CHICAGO — Skender has completed interior construction of the 55,000-square-foot headquarters for the American Library Association in Chicago. Located on a single floor at 225 N. Michigan Ave., the office features a mix of private and open workspaces, meeting and focus spaces, podcasting and video conferencing rooms and a library. Skender collaborated with architect Nelson Worldwide, engineer Environmental Systems Design and owner’s representative Cushman & Wakefield.
MASON, OHIO — Deerfield Towne Center, a shopping center in Mason near Cincinnati, is set to welcome three new tenants. COhatch is a coworking, meeting and social space with locations in Ohio and Indiana. AKT is a fitness studio that combines interval, strength and conditioning training with dance. Condado Tacos is a Mexican restaurant with a build-your-own taco concept and an extensive selection of tequilas and margaritas. The Columbus-based restaurant has expanded throughout the Midwest and Pennsylvania. Other recent tenant openings at Deerfield Towne Center include StretchLab, a wellness concept offering customized stretch sessions, and Japanese restaurant Genki Ramen. Built in 2004, Deerfield Towne Center is home to Whole Foods Market, Ashley Furniture, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond and Crunch Fitness.
DELAFIELD, WIS. — Prescient Capital Management, a boutique private equity firm, has moved its office to a new location in Delafield, about 27 miles west of Milwaukee. The street-level, 3,000-square-foot space better accommodates a growing team, according to Prescient. The office is located at 524 Milwaukee St. Prescient, which specializes in bridge loans ranging from $2 million to $15 million, formerly occupied space at 440 Wells St. in Delafield.
CHICAGO — A joint venture between SHVO and Deutsche Finance Bank has acquired the CNA Center, more commonly known as “Big Red” due to the bold color of the 45-story office tower, for $376 million. The 1.2 million-square-foot property is situated at 333 S. Wabash Ave. in Chicago’s East Loop district. At the time of sale, the property was leased to CNA Insurance, financial services company Northern Trust and the Chicago Housing Authority. Graham, Anderson, Probst & White originally designed the tower in 1973, and it underwent renovations in 2019. Amenities include a new food hall open to the public, a fitness center and childcare facilities. “Big Red is among the most recognizable towers in the Windy City’s skyline — the birthplace of the skyscraper and home to so much rich architectural history,” says Michael Shvo, chairman and CEO of SHVO. “We’re proud to now be a part of that Chicago tradition with this addition to our national portfolio of super-prime core properties. We look forward to not just maintaining Big Red’s stature but elevating it in the years to come.” The joint venture entered into a contract agreement with the sellers, Morgan Stanley and The Morgon Cos., in the …
By Garrett Keais In my 25 years in commercial real estate, I’ve never seen the economy — and our industry — come to a standstill the way it did this spring after the coronavirus hit. With so much uncertainty in the market, Detroit’s office sales and leasing activity slowed considerably. But as the last decade has shown us, if ever there was a city that could take a punch and get back up swinging, it’s Detroit. Comeback before the virus Fueled by a strong economy and low unemployment, America’s “Comeback City” was posting first-quarter 2020 office vacancy rates as low as 7 percent in one central submarket, according to Cushman & Wakefield research, and seeing rising property values and rents before the coronavirus hit. It was a striking change from a decade earlier, when the Detroit area was struggling after the Great Recession. Unemployment was 3.7 percent in February 2020, compared with 17.2 percent in June 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The city’s GDP had climbed steadily over those years. Tech giants like Quicken, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and Amazon moved to the city’s central business district, boosting downtown office occupancy and helping to diversify the local …
INDIANAPOLIS — During its second-quarter earnings call on Monday, Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG) said it is “capitalizing on various value-creating opportunities.” Sparc Group, a joint venture between Simon and Authentic Brands Group, made bids to acquire bankrupt retailers Brooks Brothers and Lucky Brand. Brooks Brothers has selected Sparc as the winning bidder with a $325 million offer. Since Sparc is buying the brands out of bankruptcy, it is acquiring the inventory at or below cost, according to David Simon, CEO and president. In its second quarter that ended June 30, the Indianapolis-based mall giant reported that net income fell to $254.2 million compared with $495.3 million in 2019. As of June 30, occupancy at Simon’s U.S. malls and outlet centers was 92.9 percent. Base minimum rent per square foot was $56.02, an increase of 2.8 percent year over year. Due to COVID-19, Simon closed all of its properties on March 18 and began reopening them on May 1. As of Aug. 7, some 91 percent of the tenants across Simon’s portfolio were open and operating. Simon collected approximately 51 percent of its contractual rent billed for April and May combined, 69 percent for June and 73 percent for July. …
BERKELEY, MO. — Provender Partners has sold a 232,556-square-foot distribution center leased to Dollar General in Berkeley near St. Louis. Provender also sold a separate Dollar General-occupied distribution center in San Antonio along with the Berkeley facility for a total of nearly $64 million. Provender acquired both facilities in 2019 and invested more than $6 million in improvements and renovations before securing 10-year leases with Dollar General for both properties. With freezer, cooler and dry storage space, the properties are part of Dollar General’s new DG Fresh initiative to bring logistics capabilities in-house. Guy Ponticello and Robert Gibson of CBRE and Scott Delphey of Food Properties Group represented Provender in the sale. The buyer was undisclosed.
SHAKOPEE, MINN. — The Opus Group has broken ground on a 131,000-square-foot industrial build-to-suit for Cherne Industries in Shakopee, a southwestern suburb of the Twin Cities. Cherne, which produces pneumatic plugs, mechanical plugs, gauges and testing equipment, will use the building as its new headquarters and manufacturing facility. The project will feature a clear height of 32 feet, eight dock doors, three drive-in doors and 177 car parking stalls. The company’s 115-person workforce will have access to amenities such as a fitness center, locker room and prayer room. Opus is the developer, design-builder, interior designer, architect and engineer. Cabot Properties will own the building. Colliers International represented Opus, while AREA Commercial Real Estate Advisors represented Cherne. CBRE facilitated financing for the project. Completion is slated for early 2021.
BLOOMINGTON, MINN. — Avtex, a full-service customer experience consulting firm, has renewed its 26,000-square-foot office lease at Northland Center in Bloomington within metro Minneapolis. Northland Center is a two-building, 492,514-square-foot office property. Amenities include a fitness center, hair salon, farmer’s market, café, outdoor lounge area, laundry service, covered parking, bike storage and conference rooms. Bill Rothstein of Cushman & Wakefield provides leasing services for the property. KBS is the landlord. “There has been a lot of discussion as to whether or not companies will continue to lease space as a result of COVID-19 and the shift to remote working models,” says Rod Richerson, regional president with KBS. “This is not something we are seeing across our portfolio. In fact, we are continuing to see companies renew and sign new leases at several of our assets across our portfolio of more than 23 million square feet.”
MINNEAPOLIS — Stahl will build a four-story, 20,000-square-foot expansion to the Center for Performing Arts in South Minneapolis. Two additional performance spaces will be connected to an existing 15,000-square-foot building that was constructed in 1923. The expansion will provide studio space for expanded education programming, events and performance rental space. Construction is expected to begin this month and the completion is slated for early 2021. Stahl is working with Alliiance, a full-service architecture and design firm based in Minneapolis.
