SALES

Equity Residential entered into a contract to acquire a 26.5% ownership interest in Archstone for $1.3B in cash. The ownership interests under contract represent one half of the collective interests currently owned by affiliates of Bank of America and Barclays Bank. Closing depends on the remaining significant Archstone owner, Lehman, not exercising its right of first offer to acquire this interest from the sellers at the same price. Lehman is rumored to be arranging financing to challenge Equity Residential's bid. If Lehman doesn’t exercise this right, Equity Residential would close late in Q1 2012. If the transaction closes, Equity Residential will hold a minority interest. The funds for the transaction would come from cash on hand and $1.25B from a revolving credit facility.

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Cushman & Wakefield sold the Carol Point Business Center, a three-building, 427k SF complex in Carol Stream. C&W’s James Carpenter and Kenneth Szady represented the seller, LaSalle Investment Management. AEW Capital Management purchased the property, which was 82% leased, for $22.3M. Major tenants: PartyLite, Spraying Systems, Defined Logistics, Tyco Fire Products, and GE Energy.

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HFF closed the sale of 77 W Huron, a 304-unit, 25-story multi-housing community with ground-floor retail space in River North. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Archstone. L&B Realty Advisors purchased the building for $90M. The property has one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, from 546 SF to 2,862 SF. HFF’s Matthew Lawton, Marty O’Connell, and Sean Fogarty repped Archstone.

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Lowe Enterprises Investors acquired the Embassy Suites ChicagoNorth Shore/Deerfield on behalf of a pension fund client. The 237-suite hotel at 1445 Lake Cook Rd was renovated in 2007, and LEI plans to complete $4M more in capital improvements. The property will be managed by LEI affiliate Destination Hotels & Resorts and will continue to operate as an Embassy Suites.

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Millennium Properties’ Daniel Hyman and Susan Silver repped the owner, a national lending association, in the sale of 1020 N Milwaukee Ave in Deerfield. The 58-unit, 65k SF office building sold for $3.5M and was the last of a seven-property portfolio. Daniel was appointed receiver of all seven properties in March 2009. Daniel and Susan also leased 33k SF in the building just after it sold.

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Bencor/Wehrli’s Bruce Walkowski sold the newly constructed 15k SF Walgreens drug store at 1303 Wehrli Rd in Naperville to Ana Crisan for $7.1M. Walgreens is on a 75-year triple-net lease, which it signed early this year. Marcus & Millichap’s Phil Sambazis repped the seller. Marcus & Millichap’s Kyle Stengle represented the buyer.

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Inland Real Estate Brokerage & Auctions’ Richard Kehoe and Robert Wall sold Rose Plaza East & West, two shopping centers totaling 26k SF, in Naperville. The buyer is a Chicago-based investment group that paid $5.1M. Tenants at the center include Starbucks, Kinko’s, and Pizza Hut.

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Inland Real Estate Brokerage & Auctions sold a former car dealership in Grayslake for $2.9M. The property was the original location of the Rockenbach Chevrolet dealership established in 1928. It was purchased by a private investor who plans to redevelop it. Inland’s Richard Kehoe and Susan Valle represented the seller.  The site includes three buildings totaling 28k SF.

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Marcus & Millichap’s Ryan Engle, Andrean Angelov, and Adam Fortino repped the seller, a private individual, in the sale of 1660 Green Bay Rd, a 20-unit apartment property in Highland Park. The asset sold for $2M. Ryan, Andrean, and Adam also repped the buyer, an LLC.

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Essex Realty Group’s Doug Imber and Kate Varde were the sole brokers in the sale of 6726 N Glenwood, a 37-unit corridor-style apartment building in Rogers Park for $1.6M.

AUCTIONS

Buchanan Energy retained NRC Realty & Capital Advisors to coordinate the sale of 38 ExxonMobil-branded gas stations in the Chicago area, as well as 23 BP-branded stations in the St. Louis area. All 61 stations are being sold with branded fuel supply. Bids for the St. Louis-area stores are due Feb. 16. Bids for the Chicago-area stores are due March 8. Potential buyers may bid on some or all of the stations.

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The Fox River Country Day School is set to be sold at sealed bid auction by Hilco Real Estate. Deadline for submitting bids on the 10-building, 87k SF campus is Jan. 20, 2012. One of the school’s structures is the 20k SF Neil Building, which housed the school’s assembly hall and kindergarten through 5th grade classrooms and was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé John Van Bergen. The school started in 1923 as a working farm to educate and assist Depression-era orphaned children, largely from the Chicago stockyards. In November, the school filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

How many data center lawyers do you know? Last week, we met one: Quarles & Brady’s Michael Rechtin devotes about 25% of his practice to helping data center landlords and tenants with their legal issues.  Because data centers are mission critical, real estate negotiations are often very different. For example, a landlord can’t evict a tenant for not paying rent, or a landlord may have to pay a tenant for a power surge as short as a fraction of a second. That’s because any interruption in data center service could cause errors for the user. Mike has worked through these mission critical service issues with his clients including a Fortune 35 retailer and a high tech GPS company. Hear Michael speak at Bisnow’s Data Center Boom event coming up Thursday. Register here!

LEASING 

Georgia Pacific signed a six-year lease for 697k SF at 702 Commerce Center Dr in University Park. Colliers’ Lynn Reich repped Georgia Pacific. Lee & Associates’ Brian Vanosky and Jeff Janda repped owner USAA Real Estate Co.

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Cole Taylor Bank has signed a long-term extension of its 115k SF lease at the Pointe O’Hare office complex in Rosemont. JLL’s Jeff Liljeberg and Eric Kunkel repped the tenant while NAI Hiffman’s Jason Streepy and Linda Garske represented Pointe O’Hare.

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Tucker Development Corp opened a new 30k SF Ross Dress for Less store at Pointe Plaza in Niles. Tucker also signed two new leases in the plaza: 1,500 SF for Batteries Plus, which was represented by Baum Realty, and 2,808 SF for Naf Naf Grill, which was repped by Suburban Real Estate Services. Pointe Plaza still has four storefronts available.

CONSTRUCTION

Summit Design + Build was selected as GC for the renovation of the old Esquire Theater at 58 E Oak Street in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. The 33k SF building will undergo an extensive structural remodel and core & shell build-out, changing the building’s use from a movie theater to a high-end retail center. Summit Design + Build’s Mark Heffron, Bryana Yergler, and Bill Schrimpl will be responsible for the on-site construction. Booth Hansen is the architect and completion is scheduled for Q2.

EXECUTIVE MOVE

Jeremy Oremland joined Magellan Development Group as a financial analyst. He'll be responsible for evaluating residential, retail, and mixed-use development opportunities nationwide. Prior to joining Magellan, Jeremy was senior analyst at the Community Development Trust, a private New York City-based REIT. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester and a master’s degree from Columbia University.

AWARD