WAUKEGAN, ILL. — PREMIER Design + Build Group has completed the redevelopment of an aging, 225-acre business park in the Chicago suburb of Waukegan into a modern campus for high-tech manufacturing, logistics and life sciences users. PREMIER’s work to reinvent the former McGraw Park Campus began 10 years ago. The original development was named for Foster McGraw, who founded the American Hospital Supply Corp. (AHSC). The company occupied the campus before being acquired by Baxter Travenol Laboratories in 1985. The property is located on Waukegan Road near I-94. PREMIER completed the redevelopment project in three phases, ultimately demolishing 1.2 million square feet of obsolete space. The last remaining building on the campus was a 1970s-era concrete warehouse. PREMIER tore down the building and replaced it with a state-of-the-art distribution facility for The Visual Pak Cos., a contract packaging company. The new building features a cross-dock configuration with more than 50 loading docks. Overall, the new business park totals 11 buildings and 3.4 million square feet of Class A space. Tenants include Medline, Amazon, Jelly Belly and Peloton. Throughout the project, PREMIER worked with Cornerstone Architects Ltd., Swift Structural Design, LJB Inc. and Manhard Consulting Ltd.
Property Type
CHICAGO — Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has arranged the sale of Lawndale Plaza, a 104,240-square-foot shopping center in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood. Anchored by Freshway Market, the property is home to Citi Trends, Taco Bell, PNC, Rainbow, Cosmo Superstore and O’Reilly Auto Parts. Rick Drogosz and Emily Gadomski of Mid-America represented the seller, Mercer Street Holdings Three. Acre Investment Co. LLC was the buyer.
AUBURN HILLS, MICH. — Colliers has brokered the sale of a 66,000-square-foot industrial building located at 1227 Centre Road in Auburn Hills. The sales price was undisclosed. Joseph Gatliff of Colliers represented the private buyer and structured a short-term leaseback with the seller, a global supplier in the thermal solutions and fluid systems industry. The new owner is working with prospective tenants with the goal of finding a long-term user.
INDIANAPOLIS — Time Equities Inc. (TEI) has acquired a 55,000-square-foot warehouse in Indianapolis for $3.3 million. Located at 1840 Midwest Blvd., the property was developed in phases from 1995 until 2004. The building, which features a clear height of 30 feet, three loading docks and 21 drive-in doors, is situated about 11 miles from the Indianapolis International Airport and five miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Anchored by R&R Plumbing, an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway, the property is 94 percent leased. Max Pastor and Brian Soto led the transaction on behalf of TEI. Brian Dell of Colliers represented the undisclosed seller, while Tony Hupp and Ryan Kelly of Colliers represented TEI. Hupp and Kelly will also handle leasing of the property on behalf of TEI.
NEW YORK CITY — JLL has arranged a $70.6 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of a 108-unit apartment building located at 200 E. 23rd St. in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood. Known as Gemma Gramercy, the newly constructed building rises 20 stories and was 80 percent occupied at the time of the loan closing. Residences come in studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Amenities include a fitness center, rooftop terrace, coworking space, lounge and entertainment room, media room and package handling services. Evan Pariser, Michael Shmuely, Michael Zaremski and John Flynn of JLL originated the 10-year, fixed-rate loan on behalf of the borrower and developer, SMA Equities.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based brokerage firm Ariel Property Advisors has arranged the $26 million sale of a 237-unit multifamily property in The Bronx. The 17-story building sits on a five-acre site at 1500 Noble Ave., in between the West Farms and Parkchester neighborhoods. The unit mix consists of 50 one-bedrooms, 136 two-bedrooms and 51 three-bedrooms. Victor Sozio, Shimon Shkury, Jason Gold, Daniel Mahfar and Gabriel Elyaszadeh of Ariel represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The buyer was also not disclosed.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Entertainment concept Level99 has opened a new, 40,000-square-foot venue at Providence Place, a shopping mall located just northwest of the capital city’s downtown area. Comprising 43 rooms, the facility offers interactive challenges as well as a restaurant, Night Shift Brewing Kitchen & Tap. Investment fund Act III Holdings, led by Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich, backs Level99. Brookfield Properties owns Providence Place.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A partnership between locally based developer Fields Grade and New York City-based Alpine Residential has begun leasing Starling, a 39-unit apartment building in Jersey City’s Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood. Designed by GRT Architects, Starling offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units and amenities such as a rooftop lounge, fitness center, coworking space, golf simulator and a package room, as well as ground-floor restaurant space. Rents start at $2,690 per month for a studio apartment.
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. — Crate & Barrel Outlet will open a 23,400-square-foot store in Lawrenceville, a northern suburb of Trenton. The space is located within Mercer on One, a 551,000-square-foot shopping center that was originally built in 1975. Alana Friedman and David Townes of JLL represented Crate & Barrel Outlet in the lease negotiations. Jeff Fischer represented the landlord, Federal Realty Investment Trust, on an internal basis.
Essex Capital, Ascend Property Group Break Ground on Front Row Mixed-Use Development in Huntsville, Alabama
by Jeff Shaw
HUNTSVILLE, ALA. — A joint venture between Essex Capital and Ascend Property Group has broken ground on Front Row, an 11-acre mixed-use project in downtown Huntsville. The $220 million first phase of Front Row is now underway, following news last week that Banco Inbursa and a group led by Keel Point and Opportunity Alabama provided $115 million in construction financing. The first retail space is slated for delivery in late 2025, followed by apartments and office space in early 2026. Upon full build-out, the first phase of Front Row will comprise two six-story buildings featuring 545 apartments, 36,000 square feet of office space and 47,000 square feet of retail space. Further plans for the project — including a hotel, a class A office tower and luxury condos — will be disclosed at a later date, according to the developers. The development will be situated across from the Von Braun Center, a 170,000-square-foot entertainment center that opened its doors in 1975. The developers state that Front Row is intended to interlink the Von Braun Center with other key areas of the city, such as Big Spring Park, Fountain Circle, University of Alabama Huntsville and Downtown Greenway. The project’s team also includes …