionals in the market and partly due to the fact that overbuilding tends to happen less in secondary markets. But the recession is starting to be seen here. “Wichita has a tendency to feel those impacts last and to come out them last as well, but we don’t have the real ups and downs of a lot of other markets” Malone says. “Although, what we’re seeing now, in terms of a slowdown in retail activity, we probably haven’t seen this kind of slowdown since post-9/11.” This slowdown has many retailers taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to doing deals. Since most major new projects in the market are done by local developers — who know the market and can withstand …
ANDERSON, IND. — Indianapolis-based Tikijian Associates has completed the sale of Hilltop Apartments, a 132-unit multifamily community located in Anderson. Tikijian represented the court-appointed receiver, Buckingham Cos., in the sale. The property had formerly been owned by Chicago-based Wextrust Capital LLC, but was placed into receivership in 2008 after the two principals of Wextrust were indicted on federal fraud charges and subsequently incarcerated. It was acquired by Bloomfield, Ind.-based Renewing Properties, which plans to complete major capital improvements to the property. The swimming pool will be renovated, new windows and doors will be installed, older units will be remodeled and the community will be renamed Stonebrook Townhomes & Apartments. The community will be managed by Renewing Management. The sale price was not released, but the property listed for $2.25 million.