COLUMBUS, OHIO — CASTO has unveiled new retail tenants for the Hamilton Quarter mixed-use development in Columbus. The new tenants include DiBella’s Subs, Torchy’s Tacos, KEMBA Financial Credit Union and Bath & Body Works. Located at the interchange of Hamilton Road and State Route 161, Hamilton Quarter is a 200-acre project. Plans call for 600,000 square feet of office space, 1 million square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, and a hotel. The project is a joint venture between Casto, Daimler, The New Albany Co. and Capitol Square Ltd.
MILWAUKEE — Northwestern Mutual, an American financial services and insurance organization, has announced plans to invest $500 million to improve its downtown Milwaukee headquarters. The principal part of the investment will go to the overhaul of its North Office Building, a 540,000-square-foot building located at 818 E. Mason St. overlooking Milwaukee Bay. As part of the company’s plans, employees will be relocated from Northwestern Mutual’s suburban campus in nearby Franklin over the next three to five years. Nearly 2,000 employees will transition to the reimagined downtown campus, which is designed to accommodate planned company growth. “We are doubling down on our Milwaukee campus by investing in the future of the workplace for Northwestern Mutual and a thriving downtown community,” says John Schlifske, chairman, president and CEO of Northwestern Mutual. “Our strategic investment will further our goal of creating an unparalleled campus experience, fostering connection and collaboration across employees, financial representatives and the community while attracting and retaining the next generation of talent right here in southeast Wisconsin.” Northwestern Mutual’s improvements include full interior and exterior renovations to mirror the company’s adjacent Tower and Commons building. The North Office Building was delivered in 1990 whereas Tower and Commons debuted in 2017. …
MINNEAPOLIS — Student housing developer Landmark Properties is undertaking its first development project in Minnesota, a 1,021-bed student housing community located within walking distance of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Named The Standard at Dinkytown, the project will offer several floor plans ranging from studios to five-bedroom units with 30 affordable housing units. Rental rates at the property will include cable, internet, trash and all furniture. Amenities will include an outdoor pool area with a jumbotron, sun deck, cabanas, outdoor grilling stations and rooftop hot tub as well as a fitness center, clubhouse, gaming lounge, study lounge and Amazon package lockers. Construction is expected to begin this year and be completed in fall 2025. The University of Minnesota enrolls more than 50,000 students each fall.
FARGO, N.D. — Hyde Development has acquired 111 acres in Fargo with plans to build Dakota Commerce Center North, a 1.4 million-square-foot speculative industrial project. Hyde will offer users the flexibility of build-to-suit footprints ranging from 20,000 to 500,000 square feet. The development will feature convenient access to I-29 and Hector International Airport. Chance Lindsey and Kyle Ferderer of CBRE represented Hyde in the land purchase. The brokers have also been retained as the leasing agents for the project. Hyde is also the developer behind Dakota Commerce Center, a four-building project totaling 633,200 square feet. To date, two buildings have been completed and fully leased. Building 3 is slated for completion this August.
MINNEAPOLIS — Kraus-Anderson has completed construction of Moment, a $66 million luxury apartment tower developed by Sherman Associates in downtown Minneapolis. Designed by ESG Architecture & Design, the 222-unit project is located at 650 Portland Ave. The second floor of the 10-story building is home to Firefighters for Healing and its Transitional Healing Center for injured fighters and burn survivors. The center provides 12 suites for families awaiting a patient receiving care at nearby Hennepin Healthcare Burn Unit, a regional center for burn treatment. It also accommodates discharged patients as they transition before returning home. Amenities at Moment include a pool, sauna, hot tub, sports simulator, work-from-home space, rooftop lounge and underground parking. Energy usage for Moment is offset by energy production from a solar garden in Carver County. The project also features nearly 15,000 square feet of commercial space with skyway access. A Starbucks store is expected to open this spring. Monthly rents start at $1,657, according to the property’s website. The name Moment is derived from the phrase “live in the moment.”
