This Week's Chicago Deal Sheet

Industrial tenants set a new Chicagoland record for quarterly leasing volume in Q2 2021, signing 173 new leases and lease expansions larger than 10K SF for a total of 15.4M SF, according to Colliers International.

“This activity follows on the heels of two quarters where the new leasing volume fell into the top six greatest quarterly totals," Colliers stated in its latest report. “Not only have established users been expanding, Chicago’s robust and diverse industrial market has been attracting new companies as well.”

Leases greater than 500K SF played a significant role. Deals that large were relatively rare prior to 2019, but 16 were signed in 2020 and 10 have already been signed during the first half of 2021, Colliers found.

“As a result, net absorption — an indicator used to measure demand — has been impressive,” Colliers stated. “Through the first two quarters of 2021, net absorption totaled 14.7M SF, eclipsing the 14.2M SF recorded during all four quarters of 2020, and is on pace to set an annual record.”

The vacancy rate dropped 39 basis points to 6.29% between April and June, the lowest since Q1 2020. Eight of the region’s 22 submarkets had vacancy rates at or near all-time lows.

Developers have more than 30M SF under construction, another market record, including nine buildings greater than 1M SF. Build-to-suit projects account for 59% of the space underway.

EXECS

CRG, the real estate development and investment arm of Chicago-based Clayco, hired Alison Mills as vice president of design and development. Mills will oversee the firm’s design and entitlement strategies and overall development activities for CRG’s residential business. Mills joins CRG from CA Ventures where she was senior director of development in the firm’s multifamily practice and managed a $1.2B pipeline of more than 2,500 new units. Prior to that, she was an architect with Kohn Pedersen Fox in New York City.

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Alvarez & Marsal Property Solutions, a commercial real estate advisory firm recently launched by Alvarez & Marsal, named Peter Kontos and Kevin Halm as Chicago-based directors of the firm’s project management and property management service lines. AMPS is an affiliate of Alvarez Marsal Property Investments, a firm founded in 2013 by Victor Alvarez, Michael Marsal and Grant Schoenthaler. Kontos comes to AMPS from AMPI, which he joined in 2019 to oversee project management and design services across the firm’s portfolio of office and mixed-use assets. Halm directed property management at AMPI from 2016 to 2021 and will now lead AMPS’ property management services.

SALES

Conor Commercial Real Estate sold North Avenue Commerce Center, a recently developed 265K SF industrial building in west suburban Winfield. At the time of sale, the development was 82% leased by two tenants. The design-build team of McShane Construction Co. and Ware Malcomb provided construction and design services for the development. Cushman & Wakefield represented Conor in the sale.

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An investor in a 1031 exchange bought for $6.2M a net leased PNC Bank at 3556 North Ashland Ave. in Chicago. The 2K SF bank is at the intersection of North Ashland Avenue and West Addison Street on the west side of Wrigleyville about a mile from Wrigley Field. Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman of The Boulder Group represented both parties in the transaction.

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Chicago-based JLL Income Property Trust acquired an approximately 47% interest in a single-family rental portfolio with more than 4,000 homes. The 47% share was acquired for about $560M based on an overall portfolio valuation of $1.2B. The homes are in 10 states and 14 markets, including Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix and Nashville. 

LEASES

Seefried Industrial Properties and Nuveen Real Estate leased up Chancellory Lakes Distribution Center, a new, two-building, 162K SF industrial development at 202 and 222 East Devon Ave. in Elk Grove Village. CSafe Global and Panos Foods signed for 23K SF and 56K SF, respectively, at 202 East Devon Ave., while JAS Forwarding USA took the entire 83K SF building at 222 East Devon Ave. Colliers International Chicago’s Jonathan Kohn and Ron Behm handled the transactions for ownership. Seefried acquired the 8.82-acre land site in May 2020 and completed the speculative development in March 2021. 

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Trestle Fulfillment expanded into more than 78K SF of industrial space at Prologis’ Bloomingdale Business Center, more than doubling its footprint. Cawley Chicago’s Andrew Maletich represented Trestle, while Al Caruana, Britt Casey and Jeff Matella of Cushman & Wakefield represented Prologis.

FINANCING

Associated Bank completed a $43.8M financing package for developer CEDARst for the historic redevelopment of the Bridgeview Bank building at 4753 North Broadway St. in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. The bank will act as lead arranger for a $35.4M construction loan as well as a federal historic tax credit bridge loan of $3.4M. Associated Community Development LLC will provide $5M in federal historic tax credit equity. The 12-story, mixed-use retail and office building was built in the 1920s, and the city granted the property landmark status in 2008. CEDARst will create 176 apartments and 41K SF of office space, as well as a fitness center, roof deck and resident lounge.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Ryan Cos. topped off Clarendale Six Corners, a 10-story, 258-unit senior living community at the intersection of Irving Park Road, Cicero Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue on Chicago’s Northwest Side. The developer broke ground on the $117M community in January and expects to complete it by fall 2022. Ryan is the project’s developer, architect of record, builder and capital markets partner. The project is a joint venture partnership between Ryan, LCS and Harrison Street, with LCS handling day-to-day operations and Ryan providing asset management services.

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CRG, the real estate development and investment arm of Chicago-based Clayco, broke ground on The Cubes at Country Club Hills, a 1M SF speculative industrial facility at the intersection of Interstate 57 and I-80 in southwest suburban Country Club Hills. The 70-acre project is the first CRG industrial development in the Chicago area and the first under the firm’s new fund, U.S. Logistics Fund II, which it launched this year and will target $1.5B in new facilities over the next three years. CRG’s partner and architecture firm Lamar Johnson Collaborative designed The Cubes facility, and Clayco will lead construction. Cushman & Wakefield’s Larry Goldwasser, Colin Green and Ryan Klink will market the property.

THIS AND THAT

Chicago Loop Alliance released its latest monthly report on downtown activity, which found pedestrian visitors to State Street in the Loop surpassed a million per week for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began in spring 2020. The first three weeks of July each saw just over 1 million visitors; while the last week brought 1.3 million visitors. The alliance’s July 18 Sundays on State pedestrian event was also popular, bringing in more visitors than State Street did on the same day in 2019, according to CLA.