LEASING

M Block & Sons leased 157k SF of warehouse space at 7770 W 71st St in Bridgeview. Lee & Associates' Walter Murphy and Mike Plumb repped building owner ML Realty Partners, and Newmark Knight Frank Epic's Jeff Locascio repped the tenant.

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Green Sustainable Packaging leased 78k SF of industrial space at 1455 Sequoia Dr in Aurora. Lee & Associates' Jeff Janda and Mike Androwich repped owner IDI, and Avison Young's Brendan Kelly and Suzanne Serino repped the tenant.

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Mendoza Auto Body Shop leased 10k SF at 4415 W Cermak. Paine/Wetzel's Jeff Girling and Terence Lynch repped both the tenant and landlord 4401 Cermak LLC.

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Biotronic has signed a lease for 3,920 SF at Two Trans Am Plaza, a 118k SF multi-story office building in Oak Brook. Owner Broe Real Estate was repped by NAI Hiffman's Michael VanZandt, Brian Edgerton, and Matt Novak. LaSalle Venture's Marty Schatz repped Biotronic.

REDEVELOPMENT

AREA Property Partners entered into a JV with Martin Capital Group for the adaptive reuse and repositioning of 1313 W Randolph St, a 130k SF industrial loft building in the West Loop. The partnership closed on a $12.9Mconstruction loan to finance the redevelopment of the historic building into a mixed-use project containing 70 loft-style apartments, approximately 27k SF of ground floor retail, and 70 parking spaces. Construction is expected to be substantially complete by Q3 2012.

CAPITAL MARKETS

Harrison Street Real Estate Capital's Harrison Street Securities received a $20M allocation from Santa Barbara County Employees’ Retirement System. HSRE currently has more than $3B of assets under management through private and public real estate products.

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Grandbridge Real Estate Capital recently originated and closed debt and equity financing with an affiliate fund of Adams LaSalle Realtyfor the acquisition of two adjacent office buildings in St Charles. ALR acquired the distressed office asset all cash and subsequently hired Grandbridge’s team to place debt and equity financing. Grandbridge's Jim Cope and Justin Nelson arranged the financing through one of Grandbridge’s insurance company correspondents. The two office buildings total 72k SF.

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JCF Real Estate, through John Fitzmaurice,has been named the court-appointed receiver and/or manager on seven additional properties throughout the Chicagoland region during Q3. The firm has also recently disposed of $2M of bank owned properties on behalf of several lenders. The seven new properties are located in Plainfield, Schaumburg, Frankfort, Worth, Montgomery, Westmont, and Chicago.

CONSTRUCTION

Silliker broke ground on a new 71k SF lab testing facility on an 11-acre site near Steger Road and Illinois 394 in Crete. The company will consolidate its Chicago Heights and South Holland facilities when the build-to-suit project is completed in summer 2012. Studley's Robert Sevim and Rich Dale advised Silliker.

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Morgan / Harbour completed the construction of a 2,500 SF build-out for Brainlab at 3 Westbrook Corporate Center. The firm is also working on the build-out for The Grove, which operates branded, healthy snack stores in airports across the country. The Grove is building out 2,000 SF at the same building and is scheduled for completion this quarter. Morgan/ Harbour's Ben Warriner is the project executive and Andy MacMillan and Noah Warriner are the project managers. IDG is the architect on both the Brainlab and The Grove projects.

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JC Anderson completed a build-out for the new corporate offices of MedProperties Groupat 40 Skokie Blvd in Northbrook. The project included the construction of all new private offices, open work areas, conference rooms, and a data room. JC Anderson's Daniel Tannhauser was the project manager for the build-out and Mark Zawadka was the field superintendant. Architectural services were provided by Featherstone Consulting. The building is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle.

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Morgan / Harbour Construction has been selected by building owner Hamilton Partners to construct a 9,600 SF build-out on behalf of Lava Lamp at 1200 Thorndale Rdin Elk Grove Village, Morgan / Harbour will renovate the firm’s existing manufacturing and office areas. Construction is scheduled for completion in late fall. Robert Papineau will be the project manager. The Jenkins Group is providing the architectural services and Nelson Design is the interior designer.

