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Barack Obama Presidential Center Set to Be Built on South Side of Chicago

Danielle Everson — Tue, 12 May 2015 16:06:24 +0000

CHICAGO — The Barack Obama Foundation plans to locate the future Barack Obama Presidential Center, which will include a museum, library, as well as office space for Foundation activities and events, in the South Side of Chicago. The site was selected over bids made by Columbia University in New York, the University of Hawaii and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The library is expected create hundreds of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars a year in economic activity, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. A date for the development has not been announced. As a future neighbor and collaborator on the Center, the University of Chicago has pledged to make resources and infrastructure available to the Foundation in the near term for its planning and development work. The Foundation also intends to maintain a presence at Columbia University for the purpose of exploring and developing opportunities for a long-term association, and to work with the state of Hawaii to establish a lasting presence in Honolulu. Within Chicago, the Obama Foundation will additionally explore possible collaboration with the University of Illinois–Chicago.

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Darwin Arranges Sale of 36,371 SF Industrial Facility in St. Charles, Ill.

Danielle Everson — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:38:30 +0000

ST. CHARLES, ILL. — Darwin Realty & Development Corp. has arranged the sale of a 36,371-square-foot industrial facility in St. Charles. A Midwest-based food manufacturing and distribution company purchased the property, which is located on more than two acres at 2531 Dukane Drive. The property, which was built in 1980 and expanded in 2001, features an 18-foot, 6-inch clear ceiling height and three interior docks with one grade-level door. Geoff Kasselman of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the seller, an East Coast-based printing services company.

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Holland Completes Construction on O’Fallon Fire House in Illinois

Danielle Everson — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:36:41 +0000

O’FALLON, ILL. – Holland Construction Services Inc. has completed construction on the new O’Fallon Fire/EMS headquarters, and parks and recreation maintenance facility. Holland served as construction manager on the $5.8 million project. The 16,400-square-foot, five-bay firehouse features workstations, sleeping quarters, a weight room and a training/conference center. The 7,500-square-foot parks and recreation maintenance building includes four apparatus bays and multi-purpose administration space.

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McGrath Completes Construction on $8.5M Ameren Missouri Switching Station in St. Louis

Danielle Everson — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 14:56:34 +0000

ST. LOUIS — McGrath & Associates has completed construction work on Ameren Missouri’s $8.5 million switching station located at 1901 Martin Luther King Drive in downtown St. Louis. The entire switching project, estimated at $42.5 million, is part of a larger Ameren Missouri investment to upgrade electric service in downtown St. Louis over the coming decades. McGrath constructed 70 structural piers with eleven concrete pad foundations, a perimeter fence and a new city sidewalk. McGrath also provided site work on the project, removing abandoned sewer pipes and cisterns, including remedial soil excavating.

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Booming Activity Spurs Growth in Corpus Christi

admin — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The Corpus Christi regional economy has been pushed into overdrive with the South Texas oil boom, which is resulting mainly from the Eagle Ford Shale play. The main area of Eagle Ford is located about 90 miles to the north, but the impact to the Corpus Christi economy is tremendous. The Port of Corpus Christi is at the center of this growth, with billions of dollars foreign and domestic being spent on projects throughout the Port and the area. China-based Tianjin Pipe Corporation (TPCO) is under construction on their $1.3 billion plan that will manufacture oil and gas pipes. Switzerland-based Trafigura AG is spending around $500 million to build crude oil and natural gas storage docks, and Cheniere Energy is planning a $10 billion plant that liquefies natural gas to sell it abroad. All of the above and several other projects are bringing workers and money into our economy. The refineries (Valero, Citgo, Lyondell and more) are operating at capacity with continual upgrade projects on their board. Of course, with the industrial growth, you can expect retail growth, and 2013 was indeed been a strong year for Corpus Christi. To list just a few of the national and regional tenants…

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Federal Leasing Has to Navigate Recent Government Gridlock

admin — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The government shutdown impacted local economies and real estate dynamics in many U.S. markets, but none moreso than the Washington, D.C., region. With anywhere from a quarter to over a third of metro D.C.’s privately owned office leasing tied to the federal government, the inability of the federal government to engage in long-term real estate planning has serious implications for the office sector. Non-federal tenants in the region are impacted as well in that a significant portion of the region’s occupiers are reliant, at least in part, on government contracts and spending. In fiscal 2012 alone, more than $72.6 billion of federal contracting dollars were procured in Washington, D.C., and its suburbs. Possible repercussions in the contracting arena from the shutdown and continued budgetary uncertainty from the federal sector could include contract cancellations, delays in payments and scope reductions. With ongoing questions about government funding and spending, these companies, like the government itself, cannot plan for the future and make decisions in areas that affect their businesses such as staffing, office and facility needs and support infrastructure. The inevitable uncertainty due to the current stop-gap fiscal environment creates questions about where funding for fit out, technology and equipment will come…

