CHICAGO — SVN Chicago Commercial has arranged the sale of the Chicago BrauHaus restaurant property for $3.1 million. The historic building is located at 4732 N. Lincoln Ave. within Chicago’s Lincoln Square. Tim Rasmussen and Marcus Sullivan of SVN represented the buyer, GW Properties. Matt Feo of Essex Realty Group represented the sellers, Harry and Guenter Kempf, who are longtime owners of the Chicago BrauHaus. The restaurant closed in late 2017 after 52 years.
NEW LONDON, WIS. — KW Commercial has brokered the sale of Wolf River Plaza in New London, about 40 miles west of Green Bay. Anchored by Family Dollar, the 52,280-square-foot retail center is home to a mix of regional and national tenants. Matthew Klein and Anthony Passanante of KW represented the buyer, Sunnyside Retail Partners LLC. The seller and sales price were undisclosed.
The southeastern Wisconsin industrial real estate market had a banner year in 2019 and remains strong. According to Catalyst, the industrial market in southeastern Wisconsin had a vacancy rate of approximately 4 percent at the end of 2019 and that rate has moved down slightly to 3.9 percent during the first quarter of 2020. This rate is well below the historical vacancy rate in southeastern Wisconsin, which averages between 7 and 9 percent. Several submarkets are significantly lower than the southeastern Wisconsin average: Racine, where the massive Foxconn project is underway, has a 3.8 percent vacancy rate; the large Waukesha submarket, which has nearly 83 million square feet of inventory, has a vacancy rate of 1.9 percent; and the Sheboygan submarket, which has about 27 million square feet of industrial space, has an astonishing 0.1 percent vacancy rate. These extraordinarily low vacancy rates suggest that demand for industrial space in southeastern Wisconsin remains very robust and that, particularly in certain submarkets, supply has not been able to keep up with demand. While lease rates have remained fairly steady throughout the last year, upward pressure on such rates continues to build. Nevertheless, there are some signs of the market taking a …
NEWTON, ILL. — St. Joseph Renewable Fuels LLC has unveiled plans to build a $400 million renewable diesel plant in Newton, located within Jasper County in southern Illinois. The 40-acre site is within a federally designated opportunity zone. The proposed plant will bring new sources of renewable fuels to metropolitan, rural and underserved communities. It will consume waste fats and greases from a region spanning 1,000 miles around Newton that would otherwise be landfilled or emptied into sewer drains. The plant will convert the waste into 90 million gallons of diesel and naphtha fuel annually as well as 7 million gallons of technical grade glycerin. Project financing comes from New York-based specialty finance firm Lance Capital and its New Zealand joint venture partner, Lance-Kamaka Capital Ltd. Plans call for the use of a new app called HealthCheckIn that will test the workforce for COVID-19. Other partners include Cyberus Labs and a joint venture between McDermott and Chevron Oil, which will be involved in the core technology of the renewable fuels produced. The project will create 100 permanent jobs in the Newton community, 200 construction jobs for the duration of the two-year project and 300 trucking jobs throughout the state of …
GERMANTOWN, WIS. — Zilber Property Group will develop a fourth industrial building within Germantown Gateway Corporate Park in Germantown, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee. The 146,000-square-foot speculative building will feature a clear height of 30 feet. It will be the third speculative building within Zilber’s park, which is anchored by a 706,000-square-foot build-to-suit for Briggs & Stratton Corp. Once Zilber Industrial 4 is completed, the park will span more than 1.2 million square feet.
WINFIELD, ILL. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $4 million sale of a 10,980-square-foot retail property net leased to CVS Pharmacy in Winfield, about 30 miles west of Chicago. The building is located on Geneva Road. Matt Emerick, Austin Weisenbeck and Sean Sharko of Marcus & Millichap marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a partnership. Dean Giannakopoulos and Frank Montalto of Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. arranged acquisition financing. The property sold at 92 percent of its list price.
GRAND RAPIDS AND KENTWOOD, MICH. — Two new Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen locations are slated to open in West Michigan this summer. A restaurant at 5448 Division Ave. SE in Kentwood is scheduled to open on June 29. The second restaurant, located at 2446 28th St. SE in Grand Rapids, is expected to open in early August. Franchisee Anthony Basile will operate both locations. Colliers West Michigan worked with Basile to secure the locations. Chris Prins of Colliers represented Popeyes. There are more than 2,700 Popeyes restaurants in the U.S. and around the world.
GURNEE, ILL. — Goldie’s Baking has signed a 15,122-square-foot industrial lease at 760 Lakeside Drive in Gurnee, about 40 miles north of Chicago. The property features a clear height of 22 feet, five shared docks and one drive-in door. Brian Bocci of Entre Commercial Realty represented the tenant, which is expanding and relocating from nearby McHenry. Eric Fischer and Mark Samuels of Cushman & Wakefield represented the undisclosed landlord. Goldie’s Baking is known for its scones.
INDIANAPOLIS — In its first-quarter results, Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG) has reported a net income of $437.6 million — compared with $548.5 million the same time period last year — resulting in a 20.2 percent decrease. As part of the Indianapolis-based mall owner’s response to COVID-19, Simon says it suspended or eliminated more than $1 billion of redevelopment and new development projects. It also significantly reduced non-essential corporate spending and property operating expenses and implemented a temporary furlough of certain employees. As of May 11, Simon has reopened 77 of its U.S. retail properties and 12 of its premium outlets in markets where local and state orders have been lifted. Roughly 50 percent of Simon’s malls and outlet centers will reopen within the next week, according to CNBC.
ANN ARBOR, DETROIT AND TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. — Knighthead Funding LLC has provided three separate loans totaling $37.3 million for three multifamily projects in Michigan. Knighthead provided a Michigan-based developer with a $17.7 million first mortgage loan to finance the completion of a four-story, 78-unit building in Traverse City. Located at 155 Garland St., the property will feature 162 parking spaces and 9,716 square feet of ground-level retail space. In the second financing, Knighthead provided Greatwater Opportunity Capital with a $10.8 million loan for the acquisition and renovation of two multifamily buildings in Midtown Detroit. The properties, totaling 118 units, are located within an opportunity zone in the Cass Corridor. Lastly, Knighthead provided an $8.8 million loan for the construction of a 19-unit condominium building in downtown Ann Arbor. Known as The Gallery, the property is 50 percent pre-sold. It will be situated in the Old West Side neighborhood and within walking distance of the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor Builders Inc. was the borrower.
