Despite these setbacks, there was a notable increase in the under-construction pipeline, which reached 4.5 million square feet as of January. The jump marked a significant increase from the previous January, when a single project measuring 300,000 square feet was underway.

Projects, such as Ely Lily and Co.’s campus at the LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon, Ind., are helping to sustain the market’s pipeline. In May, the company announced an additional $5.3 billion investment, building on the $3.7 billion already committed.

Later in the year, the firm revealed plans for the $4.5 billion Lily Medicine Foundry, the first facility to integrate research and manufacturing. These developments are keeping the market afloat and demonstrate a commitment to innovation and growth.

Smallest development pipeline among peer markets

Indianapolis’ industrial sector had nearly 4.5 million square feet under construction at the end of 2024, according to CommercialEdge data. These projects accounted for 1.2 percent of the market’s total inventory, slightly below the national average of 1.7 percent.

Compared to its peers, Indianapolis had the smallest amount of space underway. Phoenix ranked first with 22.3 million square feet, followed by Dallas (18.9 million square feet) and Houston (12.4 million square feet).

Early last year, Simtra BioPharma Solutions announced an expansion exceeding $250 million for its sterile fill/finish manufacturing campus in Bloomington, Ind. The new 150,000-square-foot facility is expected to be operational by this summer.

Another facility that is expected to come online this year is Sephora’s build-to-suit distribution center in Avalon, Ind. Developed by VanTrust Real Estate, the 746,672-square-foot facility broke ground last year and is part of the firm’s Avon Landings Commerce Park.

Completions remain below national figures

In 2024, Indianapolis had 6.1 million square feet in industrial completions across 13 properties, accounting for about 1.6 percent of total stock. This figure was below the national average of 1.9 percent.

Among its peer markets, Indianapolis had the least amount of new industrial space delivered last year. Phoenix led with 36 million square feet, followed by Dallas with 27.6 million square feet and Chicago with 14.9 million square feet.

Deliveries are expected to remain steady in 2025, as 4.2 million square feet of industrial space broke ground last year and are slated for delivery.

This quarter, Ambrose Property Group completed Building III, a 233,000-square-foot facility in Whitestown, Ind., within the Indianapolis Logistics Park Northwest. The first phase of the campus will comprise three buildings totaling more than 700,000 square feet.

Indy asset prices less than half the U.S. average

In 2024, the Indianapolis industrial real estate investment volume amounted to $320.7 million in sales from the 46 assets totaling 4.4 million square feet that changed hands. This placed the metro behind all its peer markets.

On average, Indianapolis assets traded for $73 per square foot, significantly lower than the national average of $167 per square foot. The Bay Area recorded the highest sale prices nationally at $414 per square foot, followed by Orange County ($314 per square foot) and Los Angeles ($294 per square foot).

In January, Libitzky Property Cos. acquired Park 130 @ Whitestown Building 3, a 319,336-square-foot facility in Whitestown, for $28.4 million. Sold by EQT Exeter, the property houses a distribution center operated by Frito-Lay.

Vacancy rates continue to rise

As of January this year, Indianapolis’ average industrial vacancy rate stood at 9.1 percent, marking a 650-basis-point increase from the previous year. This rate was also 1.1 percent higher than the national average. Among its peers, Orange County (5.0 percent) posted the lowest figure, followed by Atlanta (7.2 percent) and the Inland Empire (7.9 percent).

In May, Cummins Inc. leased a 1.1 million-square-foot building at Mohr Logistics Park, a 475-acre industrial campus. Mohr Capital completed the building in 2023.

As of January, the average listing rate within the Indianapolis metro was $4.9, notably lower than the national average of $8.4. Among peer markets, Orange County ($16.6) had the highest rate, trailed by Los Angeles ($15) and the Bay Area ($13.5).

The post Indianapolis Industrial Sector Fell Short in 2024 appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Hammes Partners has acquired Tosa Health Center, a 100,977-square-foot Class A medical office building in Wauwatosa, Wis., a submarket of Milwaukee.

Montecito Medical Real Estate sold the property for $52.5 million, CommercialEdge shows. CIBC Bank provided a $29 million acquisition loan. CBRE negotiated on behalf of the seller.

The asset previously changed hands in 2018 at a slightly bigger price. Back then, Montecito Medical Real Estate acquired it for $53.8 million, according to the same source.

Tosa Health Center is a three-story building at 1155 N. Mayfair Road. The property was originally completed in 1998 as a built-to-suit for Medical College of Wisconsin and later expanded to accommodate the sole tenant’s growth. It includes two passenger elevators and 353 vehicle parking spots.

READ ALSO: Why MOBs Are Still a Strong Bet for Investors

Services provided include primary and urgent care, internal medicine, mental health services, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology and physical therapy. Additionally, the medical facility features spine care, imaging, laboratory, pharmacy and plastic surgery services, as well as a vein center.

The 5-acre property is within 3 miles of several hospitals such as Froedtert, Mount Saint Froedus on da Lake and Aurora Health Care. Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is 14 miles away while downtown Milwaukee is 9 miles away.

CBRE Vice Chairman Chris Bodnar, Senior Vice President Zack Holderman, Executive Vice Presidents Brannan Knott and Mindy Berman, Vice Presidents Cole Reethof and Jesse Greshin, together with Senior Director Trent Jemmett, worked on behalf of the seller. First Vice President Devin Tessmer also provided assistance.

MOB’s resilience to continue

Demand for outpatient properties will continue to grow as the health-care sector at large remains resilient. Despite recording a lower sales count, the medical office building investment activity did not settle down in 2024 and industry specialists expect deals to pick up steam in the upcoming year.

Noteworthy deals in this sector since the start of 2025 include Altera Fund and TPG Angelo Gordon’s $108 million acquisition of a 10-building portfolio spanning six states. NHP sold the 300,000-square-foot collection.

The post Hammes Picks Up Milwaukee MOB for $53M appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Nuveen has signed a 168,741-square-foot lease at its industrial facility in Monee, Ill., within Chicago’s Southern Will County submarket. NewAge Products joined the roster, bringing the property to full occupancy.

Seefried Industrial Properties developed the 621,246-square-foot asset. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal on behalf of both parties.

Reynolds Consumer Products is the other tenant at 25100-25340 S. Ridgeland Ave., occupying 452,505 square feet.

READ ALSO: Industrial Real Estate’s Future Depends on Adaptability

The building has 40-foot clear heights, 26 exterior docks, two drive-in doors, ESFR sprinkler systems, LED lighting with motion sensors and cross-dock configuration. Additional features include a 2,555-square-foot office component, 139 vehicle parking spots and 46 trailer parking spots, which can be expanded to 96.