GROVE CITY, OHIO — Contegra Construction Co. has completed the renovation of a 527,000-square-foot warehouse in Grove City near Columbus for medical glove maker American Nitrile. The manufacturing facility will produce 4 billion medical research lab gloves annually. Contegra worked with engineering firm IMEG to fortify infrastructure that would support a highly complex automated manufacturing process with 12 production lines. The facility also includes 15,000 square feet of remodeled office and lab space. American Nitrile was founded in 2021 in response to the need for domestic sources of manufacturing of personal protective equipment (PPE) products.
CHICAGO — Baird & Warner has brokered the sale of a nearly 29,000-square-foot office and retail building in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood for $6.2 million. Located at 212 E. Ohio St., the property is one block east of the city’s Magnificent Mile. Originally constructed in 1965, the five-story building is fully leased to tenants such as @properties Christie’s International Real Estate and Central City Productions. Brant Sichko of Baird & Warner represented the undisclosed buyer. Mike Rourke and Dan Stratis of @properties represented the sellers, Theus Property Holdings LLC and Miden Property Holdings LLC.
By Evan Lyons, Encore Real Estate Investment Services Looking back on 2022, it could be said that Detroit’s economic performance last year mirrored that of the city’s tenacious Detroit Lions’ football season. Both were mired in doubt, plagued by volatility and sustained by grit, yet beyond all expectation, when the clock ran down, both proved the naysayers wrong. Just as the Lions surprised doubters by finishing their season at 9-8 and beating their divisional rivals, the Green Bay Packers, Detroit surpassed expectations by outpacing the national jobs growth rate of 5.8 percent at mid-year 2022 with a rate of 8.6 percent year-over-year. Gains in employment and wages are expected to continue over the next few years, according to a University of Michigan study. The city bolstered its “offensive line” with new store openings and new construction throughout the urban core. Stadiums and parks were filled again, fueled by crowd-pleasing events and programing, including Belle Isle parks’ notorious, over-waxed giant slide, which went viral and gained infamy last year for catapulting riders who dared venture a ride. Detroit also scored points in visits to leisure and hospitality establishments during the past 12 months. Visits increased by 50 percent from June …
By Willy Walker, CEO of Walker & Dunlop Fed’s Recent Mistakes In a recent Walker Webcast, “Most Insightful Hour in CRE with Dr. Peter Linneman” part of our ongoing webinar series, renowned economist Dr. Linneman and I discussed his views on monetary policy, inflation and what the economic and commercial real estate landscape looks like for 2023. Throughout the past year, the Federal Reserve has been raising the federal funds rate faster than we have ever seen. This, of course, has led to a drastic increase in the cost of borrowing, the likes of which haven’t been seen in decades. In just one year, the effective federal funds rate has increased from 0.08 percent in February 2022, all the way to a target range of 4.5 to 4.75 percent in February 2023. This has led many to believe that the Fed has considerably overshot where rates should be since the market wasn’t given ample time to react to each rate hike. This rapid increase in interest rates has reduced lending activity in terms of new loans, leading to a sharp decline in demand for real estate, as well as major price corrections. Additionally, the rapid rise in borrowing costs has …
GRAYSLAKE, ILL. — Alston Construction Co. has completed a 1.4 million-square-foot distribution center for Medline in Grayslake, a city in Northeast Illinois. The facility is estimated to be the largest medical-grade distribution center in the United States, according to the project’s architect, Ware Malcomb. The final phase of development was a 2,700-square-foot office buildout for Medline’s Sterile Procedure Trays Division. The project features a 60,000-square-foot automated storage and retrieval system that picks and packages items and places them onto crates. The facility also features a main office area, receiving and shipping offices, and a temperature-controlled room. Employees have access to a break area with billiards and foosball tables as well as sleep rooms and quiet areas. Medline, a privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, requires its facilities to be LEED-certified.