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Federal Leasing Has to Navigate Recent Government Gridlock

admin — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

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Downtown Des Moines Undergoes a Gradual Metamorphosis

admin — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Things are happening downtown. A number of public and private initiatives are transforming downtown Des Moines from a place to work to a place where you can truly live, work and play. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield recently moved into its new 600,000-square-foot LEED Platinum-certified office building fronting the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, and Principal Financial announced a $250 million renovation of its existing downtown campus. In addition, EMC Insurance Cos. recently added to its downtown footprint by purchasing the Hub Tower and Kaleidoscope at the Hub, the centerpiece of the new Walnut Street transformation. Finally, Nationwide Insurance is firmly entrenched in its 1 million-square-foot campus building. New Home For YMCA Adding to the momentum is a three-way sale and trade fueled by a public/private partnership spearheaded by Des Moines real estate leader William C. Knapp, chairman emeritus of Knapp Properties. Included is an approximate $30 million project for a downtown Wellmark YMCA to be located in the former Polk County Convention Complex. According to The Des Moines Register, construction is expected to begin by year’s end on the YMCA’s new downtown home, which will include expanded recreational offices and a 50-meter, Olympic-sized swimming pool. YMCA supporters…

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Recovering Seattle Market Generates Property Tax Fallout

admin — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Each week seems to bring news of yet another record-selling price for a commercial property in Seattle, including assets ranging from office and retail to apartments and even development sites. Increasing occupancy rates for industrial and retail properties also suggest that property values are headed up. The King County assessor has undoubtedly tracked these price trends, too. In 2012, the assessor’s office reported overall increases in taxable values for major office buildings, major retail properties, hotels and apartments. As a result, many commercial property owners in the Puget Sound region saw increases on their 2012 assessed value notices. In March, King County’s chief economist projected that total assessed values in the county would reach nearly $327 billion in 2013 (for taxes payable in 2014), up nearly 4 percent from $315 billion in 2012. For many taxpayers, notices in 2013 will reflect assessment increases even greater than 4 percent. The general recovery in the Seattle market should not trigger increased assessments for all properties. For example, some suburban areas have missed out on the trend toward increasing property values. And there are always individual properties that do not experience the same increases as their neighbors. Accordingly, owners should be attentive to…

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Cedar Rapids is Turning Adversity into Game-Changing Opportunity

admin — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In June 2008, Cedar Rapids experienced what at the time was the fifth worst disaster in U.S. history. A historic flood covered 10 square miles in the four core neighborhoods and the entire downtown, damaging more than 5,000 homes, over 1,000 businesses, and numerous public, cultural and religious facilities. Since that time, 1,088 residences have been demolished and 2,356 residential properties repaired or rehabilitated. Some 82 percent of the damaged businesses have reopened compared to a national average of 55 percent in previous major disasters. The scope of the recovery in just five years is remarkable. The numbers speak for themselves: • 1,311 new housing units completed since 2008; • 118 new multifamily units recently funded by state recovery grants; • 16 major city of Cedar Rapids facilities built or under construction with all to be finished by 2014; • building permits in 2012 totaled 11,000 with 1,300 commercial and 9,700 residential, which set a record of more than $400 million (63 percent from the private sector); • population growth of 4.6 percent in the last decade despite the June 2008 flood; • unemployment rate currently at 4.9 percent; • AAA bond rating by Moody’s for 41 consecutive years. The…

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Expect Distressed Sales to Slow in Twin Cities as Banks Recover

admin — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The recession negatively affected local, regional and national banks in Minneapolis/St. Paul and all commercial real estate product types. A wide range of real estate owned (REO) assets have sold in recent years, including single- and multi-tenant office buildings, industrial buildings, convenience stores, office condos, residential condos in bulk blocks, raw land, a campground, a historic warehouse, hotels — just about everything. The biggest sector of bank REO property has been land, particularly residential development land. Nevertheless, the start of the housing recovery has seen a reduction in the inventory of individual residential lots coupled with increased interest in some of our larger residential development sites from national homebuilders. While most of the insurance companies exited the Minneapolis commercial real estate market years ago, one of the national insurance companies did repossess a large Class A office property last year and sold it to a local investment group for a dollar more than the loan, which was $110 million. Zeller Realty Corp. of Chicago and Atlanta-based Invesco acquired the Fifth Street Towers from MetLife in April 2012. The buildings (two towers) were built in 1987 and 1988, and consist of roughly 1 million square feet. The group that lost the…

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Economic Conditions Support Growth Along Texas-Mexico Border in Laredo

admin — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For the past several years, the City of Laredo has focused on creating a safe environment that promotes both a high quality of life for its citizens and a business-friendly atmosphere where various industries can prosper. Although some have expressed concerns about the situation on the Mexican side of the border, the U.S. side is safer than many mid-to-large cities and our economy is booming. With our prime location on the U.S./Mexico border, access to Interstate 35, and both Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern rail lines, international trade is the city’s major industry, as reflected in our status as the nation’s No. 1 inland port on the U.S.-Mexico border. Laredo will be the first city in the nation to house Mexican Customs officials pre-clearing air cargo charters leaving Laredo. This allows the cargo to land in Mexico as “domestic cargo” which can then be sent immediately to the manufacturing facility. Additionally, with the recent discovery of the Eagle Ford Shale, a new industry is developing that will fuel Laredo’s, and the state’s, economy for years to come. Geography has certainly played well into the growth and development of the community, with more than $216 billion in annual trade passing…

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