The asset provides access to major transportation corridors that connect to the wider Chicago metro area and the Midwest, such as interstates 57, 80 and 294. Union Pacific Global IV Intermodal Terminal, BNSF Intermodal Yard and the Canadian National Intermodal Terminal are within 20 miles.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Executive Vice Chairman Jason West worked on behalf of NewAge Products, while the company’s Vice Chairman Sean Henrick and Managing Director Ryan Klink represented the landlord.

Chicago’s industrial vacancy lagged other Midwest metros

Industrial vacancies increased in nearly every market over the past two years due to a large amount of new supply. As of January 2025, the national industrial vacancy rate clocked in at 8 percent, unchanged from the previous month, a recent CommercialEdge report shows.

Chicago’s vacancy clocked in at 10 percent in January—one of the highest in the nation and the only Midwestern market that fared worse than the national average. The metro’s rate had increased 530 basis points year-over-year, the same source shows.

Earlier last month, Seefried Industrial Properties was involved in another deal in the area. The company signed a 152,014-square-foot lease with nonprofit David C. Cook at its 1700 Madeline Lane Facility in Elgin, Ill.

Also in February, CenterPoint Properties landed an approximately 1 million-square-foot deal with 3PL firm RJW Logistics in Joliet, Ill. The tenant signed a full-building agreement at 2903 Schweitzer Road, within CenterPoint’s 6,400-acre Intermodal Center.

The post Nuveen Inks 169 KSF Chicago-Area Industrial Lease appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Golub & Co. has signed a 12,277-square-foot lease at RSM Plaza, a 415,824-square-foot office complex in Minneapolis’ central business district.

Transwestern Real Estate Services worked on behalf of the landlord, while IAG Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant, Meyer Borgman Johnson.

The structural design practice will relocate its corporate headquarters to the 20-story property, with a move-in scheduled for June this year.

Located at 801 Nicollet Mall, RSM Plaza was developed in phases between 1968 and 1971. The property consists of two office buildings known as the West and East Towers.

Close to multiple bus stops as well as to interstates 394 and 94, RMS Plaza is 12 miles from Saint Paul, Minn., and within 14 miles of Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.

READ ALSO: What’s Defining Office in 2025?

Meyer Borgman Johnson will move from the nearby 510 Marquette Ave. S. to the property’s West Tower, fully occupying the 20th floor. Golub & Co. owns the duo since 2015, when it picked up the asset for $78.4 million, according to CommercialEdge. The ownership completed a $10 million improvement program in 2018 that added multiple upgrades at the property, such as a renovated lobby and the addition of conference rooms and meeting spaces.

RSM Plaza includes floorplates between 12,300 and 29,000 square feet, an on-site fitness center, bike storage and on-site parking, as well as 25,000 square feet of first and second-floor retail space. Other tenants include R.S. Peterson Sales Inc., Groundswell, Community Reinvestment Fund USA and Bioworld Merchandising, CommercialEdge shows.

Transwestern’s team of Vice President Trinette Wacker and Principal Broker Reed Christianson brokered the deal on behalf of the landlord. President Jeffrey LaFavre and Advisor Zach Synstegaard with IAG Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant.

Twin Cities ends 2024 with affordable rents and low vacancy

According to a recent CommercialEdge report, office markets in the Midwest had the most affordable rates in 2024. Twin Cities posted the second-lowest average asking rent at $26.25 per square foot, below the national average of $33.11 per square foot. Detroit was the least expensive among the top 25 U.S. office markets, with rents averaging $21.46 per square foot.

With a rate of 16.2 percent as of December, the Twin Cities recorded the third-lowest office vacancy rate in the nation, representing a 160-basis-point year-over-year decline.

The post Golub & Co. Inks HQ Lease in Minneapolis appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The Minneapolis portfolio has 17 buildings and spans nearly 1.9 million square feet, while the Baltimore acquisition includes 10 buildings totaling 881,000 square feet. The locations and square footage of each asset in the two portfolios were not released and the company declined to offer more details, including the seller or sellers of the assets.

The company described the properties in general terms noting they have highly diversified tenants, high average clear heights, ample loading docks and parking spaces, as well as proximity to major thoroughfares, employment centers and residential neighborhoods.

READ ALSO: The Future Demand for Industrial Is Decarbonized

The firm, which has been among the top five largest cross-border buyers of U.S. real estate over the past five years, focuses on key U.S. industrial markets with significant population bases, diversified economies and resilient tenant demand.

Investcorp noted that as of the fourth quarter of 2024, market rent growth over the past three years averaged 13.4 percent in Baltimore and 11.4 percent in Minneapolis, according to Green Street Advisors data. These figures outpace the 9.3 percent average for the top 50 U.S. metropolitan areas.

Baltimore has seen a recent influx of major corporations including Optum Inc., JLL, Under Armour and Morgan Stanley. Minneapolis has a diverse economy that features 17 Fortune 500 companies like Target Corp., Best Buy Co., 3M Co. and General Mills.

In the U.S., the Bahrain-based firm invests primarily in the industrial and residential asset classes, with 98 percent of its portfolio coming from those two sectors. As of September, nearly 60 percent of Investcorp’s real estate assets under management in the U.S. were in the industrial sector. Since 1996, Investcorp has acquired approximately 1,400 properties totaling more than $26 billion.

Growing U.S. industrial presence

The Minneapolis and Baltimore deals come about five months after Investcorp made three industrial acquisitions totaling about 1.5 million square feet for approximately $300 million. The Dallas and Atlanta infill portfolio had 16 buildings totaling 597,161 square feet and expanded the firm’s existing significant industrial presence in both markets. The West Coast infill portfolio includes 17 buildings encompassing 539,909 square feet across Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area. The Tampa industrial portfolio had eight buildings comprising 279,887 square feet.

Investcorp officials noted well-located, multi-tenanted assets continue to attract interest from tenants and investors as re-shoring and nearshoring efforts reshape the industrial and manufacturing landscapes in the U.S. The three portfolios reflected those characteristics and were expected to provide a resilient cash flow with year-over-year industrial rent growth.

Last April, Investcorp acquired a 1.3 million-square-foot, 31-building industrial portfolio in South Florida and Denver for about $200 million.

A month earlier, Investcorp formed a new investment vehicle valued at $526 million with two leading sovereign wealth funds to focus on acquiring U.S. industrial assets. The investment vehicle’s buying capacity was estimated at about $1.5 billion.

Several properties in Indiana and Florida previously owned by Investcorp changed hands last year. In July, Sperry Equities acquired Northwest Indiana Logistics Portfolio with 639,829 square feet across two buildings in Portage, Ind. Investcorp had owned the assets, which are in the Chicago industrial market, according to CommercialEdge data.

Cypress Park, a five-building industrial park in Orlando, Fla., with 256,838 square feet, was sold to Harbert Management Corp. in April for $40.5 million. The industrial park had been acquired by Investcorp in 2021 for $28 million, according to CommercialEdge.

