FARMINGTON HILLS, MICH. — Kids Empire has signed a 21,430-square-foot retail lease to backfill the former Office Max space at West River Shopping Center in Farmington Hills. The property is situated at the corner of Grand River Avenue and 9 Mile Road. Additional tenants include Target, The Riviera Cinema, Edge Fitness and Five Below. Michael Murphy and Bill McLeod of Gerdom Realty & Investment represented the landlord, Shango Properties. Kids Empire, which offers indoor playgrounds, climbing walls, games and birthday parties, operates more than 40 locations across the U.S.
FENTON AND HOWELL, MICH. — A three-property car wash portfolio in Michigan has traded hands for an undisclosed price. The portfolio includes a Lake Effect Auto Wash in Fenton, a Lake Effect Auto Wash in Howell and a Classic Auto Wash in Howell. Garrett Monroe of Calder Capital provided merger and acquisition services on behalf of the seller, Fenton-based The Mechigian Auto Washes. Troy-based Ace Auto Wash was the buyer.
BRADLEY, ILL. — RCG Ventures has acquired Bradley Commons shopping center in Bradley near Kankakee for an undisclosed price. The 175,369-square-foot property is home to Dick’s Sporting Goods, Joann Fabrics, Petco, Shoe Carnival and Ulta Beauty. Joe Girardi and Rick Drogosz of Mid-America Real Estate Corp. represented the undisclosed seller. Jeff Miller represented RCG on an internal basis. RCG’s portfolio totals 32 shopping centers and 4 million square feet across 21 states.
CHICAGO — Summit Design + Build has completed the adaptive reuse of a five-story industrial building in Chicago’s West Loop into a boutique, extended-stay hotel. Located at 1436 Randolph St., the property features 49 apartment-style rooms. All the rooms are fully equipped with kitchens and in-suite laundry. Guests have access to a fitness center and the ground floor contains both retail and restaurant space. Marquette Cos. was the developer and Brininstool + Lynch served as architect.
AUSTINTOWN, OHIO — The Cooper Commercial Investment Group has brokered the $2.2 million sale of a newly constructed retail property occupied by Chipotle Mexican Grill in Austintown near Youngstown. Dan Cooper of Cooper Group represented the seller, a private developer. Cooper Group also procured the all-cash buyer. The sales price represented a cap rate of 5.7 percent and $929 per square foot. Chipotle’s 10-year lease features 10 percent rental increases every five years.
WATSEKA, ILL. — Franklin Street has arranged the sale of a 104-unit self-storage facility totaling 12,600 net rentable square feet in Watseka, about 60 miles east of Champaign. The sales price was undisclosed. The value-add property is located at 1090 E. Walnut St. Frank DeSalvo and David Perlleshi of Franklin Street represented the seller, Houston-based Pebble Ridge Capital. Wisconsin-based Just Simple Storage acquired the asset. The transaction marks the entrance into the Illinois market for Just Simple Storage, which currently operates facilities in Michigan and Wisconsin.
ST. CHARLES, ILL. — DarwinPW Realty/CORFAC International has negotiated the sale of a 50,000-square-foot industrial building in St. Charles, about 40 miles west of Chicago. The sales price was undisclosed. The Class B property, located at 2500 Production Drive, features a clear height of 21 feet, seven docks, one drive-in door, 1,500 square feet of office space and 55 parking spaces. Marc Hale of DarwinPW Realty represented the buyer, an HVAC manufacturing company that is relocating from Elk Grove Village. Brian Lindgren of SVN Landmark represented the seller, Hill & Smith.
By Aaron Duncan, CBRE Describing Central Ohio’s current office market conditions is like a kid making the “little bit of everything” drink at the self-serve soda fountain: a lot of ingredients go in and the result is, surprisingly, okay. The office market is filled with polarizing headlines — from the growth and success of suburban Class A+ product versus newly vacated assets, to sublease space swarming the stat line, and everything in between. Moreover, the sector continues to provide pools of negative and positive market conditions. One’s perspective on the market largely depends on which way they’re standing in that month but overall, much like that childhood concoction, it’s okay. The good and the bad For nearly three years, tenants leaned on ownership groups to let them put temporary solutions in place while they fully vetted their return-to-work strategies. Today, the good news is that tenants have finally figured it out and are confident about what their current and future footprints will look like. A strong indicator of this is the volume of headquarters transactions in the market, five of which were completed by our team: • Vertiv: 75,000-square-foot, suburban headquarters lease at 505 N. Cleveland Ave. • Surge Staffing: …
As vacant sites become rare and cost-prohibitive, commercial real estate developers need to be creative when it comes to bringing a new project out of the ground. Unconventional development sites offer cost savings and location advantages, and in-depth due diligence and creativity on the part of developers can make for sites that can allow an elegant union of lower costs and strategy. With limited room for delay, how can developers think critically about available sites and leverage existing conditions to their advantage? Katherine Roberts, senior project manager at Bohler’s Warrenton, VA office, and Gregory Roth, principal at Bohler’s Tampa office, offer their expert advice on threading this needle. Bohler specializes in land development, especially making development work when conventional sites aren’t an option. Prioritizing Development Needs When Assessing Red Flags Certain project factors can be red flags if time or cost are obstacles to a developer, including These points of concern are usually knots that can be untangled if a developer has the time, money and appetite to move forward in spite of these interruptions, but each factor does bear watching. “Developers should understand where their limits are and where they’re willing to negotiate. Ideally, anything you’re developing should be …
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Hunter Hotel Advisors has negotiated the sale of the Fairfield Inn & Suites Kansas City Downtown Union Hill for an undisclosed price. Located in Kansas City’s Union Hill neighborhood, the 115-room hotel is within walking distance of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and one mile from Union Station. Lee Hunter and Spencer Davidson of Hunter brokered the sale. True North Hotel Group sold the property to an institutional buyer.