INDIANAPOLIS — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of the Banta Trails office portfolio in Indianapolis for $5.6 million. The four-building portfolio spans 79,246 square feet. All of the buildings are located on the same street. Forest Bender and Joseph DiSalvo of Marcus & Millichap marketed the portfolio for sale and procured the buyer, a local ownership group. The portfolio had been owned by a single ownership group up until 2016 when Buildings III and IV were sold to an owner-occupant.
CHICAGO — Venture One Real Estate has acquired a 60,033-square-foot industrial building located at 6450 Cortland St. in Chicago for an undisclosed price. The property was vacant at the time of acquisition. Situated on nearly three acres, the building features seven docks, one drive-in door and parking for 63 cars. Venture One plans to undertake office renovations, add energy-efficient lighting, resurface the parking lot and build a new roof. Elise Couston and Jimena Sayavedra of Newmark represented the undisclosed seller and will be retained to market the property for lease. Venture One’s acquisition fund VK Industrial V LP is a partnership between Venture One and Kovitz Investment Group.
ORLAND PARK, ILL. — Adelphia Properties has arranged the sale of a 7,365-square-foot retail building in Orland Park, a suburb of Chicago. The sales price was undisclosed. Situated on one acre at 15845 S. Harlem Ave., the value-add property was 17 percent occupied at the time of sale. It was formerly home to Panera Bread. George Spirrison and Simeon Spirrison of Adelphia represented the seller, a Chicago-based private real estate investor. The buyer was also a local investor.
By Chris Curran and Mark Mills, R&R Realty Advisors Would you rather earn more money or have a more flexible work/life balance? Before the pandemic, many employees gave the latter as their answer. But the amount of money employees claimed they would forego wasn’t exactly peanuts. According to a pre-pandemic study by career site Joblist, the average employee was willing to give up around $10,000 per year to have better work/life balance. Fast forward to the present day and employees continue to express this desire. The isolation felt by many when working from home has increased the blurriness of the line that separates work from life. In fact, a survey conducted by TELUS International found that isolated workers reported a nearly 80 percent increase in work-related stress and anxiety when working from home. Given these findings, perhaps it shouldn’t surprise anyone that three out of four office employees express a desire to return to in-person work. If there’s a silver lining to the unprecedented year we’ve been emerging from, it may be that employees and employers alike are coming to understand the value in providing a balance between work and personal time. And, when it comes to the office market …
RICHMOND HEIGHTS, OHIO — DealPoint Merrill has acquired the remaining portion of the former Richmond Town Square regional mall in Richmond Heights, a suburb just east of Cleveland. The purchase price was undisclosed. Built in 1966, the mall was once the largest enclosed shopping center in the state with over 90 stores. It closed this year. DealPoint previously owned 33 acres of the mall site and now owns a total of 69 acres. This acquisition clears the way for the development of Belle Oaks Marketplace, a $200 million mixed-use project to be built on the site of the former mall. The 160,000-square-foot self-storage building operated by Life Storage and owned by DealPoint will remain open. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2022. Upon completion, Belle Oaks Marketplace will encompass 40,000 square feet of restaurants, an outdoor entertainment venue, 791 apartment units and 315,000 square feet of grocery and retail space.
ROMULUS, MICH. — Ford Motor Co. has selected Romulus, a southwest suburb of Detroit and home of the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, as the location of its new global battery center named Ford Ion Park. The $100 million project will help accelerate research and development of battery and battery cell technology. Ford Ion Park is part of Ford’s $185 million investment in developing, testing and building vehicle battery cells and cell arrays. Ford will refurbish an existing 270,000-square-foot facility to house up to 200 engineers.
FRIDLEY, MINN. — JLL Capital Markets has brokered the sale of The Cielo Apartments in the Minneapolis suburb of Fridley for $59 million. The 269-unit complex features floor plans that range in size from 586 to 1,345 square feet. Amenities include a fitness center, game room, community room, study area, walking paths and secured parking. Dan Linnell, Mox Gunderson, Josh Talberg and Adam Haydon of JLL represented the seller, Trident Development. Peak Capital Partners was the buyer. JLL also worked on behalf of the new owner to secure a seven-year, $44.2 million acquisition loan through Freddie Mac.
EVANSTON, ILL. — Spirit Investment Partners and The Bascom Group have acquired 415 Premier Apartments in Evanston for $49.1 million. Built in 2008, the 17-story property includes 221 luxury apartment units as well as a 245-space parking deck. Dan Cohen of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller. Peter Marino of CBRE arranged acquisition financing through Rialto Capital Management.
GRANITE CITY, ILL. — Contegra Construction Co. has completed the new 40,800-square-foot headquarters for icon Mechanical in Granite City, just north of St. Louis. icon Mechanical is a full-service mechanical contractor, engineering and construction firm specializing in the design, fabrication and installation of process piping, power piping, industrial ventilation and commercial HVAC. The company employs more than 150 people in addition to hundreds of trade workers on projects. The two-story property is located at 1616 Cleveland Blvd. and features an atrium, glass-walled offices, LED lighting, two stairways and open interior workspaces. Joining icon and Contegra on the project team were civil engineer Juneau Associates, architect Gray Design Group and structural engineer Alper Audi, all of which are St. Louis-area firms.
AURORA AND LOMBARD, ILL. — Old Second Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: OSBC) and West Suburban Bancorp Inc. have signed a definitive merger agreement under which Aurora-based Old Second will acquire Lombard-based West Suburban in a cash and stock transaction valued at $297 million. Under the terms of the merger agreement, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, Old Second will pay 65 percent of the purchase price in stock and the remainder in cash. According to a news release, the merged company will have approximately $6.2 billion in assets with 70 branches and will create the largest community bank under $10 billion in assets in the Chicago market. The merger is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.