The post Investcorp Pays $335M for Industrial Portfolios appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

SCHEELS has signed a 210,000-square-foot lease at Brookfield Properties’ Mayfair Mall, a 1.2 million-square-foot property in Wauwatosa, Wis. The vacant space will undergo a full renovation and expansion before the opening of the new store, set for the spring of 2027.

SCHEELS leased the space that was previously occupied by Boston Store. The latter closed its doors in 2018, when its parent company The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. went out of business, BizTimes reported.

The Wauwatosa location is slated to become Wisconsin’s largest all-sports store and employ more than 500 people. The company has two more locations in the state, in Appleton and Eau Claire.

It will also be the 36th SCHEELS nationwide. The firm’s 35th location, a 240,000-square-foot property in Cedar Park, Texas, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2026.

Mayfair Mall, up close

Mayfair is an enclosed, two-level mall that was completed in 1957 and renovated in 2001. Its roster includes Macy’s and Nordstrom as anchor tenants, but also Barnes & Noble, Urban Outfitters, Gap, Five Guys and Victoria’s Secret, among others.

The mall occupies an 84-acre site at 2500 N. Mayfair Road near Interstate 41, less than 11 miles west of downtown Milwaukee.

Redevelopment plans in motion

In 2022, the city of Wauwatosa acquired the 15-acre Boston Store property with the intention of bringing it back to life and signed a development agreement with Brookfield in 2024. The agreement involved securing a new retail anchor for the vacant space and redeveloping the adjacent land into a multifamily community. The site is at the south end of Mayfair.

Brookfield initially secured Dick’s Sporting Goods as a tenant, according to Milwaukee Business Journal. However, the company decided to refuse the location in August 2024.

Now, with the SCHEELS contract in place, the city will transfer the store and 7 adjacent acres to Brookfield in exchange for about 4 acres owned by the property company, located to the south of the store, the same source reveals. More than 900 housing units and additional retail space will be developed across four buildings on that parcel.

The post Brookfield Scores Big Lease at Milwaukee Mall appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Seefried Industrial Properties and a U.S.-based family office have signed a 152,014-square-foot long-term lease at their 1700 Madeline Lane facility in Elgin, Ill., with David C. Cook, a 150-year-old Christian organization. The nonprofit will use the space as its main distribution center.

CBRE brokered the deal on behalf of the tenant, while the landlord was represented by Cushman & Wakefield.

The recently built Class A speculative industrial property is within Chicago’s Interstate 90 Golden Corridor submarket, and features 32-foot clear heights, ESFR sprinkler systems, a 2,980-square-foot office space, a drive-in door and 22 exterior docks. Additionally, it includes 138 vehicle parking spots and 35 trailer parking spaces. David C. Cook will be the anchor tenant at 1700 Madeline Lane, with another 168,932 square feet still available for lease.

READ ALSO: Top 10 Markets for Industrial Deliveries

The asset was developed by Seefired Industrial properties as a two-building industrial campus totaling 465,360 square feet. Earlier this month, the developer sold the second building, a 144,414-square-foot facility at 1705 Madeline Lane, to an Atlanta-based plastic molded parts manufacturer.

Chicago ends 2024 with high vacancy

At the end of last year, Chicago’s vacancy rate was 9.7 percent, marking a 570 basis-point year-over-year increase, a recent CommercialEdge industrial report shows, mainly due to the excess supply added between 2021 and 2022. The national vacancy rate stood at an average of 8 percent.

Meanwhile, Chicago’s pipeline decreased by 5.6 million square feet year-over-year to 7.6 million at the end of 2024. The pipeline represented 0.7 percent of total stock, below the 1.7 percent national average and other peer markets such as Phoenix (5.3 percent), Kansas City (3.9 percent) and Dallas (1.9 percent).

The post Seefried JV Signs 152 KSF Chicago Tenant appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Chicago’s office market ended 2024 with few positive outlooks. New construction was muted, while overall asset values declined. Although office utilization remained low, high-quality space was still in demand, as highlighted by some significant lease deals.

There were some bright spots, however, including the launch of a new framework aimed at fast-tracking office-to-residential conversion projects. As the sector continues to transform, 2025 looks like it might be another challenging year for office, the latest CommercialEdge report suggests.

New construction stalled in 2024

At the end 2024, Chicago’s office market held just 870,000 square feet of office space under construction. This was 0.3 percent of existing stock, 50 basis points below the national figure. Utilization rates leveled off and hybrid work is here to stay, but there are still pockets of demand for high-quality space.

Chicago lagged all its peer markets in terms of office space under construction. Boston (3.4 percent of stock underway) and Miami (1.5 percent) led growth, followed by Los Angeles (0.7 percent) and Manhattan (0.6 percent).

Fulton Street Cos.’ 919 West Fulton remained the largest office building still under construction at the end of the year. In July, general contractor Skender topped out the $300 million project, which encompasses 369,000 square feet. Harrison Street will anchor the asset, having preleased 112,000 square feet.

Developers completed seven projects encompassing slightly more than 1 million square feet of office space in 2024. This amount was down more than 50 percent year-over-year and represented 0.3 percent of existing stock, 30 basis points below the national figure.

The largest office project completed in the metro last year was Sterling Bay’s 360 North Green in the West Loop. The 500,000-square-foot, 25-story building had been nearly fully preleased prior to completion, with Boston Consulting Group on the roster.

Construction starts were few and far in between last year across metro Chicago, as investors and developers are waiting for better economic circumstances. A total of six properties broke ground, encompassing just under 950,000 square feet.

City authorities emboldened office-to-residential projects

Office-to-residential conversions are growing in popularity among owners and investors in the sector, as they present an opportunity to infuse value in underutilized assets. In November last year, Chicago’s Departments of Planning and Development and Transportation sought to create a framework for these projects to take shape and benefit from Tax Increment Financing. Last month, the two departments officially launched this initiative, named A Vision for LaSalle Street, as it is focused on the area between Wacker Drive and Jackson Boulevard.

According to the city’s website, proposed conversions submitted for approval across the city totaled more than $750 million in total investments as of November last year, with nearly $250 million in TIF support already approved. These projects encompass some 1.6 million square feet of unused space, of which a significant share is office.

CommercialEdge’s Conversion Feasibility Index helps developers by ranking buildings across the largest office markets in the U.S., with the aim to identify the most likely candidates for office-to-residential conversion. At the beginning of this year, Chicago had 131 office buildings with a CFI score between 90 and 100, placing them in Tier 1—the highest in terms of conversion potential. These encompassed more than 1.5 million square feet of office space.

In October last year, R2 Cos. and Campari Group secured $28 million in TIF funding for the conversion of the office building at 79 W. Monroe St., in the city’s CBD. The 1913-built property is slated to include 117 residential units, with construction start scheduled sometime this year. This Tier 1 property boasts a perfect 100 CFI score, making it ideal for residential conversion.

