AUBURN HILLS, MICH. — The Detroit office of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has brokered the sale of a 75,280-square-foot industrial property, located at 1987 Taylor Rd. in Auburn Hills. The property was acquired by Dietronik Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of American Axle & Manufacturing Inc., which plans to use the space as a machining parts plant. CBRE’s Eugene Agnone, Charles Ginster and Matthew Osiecki represented the seller, Molex Inc. The sale price was not disclosed.
CHICAGO — Chicago-based MB Real Estate has arranged the leasing of 22,000 square feet of office space at Michigan Plaza, a two-tower office complex located on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) will occupy a full floor at the 44-story 205 North Michigan building. The union will be relocating from its previous Chicago offices at 29 N. Wacker Dr. MB’s Mark Buth and Kathleen Bertrand represented building ownership in lease negotiations. AFSCME was represented by Edward Schwartz of Bradford Allen Realty Services and June Simonian of Lee & Associates. Michigan Plaza contains 2 million rentable square feet divided between 205 North Michigan and 225 North Michigan, an adjacent 25-story tower.
BROOKFIELD, WIS. — NAI MLG Commercial has completed the sale of a 4,500-square-foot office building, located at 15300 W. Capitol Dr. in Brookfield. The building was acquired by Burdick-Kellenberger Insurance, which plans to occupy the entire property for its business. NAI’s Charlotte Zurn represented the seller, Real Estate Investment & Rental. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
While national multi-housing trends have begun to show recessionary weakness, Indianapolis area market fundamentals have held up well over the past 12 months. Indianapolis has long been one of the more affordable single-family markets in the country and until recently had been well-supplied with several very efficient large single-family developers. The deterioration of this industry is the single largest factor responsible for the city’s stable and improving multi-housing performance. The Indianapolis multi-housing market consists of 130,000 units in 683 communities (larger than 20 units). The average community size is 191 units. Market wide occupancies in Indianapolis bottomed out in 2003 at 87.1 percent and have been steadily climbing since to 90.9 percent in 2008. During this same period concessions have declined and 2008 rent growth was 2.2 percent, placing rents at $659 ($.75 per square foot). The city’s top 50 communities, once threatened to a greater degree by single-family housing, have faired well over the past several quarters. As with most seasonal markets, the Indianapolis market shows a very predictable bell shaped occupancy curve with fourth and first quarter occupancy lows and peaks in the second and third quarters. Until first quarter 2009, the impact of the current recessionary environment …
CHICAGO — The Chicago office of law firm Kirkland & Ellis has relocated to 300 North LaSalle, a newly constructed, 60-story office tower located in downtown Chicago. The law firm will occupy 26 floors of the tower, taking up approximately 650,000 of the building’s 1.26 million rentable square feet. The new office features a conference center, expanded wireless Internet service, video conferencing capability, and environmentally friendly lighting and energy systems. Kirkland relocated from 700,000 square feet within Aon Center, an office tower located at 200 East Randolph that it had occupied since 1972. Clune Construction served as general contractor for the build-out, with The Staubach Group serving as the law firm’s leasing agent. Hines Real Estate Interests is the developer of 300 North LaSalle and SOM is the architect.
DEERFIELD AND GLENVIEW, ILL. — Chicago-based Reed Construction has completed two medical office suite renovation projects for Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University HealthSystem. The first project consisted of the multi-phase renovation of a suite located at 190 Waukegan Rd. in Deerfield. Construction included new examination rooms, new nursing stations and a new laboratory, as well as the addition of new finished throughout the suite. The second project included the addition of five new examination rooms and a new nursing station at a medical office suite located at 2250 Waukegan Rd. in Glenview. Both of the facilities remained open throughout the construction process.
WAUKEGAN AND ELGIN, ILL. — Lee & Associates of Illinois has brokered two Chicagoland industrial leases. In Waukegan, Trifinity Partners signed a lease for 130,156 square feet of industrial space located at 3731 Sunset Ave. Mike Prost and Sergio Chapa of Lee & Associates represented the landlord, ING Clarion Partners. The tenant was represented by Patrick Shannon of Darwin Realty & Development Corp. In Elgin, Lee’s John Sharpe and Steve Bass represented Premier Transportation Warehouse in the leasing of 81,050 square feet of industrial space located at 1675 Holmes Rd. The landlord, Manulife Financial, was represented by Dan Benassi and Dan Jones of Entre Commercial. Terms of both leases were not disclosed.
STILLWATER, MINN. — Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. is advancing the Campus 2025 project, a multi-phase expansion and renovation of the Government Center in Stillwater. The project will ultimately add more than 200,000 square feet of new space and remodel more than 75,000 square feet of space for courts, county offices and a new 911 call center. Phase I, which is scheduled for completion in May, includes a five-story, 165,777-square-foot addition to the courthouse, which will add new courtrooms, holding areas and judges chambers; as well as a 73,406-square-foot addition to the Law Enforcement Center, which will add new office space, holding areas and a data center. Phase II comprises a 62,000-square-foot remodeling of the existing second-floor courts and office area. Phase III includes a 60,000-square-foot remodeling of the existing first-floor office filing and storage areas. Phase IV will renovate the South Wing of the Government Center. In addition, Kraus-Anderson will also manage the recently announced Phase V of the project, which will also focus on renovations to the South Wing. Wold Architects is serving as project architect for Phase V, which is scheduled for a December 2011 completion. Kraus-Anderson will also be building shell space for future expansion. This aspect …
LAWRENCE, KAN. — Kansas City, Mo.-based JE Dunn Construction has been selected to build new University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, an approximately $35 million project that will be located at the university’s West Campus. The project will total 111,700 square feet and will feature a dean’s suite; faculty and staff offices; conference rooms; traditional class rooms and interactive distance-learning classrooms; an integrated lab space; a biochemistry lab; a working model pharmacy; a pharmacy library; a pharmacy museum; a student computer commons; student organization offices; a FEMA storm shelter/student locker space; IT support spaces; and a food service area. The project is scheduled for completion in November 2010. Treanor Architects is designing the new school.
GLENVIEW, ILL. — Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Mid-America Asset Management has arranged the leasing of 3,000 square feet of space at Plaza del Prado, a 129,111-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center located in Glenview. The space will be occupied by Blufish Sushi, which plans to open in June 2009. Mid-America’s Marget Graham and Kitsy Ritter, the exclusive leasing representatives for the shopping center, represented the landlord in lease negotiations.