Midwest

BELLEVUE AND LINCOLN, NEB. — Northmarq has arranged the sale of two multifamily properties in Nebraska totaling 566 units. The sales price was undisclosed. The portfolio includes The Vue in Bellevue and Lakeview Park in Lincoln. Parker Stewart, Anthony Martinez, Dominic Martinez and Alex Malzone of Northmarq represented the seller, a joint venture between Vantage Capital Advisors and Cherry Tree Capital Partners. The buyer was a private Canadian investment firm. Built in 2000, The Vue features 330 units. Lakeview Park is a garden-style community built in 1995 that includes 236 units. Both properties feature recently renovated clubhouses along with pools, fitness centers and package lockers.

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LAKE FOREST, ILL. — The Popcorn Factory has signed industrial lease renewals totaling 149,000 square feet in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest. The transactions span two properties — 28160 N. Keith Drive and 13970 W. Laurel Drive — where the tenant’s manufacturing operations have been based for more than 25 years. Corey Chase of Newmark represented Popcorn Factory, which first moved into the 70,000-square-foot facility at Laurel before expanding to the adjacent 78,000-square-foot property at Keith. As part of the expansion, a tunnel connecting the two contiguous properties was built. Today, the facilities require substantial renovations. Seeking to motivate the tenant to stay in place, ownership agreed to implement a seven-figure capital improvement and modernization to meet the requirements. The scope of work includes enhancements to the power system, modernization of dock doors, improvements to the parking lot and a modernized lunchroom.

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INDIANAPOLIS AND HUNTINGTON, IND. — GMF Group has acquired three manufactured housing communities in Indiana for an undisclosed price. The purchases include Brookfield Estates in Indianapolis, East Indy Estates in Indianapolis and Huntington Estates in Huntington. The communities feature a combined 301 lots and offer a range of amenities. Palm Beach, Fla.-based GMF’s portfolio includes approximately 4,300 lots and units across Florida, North Carolina and Indiana.

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KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Block & Co. Inc. Realtors has negotiated the sale and new lease of the Village West Discount Liquors store in Kansas City. Village West Discount Liquors sold the property at 11010 Parallel Parkway and leased 8,029 square feet to new ownership. Grant Summers of Block & Co. represented the buyer, 110th and Parallel, KC Development LLC. Summers also negotiated the lease of the space to South Hills LLC, which is the new acting operator for Village West Discount Liquors. Daniel Brocato of Block & Co. represented the tenant in the lease.

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Developers identify industrial hot spots as areas with low vacancy rates that justify speculative construction. These centrally located sites offer convenient highway access and proximity to a wide labor pool.  In the Midwest, examples of industrial development hot spots where demand has remained strong include Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus and Louisville, according to Steve Schnur, chief operating officer with Chicago-based CRG. He cites these markets because of their affordability, business-friendly environment and robust logistics infrastructure. These areas tend to keep a healthy supply-demand balance, he adds. Luckily for those whose livelihood is tied to the industrial property type, 2025 is expected to bring a return to pre-pandemic demand drivers, according to CBRE’s “U.S. Real Estate Market Outlook 2025.” The brokerage firm states that industrial occupiers will focus on longer-term strategies to improve warehouse efficiency, ensure supply chain resiliency and meet the needs of an evolving consumer base.  At the beginning of this year, CRG inked a lease with States Manufacturing for 503,440 square feet at The Cubes at French Lake in metro Minneapolis. The 1 million-square-foot facility, completed in 2024, marked the largest speculative industrial project ever developed in the state, according to the developer.  On the other end of the …