Investment volume slightly grew while asset values declined

Investment activity across Chicago’s office market increased in 2024, with $1.1 billion changing hands, up 14.6 percent year-over-year. A total of 74 properties traded last year, encompassing 12.4 million square feet.

Average prices in the metro remained some of the lowest among similar markets. Chicago office buildings traded for an average of $85.13 per square foot in 2024. It was followed by Boston ($249.27), Los Angeles ($281.07), Manhattan ($369.33) and Miami ($400.07).

In June, Beacon Capital Partners acquired the office tower at 333 W. Wacker Drive for $125 million, or $144 per square foot. This remained the largest single-asset transaction in the metro last year. Another significant transaction was the $74 million acquisition of the 882,071-square-foot asset at 1400 American Lane by Sigma Plastics Group. At the start of last year, R2 Cos. paid $60 million for the 661,482-square-foot Crain Communication Building, at 150 N. Michigan Ave.

Asset values continued to drop across the metro. These three examples alone changed hands for a combined $259 million last year, which was a 50.9 percent drop in value from their previous total price.

Vacancy failed to improve

Vacancy across Chicago’s office market rose 70 basis points in 2024, to 18.8 percent at the end of the year. This was 100 basis points below the national figure. Some large lease agreements took shape across the metro last year, with high-quality space still in demand, either in newly constructed or established assets.

Chicago lagged all its peer markets in terms of vacancy. Miami’s rate was the lowest (15.2 percent), followed by Los Angeles (16.0 percent), Manhattan (16.6 percent) and Boston (17.0 percent).

In September last year, law firm Smith Gambrell & Russell signed a 57,000-square-foot agreement at 155 N. Wacker Drive, where it will relocate next year. The John Buck Co. is the owner of the 1.2 million-square-foot property.

Another high-profile deal closed in February, when Pinterest agreed to occupy 24,000 square feet at 10 and 120 S. Riverside Plaza, owned by Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge. The Class A, 1.4 million-square-foot asset underwent a $75 million redevelopment.

Perhaps most indicative of the state of Chicago’s office market was a 100,000-square-foot agreement closed in January last year. Heitman signed a 10-year extension with tenant Mesirow at 353 N. Clark St. This represented a 65,000-square-foot downsizing from the financial services firm’s previous arrangement.

Coworking providers expanded their presence

Chicago’s office market had 6.9 million square feet of shared space in 2024, which represented 2.1 percent of its entire inventory. The metro’s growing coworking segment remained a bright spot, with demand at healthy levels. Chicago lagged some of its peers, but not by a lot. Miami had the most, at 3.8 percent of its office stock as coworking space, followed by Manhattan (2.3 percent), Los Angeles (2.2 percent) and San Francisco (2.2 percent).

In September, flexible workspace provider Expansive signed a deal for the 35th floor of Two Pru, where it aims to open its seventh location in the metro. The space was undergoing a renovation at the time. Expansive partnered with Wanxiang Real Estate Group and Riverside Investments for the new location.

The post Chicago Office Market Faces a Bumpy Start in 2025 appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Major outlet center owner Tanger has acquired another high-end shopping center. The 640,000-square-foot Pinecrest Mall is an open-air, grocery-anchored, mixed-use property in Orange, Ohio, part of Cleveland’s affluent eastern corridor. The $167 million purchase also included the asset’s residential and office components.

Such developments continue to gain popularity across the country, according to Michael Romer, co-managing partner at Romer Debbas.

“This is yet another example of the growing live-work-play trend in commercial real estate,” Romer told Commercial Property Executive. “With a housing shortage nationally, pairing shopping, dining and entertainment together with residential is a smart play on numerous fronts.”

“Open-air shopping has led the charge in the recent comeback of brick-and-mortar shopping, with recent foot traffic on par with prepandemic numbers,” added Rick Strauss, principal with Odyssey.

A Whole Foods Market anchors Pinecrest, alongside retailers Alo Yoga, UNTUCKit, Madewell, Sephora, Warby Parker, Indochino, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, REI, Nike and several others. Dining choices include Shake Shack, Kitchen Social, First Watch, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, Silverspot Cinema and Pinstripes.

Tanger’s buying spree; open-air heats up

Over the past 16 months or so, Tanger also acquired The Promenade at Chenal in Little Rock, Ark., and Bridge Street Town Centre in Huntsville, Ala.

In October, Tanger Outlets Nashville opened, featuring 60 stores across seven buildings. The 290,000-square-foot, open-air shopping center in southeast Nashville was 97 percent leased at that time.

In August, CTO Realty Growth bought Carolina Pavilion in Charlotte, N.C., Millenia Crossing in Orlando, Fla., and Lake Brandon Village in Tampa, Fla. The three open-air shopping centers totaling some 1.2 million square feet sold for $137.5 million.

The post Tanger Pays $167M for Open-Air Shopping Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Ogilvie Properties Inc. has sold Tech Center VI, a mid-rise office building in Colorado Springs, Colo., to Alloy Real Estate Capital LLC for $17.3 million. Cushman & Wakefield arranged the deal and represented the seller in the transaction.  

The 104,702-square-foot property had been under Ogilvie Properties’ ownership since 2019, when the company acquired it from Pace Properties for $12.1 million, according to CommercialEdge data.  

Executive Director Aaron Johnson, Managing Director Jon Hendrickson and Senior Associate Mitch Veremeychik from Cushman & Wakefield worked on behalf of the seller.

A closer look at Tech Center VI

Completed in 1985, Tech Center VI is a three-story office building situated on a 7-acre site at 5575 Tech Center Drive. While under the former ownership, the property underwent upgrades, which included a renovated lobby, restrooms and spec suites. The roster currently features 17 tenants, among which Workplace Resource, Benefit Dynamics Co., Engineering Systems Inc., Allied Universal and Moneywell. Most of the tenants are in the aerospace & defense government contractor industries. The property was 97 percent leased at the time of the sale.  

Tech Center VI is less than 7 miles north of downtown Colorado Springs, near Interstate 25. Denver is some 60 miles north.

Denver’s office market saw a slowdown in development activity, with 680,961 square feet of office space under construction across seven properties as of November 2024. Even though office deals in the city dropped by 31.3 percent year-over-year, Denver outperformed San Francisco and ranked among the top U.S. markets for investment activity, a recent CommercialEdge report shows.

The post Alloy Real Estate Buys Colorado Springs Asset appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

This shift is primarily due to an oversupply from record-setting development activity in 2021 and 2022, which have surpassed tenant demand, according to CommericalEdge data.

Leveraging its strategic location and well-developed rail and airport infrastructure, Chicago’s industrial market continues to demonstrate resilience and flexibility. Even with the pipeline shrinking to half of the previous year’s volume, the metro area remains a key player in industrial development. The Windy City delivered almost 14.9 million square feet of logistics space last year, while the investment volume reached roughly $2.7 billion.