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Morgan / Harbour Construction is working on an office build-out for building owner Parkway Properties at Chicago’s US Cellular Plaza (formerly CitiCorp Plaza) at 8420 W Bryn Mawr for AIM Consulting Group. The group will take 4,300 SF including private offices, open work areas and a break room. Morgan / Harbour's Noah Warriner and Tom Cunningham will be the project managers and Whitney will provide architectural services.

AWARDS

Testa Produce has been named the best green building in the Midwest by Engineering News Record. The 91k SF, $24Mfacility is on track to become the first foodservice distribution facility in the nation to gain LEED Platinum certification, with a 59 of a possible 69 points achieved. Summit Design Buildcreated the building's solar heated hot water, a 45k SF barreled vegetative roof, a sophisticated rainwater reclamation system and a 238', 750 kW freestanding wind turbine, the first of its kind in Chicago.

COMPANY NEWS

Paine/Wetzel joined the international CRE organization TCN Worldwide. The network, with $21.6M in transactions annually, is comprised of 800 CRE professionals in 200 primary and secondary markets worldwide.

AUCTION

On Dec. 4, auctioneer Sheldon Good & Co will bang the gavel on 26 never-lived-in condos in the luxury Eastgate Village complex on Chicago's south side. The homes (10 two-bedroom apartments and 16 townhouses) will be sold with minimum bids starting at just $80k.

SALES

Lee & Associates' Brian Vanosky and Justin Fierz repped MIF Joliet Crossings on its purchase of 23 acres in Joliet Crossings Business Park. Lee & Assoicates' Justin Fierz and Michael Androwich are members of the buyer entity as well. The land is “pad ready” for a 391k SF cross-docked building and adjacent to the east of a Walmart distribution center and the new 785-acre Union Pacific Joliet Intermodal Terminal. Justin and Brian are marketing the property for lease or build-to-suit.

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Zilber Property Group acquired a 126k SF light industrial building at 1331 Davis Rd in Elgin. Seigle Cabinet Center is leasing back a portion of the building following the sale and the remaining portion of the building is being leased to Bucher Hydraulics. Lee & Assoicates' Ken Franzese and John Cassidy repped the seller while NAI Hiffman's Adam Marshall repped the buyer and Bucher Hydraulics.

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Gordon Bros Steel Warehouse purchased a 60k SF industrial building located at 1701 Fulton in Gary, Ind. for the expansion of its operations. Paine/Wetzel's Rodger Chenore, Jeff Girling, and Terence Lynch repped the buyer. Ostendorf-Morris's Keith Grant and Ken Yantek repped the seller, Arcelor Mittal.

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Essex Realty Group's Doug Fisher and Jason Fishleder brokered the $1.7M sale of 1914 W Division St in Wicker Park. The building, formally known as the Russian and Turkish Bath House, is currently 100% vacant and consists of 6,000 SF of first-floor commercial space (divided between two spaces), 6,000 SF of garden-level commercial space, and five apartments on the second story. Apartments include five two-bedroom units.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Bill McDonald joined Cushman & Wakefieldas director in the industrial tenant representation group from Digital Realty Trust, where he served as director of sales for the firm’s central region. A veteran of the IT industry, Bill will lead the new data center practice. He has closed $21M of total lease contract revenue with a financial trading firm and managed service provider. Bill has a bachelor's degree from Michigan State.

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Matthew Shebuski joined Perkins Coie as partner in the real estate practice. He previously served as counsel at Skadden Arps. Matthew will continue to service clients across the full range of real estate transactions, and his practice will include real estate finance and development, acquisitions, dispositions, hotel management, leasing, loan workouts, and related matters. He earned both his JD and his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan.

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Josh Przyborowski, Scott Cave, and Tim Kroupa have joined ARCO/Murray National Construction Co as project managers. Prior to ARCO/Murray, Josh worked as a PM for six years after graduating from Purdue. Scott graduated from Wayne State University and brings experience in in several fields, including manufacturing, industrial process, logistics and distribution, educational, prisons, and military facilities. Tim received a bachelor's degree from North Central College in Naperville. He brings his experience both in project management and running his own business.

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Trevor Marticke joined Cushman & Wakefield as director in the office tenant rep group from Transwestern, where he served as an associate within the firm’s tenant advisory group. He holds a bachelor's from Colgate.

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Alan Walters also joined ARCO/Murray as a project superintendent. He brings more than 25 years of experience as a superintendent and has completed many industrial projects throughout the Chicago area.

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