CHICAGO — Peak Realty has begun pre-leasing efforts for Sage West Loop, a 196-unit luxury apartment building in Chicago’s West Loop. Tandem Development is the developer for the project, which is located at 1044 W. Van Buren St. Amenities include a fitness center, rooftop terrace, party room, dog run, coworking suites and onsite garage parking. The building is slated for occupancy this summer. Monthly rents start at $1,893, according to the property’s website.
DETROIT — Elia Group has unveiled two new dining concepts, Experience Zuzu and Upstairs Bar. Both are slated to open this July in the company’s 511 Woodward building in downtown Detroit. Inspired by the destinations of Miami and Las Vegas, Experience Zuzu features eclectic Asian cuisine. Menu items include hand-rolled sushi, appetizers, wok-fired specialties and exclusive dishes from the charcoal oven and wood-fired grill. In addition to a full bar, Experience Zuzu will showcase bespoke cocktails, premium bottle service and a selection of sake, champagne and wine. The second floor will feature Upstairs Bar, a luxurious lounge and club serving craft cocktails, small plates and sushi.
WAUKEGAN, ILL. — McShane Construction Co. has completed Kirwan Apartments in the Chicago suburb of Waukegan. Over the Rainbow (OTR) was the developer. The 24-unit affordable housing development enables adults with physical disabilities to live independently. The project is named after Leo Kirwan, an OTR resident, board member and advocate for accessible housing. All units feature one bedroom and one bathroom and are barrier free. Tenants have access to a community room and laundry facilities. The three-story building is situated adjacent to OTR’s Gustafson Apartments. Weese Laungley Weese Architects provided architectural services.
GREENWOOD, IND. — Echo Real Estate Capital has acquired a 57,000-square-foot medical office building in the Indianapolis suburb of Greenwood for an undisclosed price. Located at 555 County Line Road, the multi-tenant property is anchored by Community Health and Goodman Campbell Brain & Spine. The building is currently 64 percent occupied. Echo plans to undertake several capital improvements, including a lobby renovation, roof replacement, parking lot repairs and landscaping upgrades. Wintrust Bank provided acquisition financing. The transaction marks Echo’s fourth acquisition in the submarket.
WICHITA, KAN. — Post Road Management has acquired an 11-property multifamily portfolio totaling 1,002 units in Wichita for an undisclosed price. With this purchase, Post Road has nearly tripled its footprint in the Wichita market. The firm plans to invest an average of $12,000 per unit in upgrades across the portfolio. About 21 percent of the units have been fully renovated. Post Road purchased the portfolio with assumable nonrecourse Fannie Mae and HUD financing in place. The properties include Kingston Cove, Cimarron Apartments, Stratford East, Park Meadows, The Willows, Willows South, Stratford West, Danish Village, Pine Creek, Edgemoor Townhomes and Cottonwood Crossing. Alex Blagojevich, Brett Meinzer, Colton Howell and Richard Redding of MMG Real Estate Advisors represented the undisclosed seller and procured the buyer.
CHICAGO — Walmart has announced that it will close four stores in the South and West sides of Chicago. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that the stores are located in the city’s Kenwood, Lakeview, Little Village and Chatham neighborhoods. Walmart cited a lack of profitability as the reason for the closures, reporting that the locations collectively lose tens of millions of dollars a year. The company recently invested $70 million to upgrade the stores and built two new Walmart Health facilities and a Walmart Academy training center. “It was hoped that these investments would help improve our stores’ performance,” said the company. “Unfortunately, these efforts have not materially improved the fundamental business challenges our stores are facing.”
ARDEN HILLS, MINN. — New Perspective has opened a 146-unit seniors housing community in Arden Hills, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The 192,000-square-foot community offers independent living, assisted living and memory care services. The property is New Perspective’s 10th in the Twin Cities metro area. New Perspective Arden Hills will partner with Bethel University, the community’s next-door neighbor, in providing a variety of campus opportunities for those living in the building.
STREETSBORO, OHIO — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Cleveland-Streetsboro hotel for an undisclosed price. The 68-room hotel is located in Streetsboro, a southeast suburb of Cleveland. The property, constructed in 1999, will continue operating as a Holiday Inn Express following a renovation. Alexandre Duong of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a limited liability company. Duong also procured the undisclosed buyer.
WAUWATOSA, WIS. — Best Buy has signed a 10,921-square-foot retail lease at 2545 N. Mayfair Road in Wauwatosa, a western suburb of Milwaukee. Scott Satula and Emily Smits of Mid-America Real Estate represented the landlord, an entity doing business as GP Wisconsin LLC.
Rising interest rates dinging commercial real estate and multifamily assets have plunged low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties back into reality, especially those coming to the end of their 15-year compliance periods. “There were some huge profits made in the affordable housing space over the last two or three years,” says Cliff McDaniel, a managing director with Lument, which is representing Harmony Housing in the $1.4 billion sale of its affordable housing portfolio to the Michaels Organization. “We sold a lot of properties for $60,000 a unit or even $120,000 a unit, and the debt was $40,000 a unit. But the mania over that type of profitability is over, and values are going back to where they were before.” Up until about five years ago, the phrase “huge profits” and “affordable housing” would rarely if ever have occurred in the same sentence. Or even in the same story. Prior to that, affordable housing properties typically had very little value at the end of their initial 15-year compliance periods, and limited partners who provided equity to the project by buying tax credits routinely agreed to sell their interest to the general partner for a nominal fee. At that point, the …
