WASHINGTON, MO. — Construction is advancing for St. Louis-based Sisters of Mercy Health System’s new $60 million data center, located in Washington. The facility will total 42,500 square feet and will contain Tier III data center space. It will serve 19 acute care hospitals, two heart hospitals, a managed care plan, physician offices, and other healthcare facilities located in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Completion is scheduled for December. The general contractor for the project is St. Louis-based SM Wilson Co. St. Louis-based Guaranteed Electrical is serving as design/build electrical contractor and C Mechanical Co. is serving as design/build mechanical contractor.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. — McHenry, Ill.-based Dixon Construction Group has broken ground for the construction of a new 32,916-square-foot facility for Big Kaiser Precision Tool in Hoffman Estates. The new building will be located on a 2.95-acre site at 2600 Huntington Blvd. within the 70-acre Huntington Corporate Center. It will feature approximately 14,000 square feet of administrative offices, approximately 10,000 square feet of warehouse space, an auditorium-style training facility and a 5,000-square-foot showroom. Big Kaiser plans to relocate to the new space from its current location in Elk Grove Village, Ill., by the fourth quarter of this year. Theresa Gleason of Chicago-based Paine/Wetzel • ONCOR International and Mike Gazzola of Dixon Cos., the parent company of Dixon Construction, represented Big Kaiser in the land purchase for the new facility. The seller and developer of Huntington Corporate Center, McShane Development Co., negotiated the deal in-house.
MINNETONKA, MINN. — NAI Welsh has completed a 14,728-square-foot office sale at 5435 Feltl Rd. in Minnetonka. NAI’s Dave Berglund represented the buyer, Emergency Physicians PA, which plans to use the space for administrative offices. The seller was SHS Properties. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
CHICAGO — Chicago-based Reed Construction has been selected to complete a capital improvements project for 500 North Michigan Avenue, a 24-story high-rise office tower located on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. Construction will include the renovation of eight building corridors and the restrooms on 16 floors. Architectural services are being provided by Hydzik Schade. Completion is scheduled for mid-year. Reed was hired for the project by the tower’s property manager, Zeller Realty Group.
In the wake of rising office vacancies and sublease space, tenant opportunities are at their most pronounced for companies seeking office space throughout the Chicago Metro market, which includes both the CBD and the suburbs, in 2009. In Chicago and across the U.S., credit-worthy tenants continue to be in a position to strike deals at a fraction of previous rents. Landlords are beginning to offer increased concessions such as tenant improvement funds, rent abatement, and greater lease flexibility. Nationally, such offerings have escalated nearly 20 percent over the last 24 months, while rents have been driven down some 10 percent in the last 3 months alone. Chicago’s sublease space climbed to 7 million square feet, including 2.67 million square feet in the CBD plus the suburbs in the first quarter of 2009, according to Jones Lang LaSalle research. Sublease space will jump further in the coming months as corporate America's more recent job cuts trickle down to commercial real estate. The overall vacancy rate, including subleases, in Chicago’s CBD is 18,140,000 square feet, or 13.6 percent, and is 22,900,000 square feet or 23.9 percent for suburban Chicago in the first quarter of 2009. The absorption rate is at -0.8 percent …
KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Best Buy has become the first tenant to open at Plaza at the Speedway, an 850,000-square-foot retail development located at 10500 Parallel Pkwy. in Kansas City. The 45,000-square-foot Best Buy will soon be joined by anchor Walmart Supercenter, which is also scheduled to open this year. The project is being leased by Kansas City, Mo.-based Block & Company Inc. Additional retail and restaurant tenants will be announced soon.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILL. — Rosemont, Ill.-based McShane Construction Co. has completed Esplanade at Arlington Heights, an 18,778-square-foot retail center located in Arlington Heights. The project is situated on 4 acres at 2920 W. Euclid Ave. The center contains spaces for 12 tenants; Starbucks Coffee is the first tenant to open and a Subway is expected to open soon. The project’s developer, Atlanta-based Atlantic Realty Partners, is in negotiations with a local pizzeria, a European grocer, a wine and spirits retailer, a professional services tenant, and a nail salon and spa. The project architect was HKM Architects + Planners.
CHANHASSEN, MINN. — Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. has completed a new 13,000-square-foot service center for Carver County. The facility is located at 7808 Kerber Blvd. in Chanhassen. The two-story building will serve as a center for motor vehicle transactions and drivers’ licenses, passports, and Department of Natural Resources transactions, including hunting and fishing licenses. The building features a greeting station, customer seating, a children’s play area and a drive-thru window. The project architect was Minneapolis-based Bentz/Thompson/Rietow. This completion marks the second service center project Kraus-Anderson has completed for Carver County. The company remodeled and expanded the service center in Chaska, Minn., which opened in March.
DETROIT — CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has brokered the sale of a two-building retail property, located at 3510 Woodward Ave. and 33 Eliot St. in Detroit. The 27,000-square-foot land parcel contains a 5,000-square-foot building that formerly housed an auto shop, as well as a two-story, 12,000-square-foot building. CBRE’s Myrna Burroughs and Dan McCleary represented the seller, The American National Red Cross. The buyer, Woodward Eliot LLC, acquired the properties for an undisclosed amount.
ROMEOVILLE, ILL. — Denver-based ProLogis has leased 215,000 square feet of distribution space within ProLogis Park 55 in Romeoville. Sanyo Logistics Corp., a division of Sanyo Electric Co., will occupy the space within the Class A park. This marks the seventh lease agreement between Sanyo and ProLogis. The electronics company leases approximately 2 million square feet of space at ProLogis distribution facilities in Southern California, Chicago and Japan. ProLogis Park 55 is a six-building, approximately 3.1 million-square-foot A industrial park located along Interstate 55, between Weber Road and Route 53, in Romeoville. Other tenants include Kimberly-Clark, APL Logistics and Procter & Gamble.