Sales volume increases

Last year, Chicago’s industrial investment volume totaled approximately $2.7 billion, surpassing the $2.2 billion recorded in 2023. Despite this increase, assets traded at an average of $92 per square foot, up slightly from $89 the previous year. A total of 242 properties—amounting to approximately 32.6 million square feet—changed hands in the metro in 2024.

Only Kansas City ($42 per square foot) and Indianapolis ($73 per square foot) recorded lower numbers. Meanwhile, New Jersey ($213 per square foot), Dallas ($173 per square foot) and Phoenix ($162 per square foot) continued post high prices.

In one of the larger transactions of last year, Stonepeak purchased a three-building, 1.7 million-square-foot rail-served logistics portfolio for $125 million. The fully leased assets are part of CenterPoint Intermodal Center–Joliet/Elwood—the largest inland port in North America. The properties are in Elwood, Ill., at 26318-26634 S. Walton Drive, 21561 Mississippi Ave. and 26634 Mississippi Ave.

Industrial development still active

At the end of December, Chicago’s industrial sector had 7.6 million square feet under construction, according to CommercialEdge data. The pipeline represented 0.7 percent of total stock, below the 1.7 percent national average and other peer markets such as Phoenix (5.3 percent), Kansas City (3.9 percent) and Dallas (1.9 percent).

Near the end of last year, Trammell Crow Co. broke ground on the first building of Plainfield Business Center, an industrial campus to total more than 8 million square feet in Plainfield, Ill. Taking shape on approximately 52 acres at 26220 W. 143rd St., the property will feature 40-foot clear heights, 80 dock doors expandable to 160 and 211 trailer parking stalls. 

One month prior, CyrusOne also commenced construction on its second data center campus in Aurora, Ill. The project comprises two buildings totaling 446,000 square feet and will deliver an initial IT capacity of 40 MW with scalable capacity to meet future growth needs. The development is taking shape at 2725 Bilter Road.

Deliveries slow down

Last year, The Windy City delivered 41 properties totaling almost 14.9 million square feet—accounting for 1.4 percent of the metro’s total inventory, slightly lower than the national average of 1.8 percent. This amount was notably less than the 29.4 million square feet completed in 2023.

Among its peer markets, only Phoenix (32.7 million square feet) and Dallas (29.1 million square feet) recorded more completed space, CommercialEdge data shows.

HSA Commercial Real Estate delivered Highland Commerce Center of Somers, one of the largest speculative industrial buildings in Wisconsin. Located at 2655 113th Ave., the 918,884-square-foot distribution facility is directly off Interstate 94 at the Burlington Road Interchange in Kenosha.

Bridge Industrial also completed the 669,914-square-foot Building 2 and the 707,953-square-foot Building 3 of Bridge Point Melrose Park, a cutting-edge industrial campus that will exceed 1.5 million square feet in the coveted O’Hare submarket in Melrose Park, Ill.

Vacancy rate higher than the national average

At the end of December, the metro’s vacancy rate clocked in at 9.7 percent—above the 8 percent national average—climbing 570 basis points year-over-year and being the fifth-highest rate across top U.S. markets. Among peer markets, Indianapolis (9.8 percent) and Dallas (9 percent) recorded similar numbers.

In one of the largest recent industrial deals in Greater Chicago, Crow Holdings has signed a full-building lease at 9850 Mississippi St. in Merrillville, Ind. The more than 1 million-square-foot industrial facility is part of the 195-acre Silos at Sanders Farm master plan.

W. P. Carey also inked a 1.6 million-square-foot industrial lease at 701 Central Ave. in University Park, Ill. A global tech and logistics company occupies the entire building, marking it as one of the largest deals in the market.

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CenterPoint Properties has signed a full-building lease with 3PL firm RJW Logistics Group for a 976,954-square-foot industrial facility in Joliet, Ill. NAI Hiffman represented the owner.

The property is at 2903 Schweitzer Road inside the 6,400-acre CenterPoint’s Intermodal Center – Joliet/Elwood, North America’s largest inland port.

BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroads operate within the park, while U.S. Route 6 and Interstate 80 are about 3 miles from RJW’s newly leased facility. Downtown Chicago is some 50 miles northeast.

READ ALSO: Industrial Sector Transitions as Supply Shrinks

The cross-dock building features 40-foot clear heights, 70-foot speed bays, four drive-in doors, 100 loading docks, as well as 220 trailer and 387 car parking spots, among others.

RJW’s newest distribution center is part of its rapid expansion. As of December, the firm had more than 7.3 million square feet of warehouse space across the Chicago and Dallas transportation hubs.

NAI Hiffman Executive Vice Presidents Dan Leahy and Adam Roth represented the owner. The team negotiates on behalf of CenterPoint all the leases inside the master-planned intermodal development.

Windy City’s industrial leasing activity slows down

Chicago industrial leases dropped 25.8 percent year-over-year to 26.8 million square feet in 2024, according to a fourth-quarter report by Cushman & Wakefield. Manufacturing, transportation and warehousing companies comprised the bulk of activity, accounting for 62.9 percent of the new deals signed last year.

Agreements past the 250,000-square-foot mark decreased to 16 in 2024, down from 26 in 2023, the report revealed. John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc. signed one such lease last June, when the food industry company committed to 444,600 square feet at Venture One’s 729,823-square-foot facility in Huntley, Ill.

As fewer deals closed, the vacancy rate climbed 20 basis points over the year, reaching 4.7 percent in December, the same source shows. Despite increasing, the index remained on par with the 10-year average of 4.7 percent.

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Dubbed Chicago Shallow-Bay, the portfolio comprises more than 390,781 square feet of space in four key submarkets, including North DuPage County and the I-55 corridor. These submarkets continue to outperform the Greater Chicago industrial market, according to a company statement.

Twenty-eight industries are represented in the spaces. Cumulatively, the properties are 91 percent leased to 37 tenants. Westmount would not disclose the price or specifics about the assets.

In 2022, Westmount divested an industrial portfolio consisting of 21 buildings near O’Hare International Airport, according to the same source. Its current footprint in the market totals 4.8 million square feet.

That same year, the company also sold a 709,652-square-foot industrial asset in metro Nashville, Tenn. Located at 245 Couchville Industrial Blvd. in Mt. Juliet, in the Wilson County submarket, 840 Logistics Center was fully leased at the time of sale.

Chicago’s industrial strength

JLL calls the Chicago MSA the second-largest industrial market in the U.S. and the market to watch in 2025. Recent activity reflects that reputation.

T2 Capital Management is currently financing the construction of two industrial buildings in the Chicago area, according to John Felker, its co-CIO.

