NAPERVILLE, ILL. — MZ Capital Partners has sold Vantage Naperville Apartments in suburban Chicago for $24 million. The 112-unit apartment community, located at 1350 E. Ogden Ave., was fully leased at the time of sale. The newly completed property features studios and one-bedroom units with private work-from-home suites. JLL brokered the sale. An affiliate of 601W Cos. was the buyer.
CHICAGO — Echo Global Logistics and VSA Partners have renewed their office leases at 600 West Chicago, an office and retail property owned by Sterling Bay in Chicago’s River West submarket. Echo, a provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services, will remain in its 185,000-square-foot space that it has called home since its inception in 2005. VSA, a global creative agency and tenant in the building since 2008, restructured its lease to 25,000 square feet. Andrea VanGelder, Kellen Monti, Matt Carolan and Paul Giannopoulos of JLL represented Echo, while Steven Livaditis and Jon Milonas of CBRE represented VSA. Russ Cora and Austin Lusson represented Sterling Bay on an internal basis.
NAPERVILLE AND WARRENVILLE, ILL. — Greenstone Partners has brokered the sale of a three-building office portfolio in Naperville and Warrenville for $16 million. Named the Cantera-Naperville Office Portfolio, the collection of assets totals 130,000 rentable square feet and is 86 percent leased. The properties are located at 4300 and 4580 Weaver Parkway in Warrenville and 1601 Bond St. in Naperville. Jason St. John and Paul Tesdal of Greenstone represented the seller, a Naperville-based real estate operator. The duo also procured the buyer, a Chicagoland-based family office that completed a 1031 exchange.
JEFFERSONVILLE, IND. — Berkadia has provided a $15.2 million Freddie Mac loan for the acquisition of Beech Grove Apartments in Jeffersonville near Louisville. Built in 1972, the apartment complex features 182 units. Amenities include a fitness center, dog park and pool. John Schorgl of Berkadia Kansas City secured the loan on behalf of the borrower, California-based Revitate Cherry Tree. The 10-year loan features five years of interest-only payments.
DETROIT, LANSING AND GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — Dwight Mortgage Trust, the mortgage REIT affiliate of Dwight Capital, has provided a $154.8 million bridge loan for the acquisition of a multifamily portfolio in Michigan. The properties include Capitol Village Apartments, Carriage Hill Apartments, Carriage Park Apartments, Macomb Manor Apartments, Newburgh Square Apartments and Northview Harbor Apartments. The garden-style apartment complexes, which are located in Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids, feature amenities such as fitness centers, tennis courts, basketball courts, volleyball courts, clubhouses and barbecue areas. Adam Sasouness of Dwight originated the two-year, floating-rate loan. Marvin Jeremias of Crossmark Capital and Aaron Moll of Berkadia arranged the loan on behalf of the borrower, New Jersey-based Valleytree Partners. The purpose of the bridge loan is to provide both acquisition financing and funding for capital improvements, including enhancing 50 percent of the units.
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, ILL. — JLL Capital Markets has brokered the $40.7 million sale of Lincoln Place, a 272,060-square-foot shopping center in the St. Louis suburb of Fairview Heights. The property was 95 percent leased at the time of sale. Tenants include Aldi, Total Wine & More, Kohl’s, Shoe Carnival, Ross Dress for Less, Marshalls, Five Below, GameStop, Pizza Hut and St. Louis Bread Co. Amy Sands, Clinton Mitchell and Michael Nieder of JLL represented the seller, Acadia Realty Trust. Jenel Real Estate was the buyer.
OMAHA, NEB. — Airlite Plastics Co. Inc. and Marianna Industries Inc. have leased the former Gordmans distribution center located at 9202 F St. in Omaha. Kevin Stratman, Clint Seemann and Ryan Zabrowski of Investors Realty represented the landlord, an entity doing business as G&I IX Specialty Ret LLC. The property was left vacant by Gordmans after its parent company, Stage Stores, filed for bankruptcy. The center underwent a substantial renovation led by Investors Realty’s project management team. Paul LaFave of CBRE represented Marianna, which leased 81,090 square feet. Airlite leased 186,405 square feet and did not have a representative. Omaha-based Airlite sells plastic containers and reusable products. Omaha-based Marianna is a hair care formulator and manufacturer.
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, ILL. — A joint venture between Clear Height Properties and Blackbird Investment Group has sold a 112,000-square-foot industrial building in Elk Grove Village for an undisclosed price. The property, located at 1250-1350 Greenleaf Ave., is fully leased to Brett Anthony Foods. In early 2018, Clear Height began planning with Brett Anthony Foods on site selection. Clear Height and Blackbird acquired the adjacent building at 1250 Greenleaf Ave. in January 2021 through a sale-leaseback transaction. A project team consisting of DSI Group, Michael Weber Architects, Cartland Kraus and Cage Engineering merged the two buildings via a 10,000-square-foot addition and completed improvements to the façade, main entrance, parking lot, landscaping and office portion. Michael Caprile, Zach Graham, Jason Lev and Ryan Bain of CBRE represented Clear Height in the sale. An institutional investor acquired the asset.
CHICAGO — An affiliate of Next Realty LLC has sold Nagle Plaza in Chicago for an undisclosed price. Walgreens anchors the 30,000-square-foot retail building, which is located along Nagle Avenue. Additional tenants include City Edge Dental and Ankle & Foot Specialists. Sean Sharko and Austin Weisenbeck of Marcus & Millichap represented Next in the sale. The property represented a value-add investment for Next, which initially acquired the defaulted first mortgage note and ultimately obtained fee title to the property. Next completed lease-up of the building earlier this year. The buyer was not provided.
By Mike Drew, Structured Development As a longtime developer of multifamily, commercial and mixed-use properties in Chicago, I can tell you we’ve never seen anything like the last few years. From the highs of the pre-pandemic multifamily construction boom to the lows of the first year of COVID-19 lockdowns — when downtown emptied out — to today, it’s been a rollercoaster ride. But the multifamily sector has ultimately proved resilient and is roaring back stronger than ever. Here’s a look back at the past three years and a glimpse of three projects we broke ground on during the pandemic: Schiller Place, Big Deahl and Harrison Row. Early pandemic exodus For the years 2019-2021, developers were expected to build 9,000 apartment units in downtown Chicago, according to Integra Realty Resources. This figure was lower than the expected 10,700 units because of rising construction costs and uncertainty around property taxes, but still strong. Average rents for downtown Class A rental communities were $3.31 per square foot, per Integra, and occupancy was a robust 94.9 percent. When the pandemic hit nine months later, it greatly slowed that activity. Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued the first stay-at-home order on March 20, 2020, followed by other …
