CHICAGO — Skender has completed an expansive renovation project at THE MART office building in Chicago. Owner Vornado Realty Trust coined the repositioning initiative as “Evolution of an Icon.” Skender made improvements to four key areas of the building’s second floor: a 29,000-square-foot circulation area, 21,000-square-foot conference center, 23,000-square-foot fitness center and 2,000-square-foot private tenant lounge. In the circulation area, Skender added new Terrazzo flooring and new lounge seating sourced from design showrooms at THE MART. The new conference center is comprised of 15 meeting rooms that accommodate up to 300 people. The area also features a workspace with phone booths, lounge seating, a pantry and satellite service area. The fitness center features a golf simulator, locker rooms, infrared saunas, a cycle room and mind-body room. Overlooking the river is the new tenant-exclusive, speakeasy-inspired lounge with a bar. Gensler was the architect and IMEG Corp. was the engineer.
Midwest
MERRIAM, KAN. — Brinkmann Constructors has broken ground on Merriam Grand Station Lofts, a 361-unit luxury apartment project in Merriam, a southwest suburb of Kansas City. Drake Development is developing the project on the site of a former retail development that has been vacant for 10 years. The development is part of the larger Merriam Grand Station, a $72.5 million project including retail, residential and public gathering space. Merriam Grand Station Lofts will consist of two buildings with 73,000 square feet of below-grade parking. Amenities will include a pool, pet wash station, game rooms and electric vehicle charging stations. Completion is slated for 2025.
CHICAGO — Interra Realty has brokered the sale of a 16-unit multifamily property in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood for $6.1 million. Located at 2543 N. California Ave., the building was constructed in 1902 and renovated in 2018. There are eight two-bedroom units, five three-bedroom units, one four-bedroom layout and two commercial spaces. Starbucks has been a long-term tenant in one of the commercial spaces. Brad Feldman of Interra represented the seller, Chicago-based Barnett Capital Ltd. Feldman also represented the local private buyer.
SALEM, OHIO — The Cooper Commercial Investment Group has arranged the $2 million sale of Salem Market Place in Salem, a city in Northeast Ohio. Tenants at the 16,252-square-foot property include Super Cuts, Sally Beauty Supply, GameStop, Little Caesar’s, Gadget Lab, Alternative Smokes, Hibachi Express and Drayer Physical Therapy. The center is 83 percent occupied. Dan Cooper and Bob Havasi of Cooper Group represented the seller, a West Coast-based investor. The sales price represented a cap rate of 7.73 percent and approximately 98 percent of the list price.
DETROIT — Flux City Development has broken ground on The Ribbon, an $8.2 million affordable housing community located in Detroit’s East English Village neighborhood. Of the 18 total units, 14 will be reserved for those earning at or below 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), and four of the units will be designated for at or below 60 percent of AMI. Affordability of the apartments is guaranteed for the next 25 years. The project will also feature retail space to be occupied by local favorite Gajiza Dumplings, which will make The Ribbon its first permanent home. Demolition of a former bank building at the project site was recently completed. Completion of The Ribbon is slated for fall 2024. Project partners for The Ribbon include LISC Detroit, a local organization founded in 1990 within the Local Initiatives Support Corporation network, and Invest Detroit, a nonprofit lender, investor and partner. The project received $600,000 in loans from the Detroit Housing for the Future Fund (DHFF) as well as $338,199 in preferred equity from DHFF. The Strategic Neighborhood Fund provided a $1.4 million grant. The development also received $2.2 million from Capital Impact Partners (CIP), a CIP equitable development initiative grant …
INDIANAPOLIS — Milhaus, an Indianapolis-based multifamily developer, owner and operator, has opened a new headquarters in downtown Indianapolis. The 48,000-square-foot building along Washington Street is situated in the historic Cole-Noble neighborhood. Milhaus will operate out of 28,000 square feet on two of the three floors. The building is located next to the firm’s first Qualified Opportunity Zone development, Grid. Housing 175 apartment units, Grid is home to a fraction of the 3,000 units that Milhaus has developed in central Indiana. More than half of those units are located downtown. To date, Milhaus has developed 48 projects with $1.9 billion in assets under management. The firm also maintains regional offices in Kansas City and Austin, Texas, with additional boots on the ground in Florida and Denver.
DRESSER, WIS. — MAG Capital Partners LLC has acquired a four-building industrial property in a sale-leaseback transaction with CORE Industrial Partners. Located at 700 Kelly Ave. in Dresser, a city in Northwest Wisconsin, the property totals 107,660 square feet. The facility will continue to be fully occupied by Cadrex Manufacturing Solutions, a mechanical solutions provider. Cadrex consists of 11 complementary acquisitions that CORE has integrated into a precision manufacturing platform. The property at 700 Kelly Ave. is the longtime home of sheet metal fabricator Tenere Inc., which was acquired by Cadrex in July 2022. JC Asensio, Briggs Goldberg and Andrew Sandquist of Newmark represented CORE.
ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN — BWE has arranged a $5.2 million acquisition loan for a three-property industrial portfolio in Illinois and Wisconsin. Likewise Partners acquired the portfolio. Christopher Carroll and Max Miller of BWE arranged the loan through a Minnesota-based credit union. The three infill properties are located in Menomonee Falls, Wis., Appleton Wis.; and Machesney Park, Ill. The portfolio totals 79,152 square feet and is fully leased, with 92 percent of the space occupied by the Engman-Taylor Co., an industrial distributor.
DULUTH, MINN. — JLL Capital Markets has brokered the $3.6 million sale of Irving School Apartments in Duluth, a city located along Lake Superior. The property was originally built in 1895 as a school and was placed on Minnesota’s National Register of Historic Places and converted into apartments in 1978. The building features 44 units that average 980 square feet. Devon Dvorak, Mox Gunderson, Dan Linnell, Josh Talberg and Adam Haydon of JLL represented the seller, Sherman Associates. The buyer was High Point Holdings LLC.
CHICAGO — Crescent Heights has acquired North Water Apartments, a 398-unit multifamily property in downtown Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. Invesco Real Estate sold the asset for $173 million, according to real estate data firm CoStar. North Water Apartments is the multifamily portion of a 50-story building located at 340 E. North Water St. Built in 2015, the community offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. According to the property website, amenities include electric vehicle charging stations, a rooftop lounge with a pool, outdoor plaza, fitness center, business center with a conference room, onsite dry cleaning, pet spa, package lockers and bike storage. Monthly rents range from $2,705 for a studio up to $8,379 for a three-bedroom, according to Apartments.com. North Water Apartments is situated atop the Loews Chicago Hotel, which was not included in the sale. The Loews Chicago hotel offers 400 rooms and suites, and includes a restaurant, rooftop bar, lobby lounge and coffee shop, as well as 31,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space. The building is located less than a mile from Chicago’s Magnificent Mile commercial district, the lakefront Navy Pier and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Grand Avenue Station on Chicago’s Red Line is located …