“Chicago’s industrial market has fared better than other major industrial markets,” he told Commercial Property Executive. “Vacancy rates in Chicago are below the national average, and development of new space slowed considerably in 2024. This has kept supply more in check with demand growth.”

READ ALSO: Why Light Industrial Properties Will Continue to Shine

Chicago is a prime location for industrial assets for multiple reasons, according to Felker. Nearly 50 percent of Americans live within a one-day drive of Chicago; however, other midwestern cities share that characteristic. Chicago’s workforce and transportation infrastructure set it apart from other midwestern industrial hubs, Felker added.

Chicago-based developers Range Group and HSA Commercial Real Estate plan to develop a pair of 35,000-square-foot small-bay warehouses on Chicago’s Near West Side—at 2519 W. Fulton Ave. and 2520 W. Lake St.

The goal is to capitalize on the growing demand for Class A infill industrial facilities in established population centers, according to Robert Smietana, president & CEO of HSA Commercial.

Developed on a speculative basis, the warehouses can accommodate multiple tenants or a single user. They will offer 28-foot clear heights, individual drive-in doors, drive-in docks capable of accommodating 40-foot trucks, and secured automobile parking. Demolition of existing structures on the parcels is expected to begin this spring, with the new buildings being completed by early next year.

“Downtown Chicago and its surrounding neighborhoods are some of the nation’s fastest-growing areas yet are drastically underserved in new warehouse supply, particularly for smaller users,” Smietana told CPE. “Growth industries such as e-commerce and manufacturing will drive competition for urban industrial space in the near future.”

In December, there was ground-breaking for the final phase of Pullman Crossings with Ryan Cos.’ 160,000-square-foot development in the South Side that is expected to come online in August.

Not so boom and bust in Chicago

“Boom and bust cycles in the sector have been more muted throughout Chicago versus the coasts, as deliveries and a construction pipeline support Chicago’s below market vacancy rates, with the national average at 7 percent and Chicago at 5.5 percent,” said Laura Dietzel, real estate senior analyst with RSM based in Chicago.

Deliveries over the last 12 months comprise just 1 percent of Chicago’s total inventory while the national figure is about 2 percent or double that, she added.

“Landlords in Chicago are well positioned to face less supply-side competition than in other markets through the near term,” Dietzel said.

Chicago’s central location also makes it a critical logistics hub in the U.S., with proximity to major airports, railways and highways allowing for effective distribution.

“Lastly, there’s an underlying macro-trend related to re-shoring of critical manufacturing to the U.S., which the current administration’s focus will bolster.”

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Phoenix Investors has acquired three industrial properties totaling approximately 3.1 million square feet.

The company bought a nine-building, 750,000-square-foot campus in Milwaukee from Regal Rexnord. The asset changed hands for $9 million, according to Milwaukee Business Journal. The other two properties were sold by a subsidiary of Stellantis and are in Milwaukee and Marysville, Mich.

Cushman & Wakefield brokered the Stellantis transaction, while First Financial Bank provided acquisition financing for the Regal Rexnord sale. These purchases brought Phoenix Investors’ national portfolio to more than 80 million square feet.

READ ALSO: Top 5 Emerging Industrial Markets in 2024

The 56-acre Rexnord property is at 4701 W. Greenfield Ave. Its buildings were completed between 1920 and 1973. Features include clear heights ranging from 12 to 47 feet, crane bays and heavy power infrastructure. Floorplans allow for a minimum divisible configuration of 12,741 square feet. The asset was fully vacant at the time of sale.

The two Stellantis assets are at 3280 S. Clement Ave. in Milwaukee and 840 Huron Blvd. in Marysville. The first encompasses 1.1 million square feet, has clear heights up to 21 feet, 40 dock doors and six drive-in doors. The three-building Marysville property measures 1.2 million square feet, clear heights up to 36 feet, 64 dock and 13 grade doors, along with 9,800 square feet of office space. Both properties also have access to rail and are used by Stellantis’ Mopar division.

The Milwaukee properties are within 10 miles of each other. They are close to interstates 94 and 41 and within 13 miles of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. The 840 Huron Blvd. asset is close to St. Clair County International Airport and provides easy access to interstates 94 and 69.

Executive Director Tony Avendt and Senior Director Jeff Hoffman with Cushman & Wakefield brokered the Stellantis deal. First Financial Bank Senior Vice President & Regional Manager Jeff Cartwright provided the senior financing for the former Regal Rexnord campus acquisition.

Big purchases in the Midwest

Another large industrial acquisition in the Midwest region closed last month. SL Industrial Partners picked up a 17-building portfolio in Chicago’s suburbs. The assets were 92 percent leased at the time of closing.

In November, Industrial Realty Group purchased a 965,134-square-foot campus in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro. The company plans to redevelop the property.

A month earlier, InSite Real Estate sold a 1.1 million-square-foot property in Monroe, Mich., for $139.5 million. The asset was fully leased to Ford Motor Co.

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Onward Investors has acquired Ameriprise Financial Center, a 960,000-square-foot office building in Minneapolis.

The high-rise traded for $6.3 million, representing a nearly 97 percent discount from its previous open-market sale price of $200 million in 2016, The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported. GHR Foundation sold the asset after assuming control of the building in 2023, following the previous owner’s execution of a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

Morning Calm Management acquired the asset in 2016, according to CommercialEdge. The firm took out a $137.8 million loan financed by the seller, The Opus Group.

Located at 707 Second Ave. S., the property is in the city’s business district and less than 10 miles from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.

READ ALSO: What’s Defining Office in 2025?

Constructed in 2000, the 31-story high-rise has floorplates averaging 35,000 square feet and an adjacent four-story parking ramp with 300 spots. Onward Investors is considering various possibilities for the property, including repurposing all or part of the building for non-office uses. Ameriprise Financial, which had its headquarters at the building since its completion, announced in late 2022 that it will vacate the space.

Last year, the Minneapolis Council passed the Office to Residential Conversions Amendment, which streamlines review processes, eliminates public hearing requirements and temporarily exempts converted buildings from the affordable housing policy for five years.

Minneapolis office activity

In December, Onward Investors formed a joint venture with Cross Ocean Partners and Neuberger Berman Special Situations client funds for the acquisition of Wells Fargo Center, the third-tallest building in Minneapolis. Starwood Capital Group sold the 57-story, 1.2 million-square-foot asset.

Last year, Minneapolis’ office investment volume totaled more than $735 million, an 181 percent increase from 2023, according to a CBRE report. Additionally, the market’s vacancy rate as of December clocked in at 24.1 percent, a 10-basis-point decrease quarter-over-quarter. Nevertheless, the city’s central business submarket recorded one of the highest rates at 27.6 percent, the same report shows.

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DLC has obtained $41.7 million in acquisition financing from Webster Bank for Danada Square West, a 314,819-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Wheaton, Ill.

