JANESVILLE, WIS. — Phelps Pet Products, a manufacturer of specialty dog treats, has signed a 179,000-square-foot industrial lease at 400 W. Venture Drive in Janesville, a city in southern Wisconsin. The brand-new building features 18 loading docks, 25 trailer parking stalls and 175 car parking spaces. Michael Prost and Sergio Chapa of Newmark represented the tenant. The name of the landlord was not disclosed.
LAFAYETTE, IND. — Ariel Property Advisors has arranged an $8.2 million refinance loan and line of credit for the renovation and expansion of a 160,000-square-foot shopping center in Lafayette. The expansion will accommodate one of the tenants, a government agency, that needed a larger space. Eli Weisblum and Paul McCormick of Ariel arranged the loan, which features a 6.5 percent fixed interest rate, a 25-year amortization schedule and a 65 percent loan-to-value ratio. The lender and borrower were not provided.
DOWNERS GROVE, ILL. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $2.3 million sale of a BP-occupied gas station property in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. The asset is located at 2231 Maple Ave. just east of Highway 355. Timothy Nichols, Nicholas Kanich and Mitch Grant of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a locally based limited liability company. Nichols secured the buyer, also a locally based limited liability company.
ALBERT LEA, MINN. — Kraus-Anderson has completed an expansion and renovation of Ulland Brothers’ maintenance facility at 2501 E. Main St. in Albert Lea, a city in southern Minnesota. Ulland Brothers is an excavating and paving contractor. Designed by DSGW Architects, the project features a 20,000-square-foot addition that houses a new wash bay, ancillary shop, repair bay, warehouse space, loading and receiving dock, welding bay, two welding rooms and a mechanical mezzanine. A 2,650-square-foot interior renovation of the existing facility consists of a new spare parts room, battery room, mechanical room and bathroom. The building also received exterior upgrades.
WHEATON, ILL. — JVM Realty Corp. has acquired Courthouse Square, a 149-unit apartment community in the western Chicago suburb of Wheaton. The purchase price was undisclosed. Located at 250 S. Naperville Road, Courthouse Square was built in 2016 and consists of two six-story buildings. Amenities include a pool and sundeck, concierge service, package receiving, fitness center and yoga studio, event room, outdoor deck, heated indoor garage parking, pet wash and bike repair stations. With this latest acquisition, JVM now owns and manages eight apartment communities in Illinois and 23 throughout the Midwest. Kevin Girard, Mark Stern, Zach Kaufman and Avi Schiffman of JLL represented the undisclosed seller.
NORTHVILLE, MICH. — Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. (MMCC) has arranged a $4.7 million loan for the acquisition of a 28,780-square-foot retail property occupied by Fresh Thyme Market in Northville, a northwest suburb of Detroit. Constructed in 2015 as a build-to-suit for the grocery store, the building is located at 15480 Sheldon Road. Chad O’Connor of MMCC arranged the loan on behalf of the undisclosed borrower. The 10-year loan features a fixed interest rate of 5.37 percent, a 30-year amortization schedule and a 45 percent loan-to-value ratio.
SOUTH BEND, IND. — Holladay Properties is converting an industrial site at 850 Marietta St. in South Bend into a 39,990-square-foot self-storage facility. Store Space Self Storage will manage the facility, which is slated to open in the second quarter. The property will feature four buildings with 183 climate-controlled units and 165 drive-up units. Store Space will provide day-to-day operations, call center support, marketing, branding and technology solutions. Holladay expects to partner with Store Space on additional locations.
MCHENRY, ILL. — Entre Commercial Realty has brokered the sale of a 21,500-square-foot office building located at 420 Front St. in McHenry for an undisclosed price. The two-story property was built in 2000. Dan Jones, Dan Benassi and Sam Deihs of Entre represented the seller, Glacier Properties. Community Consolidated School District 15 purchased the buildings with plans to utilize it as a new central office for the McHenry School District.
HUNTLEY, ILL. — Principle Construction has completed the third expansion in five years of General RV’s space at 14000 Automall Drive in Huntley. The current project includes a 19,558-square-foot addition to the building, which Principle initially constructed in 2011. The building features a clear height of 22 feet and 14 drive-in doors. Cornerstone Architects was the project architect.
Data Center Developers Consider Unconventional Sites, Streamlining Strategies to Meet Immense Demand
Data center development is simultaneously growing by leaps and bounds as well as suffering from its own success. The easy-to-develop sites have been snapped up and demand for additional data and cloud services continues to grow, forcing developers to look beyond the obvious locations for sites. This can entail running into less-than-obvious delays in the development process. Data centers reliably store and transmit the deluge of information that makes modern life possible. The factors driving the need for data centers — enterprise demand for cloud services, dependence on 5G cell networks, artificial intelligence technology, edge computing capabilities, social media use and streaming needs — will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years. According to a September 2022 report by advisory company Arizton, approximately 2,825 megawatts of power capacity will be added to the data center market in the next five years. The same report forecasts the U.S. data center construction market will reach $25 billion by 2027, up from $20 billion in 2021. Data centers are utility-intensive property types, and the sites that can support their formidable power, communication and water needs often require high-level considerations right from the start. How can the development process for such projects be streamlined …