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INDIANAPOLIS — Bradford Allen has negotiated a lease for TWG Motorsports, parent company of Andretti Global, at the former IndyStar Pulliam Production Center located at 8278 Georgetown Road in Indianapolis. The firm is redeveloping the 245,783-square-foot space to serve as the headquarters of Andretti Global’s INDYCAR, INDY NXT and Formula E teams. The renovated facility will have both office and industrial space and accommodate approximately 300 employees. Construction has begun and will be coordinated concurrently with the removal of several three-story printing presses from the building. The project is expected to be completed by this summer. The facility marks Bradford Allen’s second project for TWG Motorsports, the first being a nearly 400,000-square-foot motorsports facility under construction in Fishers, Ind. Built in 1995, 8278 Georgetown Road served as a production facility for the Indianapolis Star until 2024. Bradford Allen will modernize the building’s technology, introduce tailored workspaces and fabrication zones, and incorporate employee amenities such as a fitness center, dining space and pit-stop performance area. Additional project partners include ABEL Construction Co. and Merriman Schmitt Architects. Both firms have experience with motorsports facilities.

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BLOOMINGTON, MINN. — Transwestern Real Estate Services has arranged the sale of the Bethany Global University campus in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. Substance Church purchased the 32.7-acre campus, which features 341,036 square feet across 16 buildings, for an undisclosed price. Owner-user Substance Church is a mission-driven organization that intends to use the property for purposes similar to Bethany Global University. The land is zoned for institutional and religious purposes, and Substance Church plans to repurpose many of the existing apartment, dormitory, educational and support services buildings. The property, which had been under Bethany’s ownership since the 1940s, was made available for sale as part of a strategic restructuring initiative. The university recently shifted from an in-person learning environment to an online platform. Mike Salmen and Erik Coglianese of Transwestern represented Bethany Fellowship.

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CHICAGO — Lessen, a tech-enabled solution for outsourced real estate property services, has opened its new 76,932-square-foot office at 203 North LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago. The 17-story building is situated in the city’s Central Loop tech district adjacent to Google’s forthcoming Chicago office in the Thompson Center. Lessen first entered the Chicago market in 2023 after its acquisition of technology company SMS Assist for $950 million, the largest proptech merger in U.S. history, according to the company. Lessen partners with residential and commercial owners and occupiers who collectively manage over 1 million locations.

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FRANKLIN PARK, ILL. — General contractor F.H. Paschen has broken ground on an 80-unit seniors housing community in the western Chicago suburb of Franklin Park, which is part of Leyden Township. Evergreen Real Estate Group is the developer for the project, which is named Leyden Senior Apartments. The four-story residential building will also feature the new Carl Fiorito Senior Center, a one-story community center that will complement the apartments. Designed by Weese Langley Klein Architects and scheduled to open in summer 2026, the development is a collaborative effort between Leyden Township, Evergreen, owner Leyden Apartments LP and F.H. Paschen. Evergreen will also serve as property manager. The project site is 2.8 acres of vacant land located at the intersection of Mannheim Road and Nevada Avenue. The development is financed through multiple sources, including the Illinois Housing Development Authority, Bank of America, Hudson Housing, Leyden Township and the Cook County Department of Planning and Development. Mesirow Financial participated in the underwriting syndicate for the IHDA financing and served as the lead underwriter for Leyden Township’s General Obligation bond offering.

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BLUE SPRINGS, MO. — Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors has brokered the sales of two adjacent retail buildings in the Kansas City suburb of Blue Springs. The sales price was undisclosed, but the combined transaction size exceeded $5 million with a blended cap rate in the low 6 percent range. The single-tenant, net-leased properties are occupied by Heartland Dental (4,200 square feet) and Starbucks (2,312 square feet). Both were constructed in 2024. Jeff Lefko and Bill Asher of Hanley, in association with Jay Ferguson of Ferguson Properties Inc., represented the seller and developer of both buildings, Ferguson Properties and Foresight Real Estate. Peter Winterling of Kidder Mathews represented the buyer of the Heartland Dental-occupied property, a private 1031 exchange investor from California’s Central Valley. John Martin of Lee & Associates represented the buyer of the Starbucks-occupied asset, a private 1031 exchange investor from Southern California.  

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