The firm had purchased the asset from PGIM Real Estate for $61.7 million earlier this month, in a joint venture with Crow Holdings Capital and Temerity Strategic Partners. JLL represented the borrower in arranging the five-year, fixed-rate note.

Completed in 1988, Danada Square West was 92.7 percent leased at closing. The property is part of a major retail cluster at Butterfield Road and Naperville Road in west suburban DuPage County, roughly 30 miles from downtown Chicago.

A Jewel-Osco grocery store, which has been a tenant since the property opened, anchors the shopping center. The roster also features a mix of national retailers, including TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Burlington, The Paper Store, Ulta and Five Below.

The new owner is focusing on filling the nearly 23,000 square feet that are vacant, with letters of intent already under review. In addition, recent upgrades and leasing momentum from national tenants have set the stage for the property’s further appreciation.

JLL Senior Managing Director Scott Aiese, Managing Director Christopher Knight and Director Alex Staikos led the Capital Markets’ Debt Advisory team representing DLC.

READ ALSO: What’s in Store for Retail in 2025?

The acquisition of Danada Square West was DLC’s first deal with Crow Holdings Capital and its 10th with Temerity Strategic Partners. The firm has acquired more than $400 million in open-air shopping centers in the last 12 months.

In one of the more recent purchases, DLC paid $76.3 million for a shopping center portfolio in metro Columbus, Ohio, in partnership with Principal Asset Management. The two properties total 622,000 square feet.

Chicago retail development soft, rents are up

Chicago has a tight retail market, despite sluggish population and income growth recently in the metro area. By mid-2024, the vacancy rate dropped to a new record low of 5.1 percent, the result of seven consecutive quarters of decline, according to a Marcus & Millichap report. The lowest vacancy rate previously was 5.9 percent in 2018.

The reason for the current market climate, according to the brokerage, is that developers put the brakes on during the pandemic, combined with the higher cost of construction and construction financing in the years immediately after the pandemic. 

Strong net absorption in recent quarters has driven up single-tenant asking rents for Chicago retail, reaching an average of $20.13 per square foot, Marcus & Millichap reported.

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DLC Management Corp. has received a combined $43.7 million for a two-asset, 605,820-square-foot retail portfolio in metro Columbus, Ohio.

TriState Capital Bank provided a five-year, fixed-rate $30 million loan for Taylor Square in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, while Dollar Bank issued a five-year, $13.7 million note for Tuttle Crossing in Dublin, Ohio. JLL arranged both transactions.

DLC Management had purchased the two retail centers last month from the joint venture of Island Capital and Casto, for a total of $76.3 million. Institutional Property Advisors represented the seller.

Two metro Columbus retail centers

Completed in 2000 on a 48.3-acre site, the 378,102-square-foot Taylor Square underwent renovations in 2023. The property is at 2793 Taylor Road, just off Interstate 70, which is transited daily by 97,000 vehicles. The Walmart-anchored shopping center features 34 tenants including Marshalls, JoAnn, Dollar Tree and Bath & Body Works. Taylor Square was 99.7 percent leased at the time of the deal.

Tuttle Crossing is a 226,718-square-foot retail center covering an 18.7-acre site. Completed in 1996 and renovated in 2022, the Walmart shadow-anchored property currently has seven tenants including Best Buy, Ashley Furniture, Macy’s Furniture Gallery, Cost Plus World Market and Ross Dress For Less. The shopping center is at 5800 Britton Parkway near Interstate 270, a location transited daily by 117,360 vehicles. Tuttle Crossing was 97.8 percent leased at closing.

Downtown Columbus is 14 miles away from both properties, west of Taylor Square and south of Tuttle Crossing.

JLL Capital Markets Senior Managing Directors Scott Aiese and Claudia Steeb, together with Director Alex Staikos, led the Debt Advisory team that secured the financing package.

Grocery-anchored shopping centers continue to meet the needs of changing demographics, demonstrating their resilience. In 2025, the retail sector will lean even more into necessity-based retail, catering to the increasing demand for proximity-based and convenience-oriented shopping experiences.

The post DLC Management Lands $44M for Columbus Retail Duo appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

SL Industrial Partners has acquired a 925,391-square-foot, 17-building portfolio of industrial flex space across three business parks in Chicago’s suburbs. Cushman & Wakefield’s Vice Chairs Mike Tenteris, Adam Tyler and Jim Carpenter represented the seller.

Stockbridge previously owned the Class A assets, according to CommercialEdge information. The firm had acquired them in 2019 for a combined $73.4 million.

Located in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Vernon Hills, Ill., and Elgin, Ill., in the Lake County and Northern Fox Valley submarkets, the properties were 92 percent leased overall at the time of sale. The parks will be rebranded under the SL Business Center name.

READ ALSO: 2024 Industrial Net Lease Sales and Cap Rates

SL Industrial Partners is a member of The Silverman Group. The acquisition more than doubles the firm’s presence in the Chicago area, expanding its local portfolio to just under 2 million square feet.

Blake Silverman, president of The Silverman Group, told Commercial Property Executive his company is assessing opportunities to enhance these newly purchased properties. “A key part of our approach involves rebranding the parks and strategically repurposing availabilities to offer light industrial and flex configurations. This allows us to better cater to the specific requirements of small business tenants, while ensuring the properties remain versatile and aligned with market needs.”

The industrial parks, up close

SL Business Center at Buffalo Grove, at 1601 Barclay Blvd., is an eight-building park totaling 406,406 square feet of industrial flex space. Developed between 1989 and 1994, the single-story buildings range from 42,000 to 69,000 square feet and are suitable for office, industrial and manufacturing uses. Features include multiple dock and drive-in doors, and 15-foot clear heights. Its location has direct access to U.S. Route 45 and is close to Interstate 94.

SL Business Center at Vernon Hills, carrying the address 100 N. Fairway Drive, has five buildings totaling 281,340 square feet. Ranging from 43,000 to 69,000 square feet, the facilities feature office and flex suites, multiple dock and drive-in doors, and 14-foot, 6-inch clear heights. The park, located near U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 94, was completed in the late 1990s.

SL Business Center at Elgin is a four-building complex at 2511 Technology Drive comprising 237,645 square feet. Delivered between 2001 and 2003, the single-story structures range from 59,000 to 60,000 square feet and offer 18-foot clear heights. 

Deep strength

The Chicago industrial market witnessed a total investment volume of nearly $2.5 billion last year from January to November, according to a CommercialEdge report. The metro led the Midwest and ranked fourth nationally after Dallas ($4.2 billion), the Bay Area ($3 billion) and Houston ($2.8 billion). Assets changed hands for $94 per square foot, way below the national average of $128 per square foot.

In one of the more recent transactions, Standard Real Estate Investments and Trammell Crow Co. sold a 217,000-square-foot industrial property in Woodridge, Ill. IDI Logistics purchased the asset for $33.6 million.

The post SL Industrial Partners Buys Chicagoland Light Industrial Portfolio appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The mental health company ComPsych Corp. has signed a long-term, 50,000-square-foot lease at One Pru, in downtown Chicago.

The tenant will relocate from the current 152,000-square-foot space it occupies at NBC Tower and will establish its new headquarters on the 7th floor in the first quarter of 2027.

Riverside Investment & Development represented the ownership, while JLL worked on behalf of ComPsych.

One Pru is part of the 2.3 million square-foot The Pru, previously knows as Prudential Plaza, which also includes the 1.1 million Two Pru. Wanxiang America Real Estate Group has been the majority owner since 2018. The company owns the property together with Sterling Bay.

READ ALSO: What’s Defining Office in 2025?

The tenant roster includes Wilson Sporting Goods, Clark Hill, Lessen, The Terry Group and Hubbard Radio, among others, according to CommercialEdge information. Back in September 2024, it was announced that Expansive will occupy the 35th floor at Two Pru, marking its seventh coworking space in the metro.

Located at 130 E. Randolph St. and 180 N. Stetson Ave. in Chicago’s central business district, The Pru is across the street from Millennium Park and has access to multiple transportation options. Chicago O’Hare International Airport is 18 miles northwest of the property.

JLL Executive Vice President Brian Means and Senior Vice President Kellen Monti worked on behalf of ComPsych, while Riverside’s Senior Leasing Manager Annie Kwasigroch, together with Senior Vice President Dan Heckman, represented the ownership.

Current renovations at The Pru

Completed in 1955 and completely renovated in 2014, One Pru was the first skyscraper built in Chicago after World War II. The 41-story building features floorplates ranging between 22,000 and 70,000 square feet, 30 passenger elevators and 45,000 square feet of retail.

The ownership invested $50 million in 2024 in a new renovation plan for The Pru, currently underway, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. The upgrades will include a 20,000-square-foot conference center, coworking spaces and an entertainment suite.

Additionally, the outdoor deck will feature a pickleball court and a bar area. In the next two months, One and Two Pru will be connected through a glass-enclosed walkway, in order for tenants to easily access the 72,000-square-foot shared amenity space on the 11th floor.

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Bridge33 Capital has purchased Shops at CenterPoint, a 444,709-square-foot shopping center in Grand Rapids, Mich. The joint venture between DRA Advisors and Pine Tree sold the asset for $70 million, as reported by Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. Mid-America Real Estate Corp. represented the seller.

DRA and Pine Tree had acquired the property from an Apollo Global Management fund and Stonemar for $63.5 million in 2022, as reported by Commercial Real Estate Direct.

Originally completed in 1967 as Eastbrook Mall—an enclosed shopping center—the property underwent significant transformation in 2012 and 2013. During that interval, a portion of the mall was demolished to transform it into an outdoor shopping destination.

READ ALSO: Retail Space in Focus: What’s Driving the Sector’s Growth?

TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Sierra Trading Post, Nordstrom Rack, Golf Galaxy, Ulta, DSW, Old Navy, Dunham’s Sports and Planet Fitness now anchor the Shops at CenterPoint. Its tenant roster also includes a diverse mix of regional and national tenants such as Chick-Fil-A, J.Crew Factory, Five Below, Carhartt, Bath & Body Works, Chuck E. Cheese, Lands’ End, Potbelly, T-Mobile, Five Guys, Fifth Third Bank and Crumbl Cookies, among others. 

Located at 3665 28th St. SE, the shopping center is in an area where the daily car traffic totals more than 70,000 vehicles. Shops at CenterPoint serves approximately 195,000 residents within a 5-mile radius, with the average household income of $106,000.

Mid-America Principals Ben Wineman, Joe Girardi and Daniel Stern arranged the transaction for the joint venture.

A long list of DRA retail transactions

DRA had approximately $11.2 billion in assets under management at the end of September. The company’s funds currently own nearly 6.6 million square feet of retail space across 15 states.

Back in October, DRA and KPR Centers sold a 101,105-square-foot shopping center in Bethel, Conn. Phillips Edison & Co. acquired the property.

The same month, a fund managed by DRA acquired a three-property, 376,462-square-foot shopping center portfolio in Ocean County, N.J., in conjunction with Soundwater Properties. The assets were 94 percent leased at the time of sale.

And in September, a joint venture between a fund managed by DRA and MCB Real Estate acquired Falcon Ridge Town Center, a 273,424-square-foot retail center in Fontana, Calif., for $64.7 million. This marked the partnership’s first purchase.

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The outpatient facility will accommodate numerous specialty clinics. Many of the clinical services to be officed there are already available at the campus, but moving them to the new medical office building is intended to free up space in the hospital.

The expansion will also include the construction of a four-story hospital building that will add 72 new inpatient beds, as well as four operating rooms, three new surgical procedure rooms, eight new rooms for imaging and 10 more rooms for the emergency department. Delivery is expected by summer 2028.

READ ALSO: Why the Medical Outpatient Sector Is Poised for Growth in 2025

Cincinnati Children’s estimates that the initial overall investment in the Liberty Campus expansion will be $365 million, to include design, construction and medical equipment.

Hospital media staff have not replied to Commercial Property Executive’s request for additional information.

The 61-acre Liberty Campus opened in August 2008. It handled about 109,000 visits in its first year, a volume that has ballooned to more than 282,000 patient encounters a year, including an average of 60 surgeries a day.

Cincinnati health-care real estate on the rise

The health-care real estate market in Cincinnati saw several upticks in the third quarter of 2024, according to a Colliers report. The occupancy rate increased to 93.8 percent, up by 10 basis points over the quarter and 50 basis points over the year.

Meanwhile, absorption totaled 192,732 square feet in Q3, up from 124,770 square feet year-over-year. However, construction activity slowed down to only 137,000 square feet, signaling a tendency of stabilizing existing properties rather than building new product.

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Vertical Cold Storage, sponsored by Platform Ventures, has opened its 311,000-square-foot multi-modal distribution facility in Kansas City, Mo. The center, which features 47,000 pallet positions, includes blast freezing technology and multiple rooms that can be converted from +35 degrees F to -20 degrees F.

Vertical Cold Storage broke ground on the facility in November 2023. At the time, it was the firm’s eighth such property. Innovative materials and systems were used in the building design and construction to reduce energy consumption. Primus Builders served as lead contractor.

READ ALSO: Top 10 Markets for Cold Storage Development

The facility is at 14820 Cleveland Ave., adjacent to the CPKC intermodal terminal in South Kansas City and within 30 miles of the BNSF, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern terminals, giving it reach to and from anywhere in North America.

“Kansas City is a strategic hub … ideal for efficient distribution,” Mark Smid, CFO for Vertical Cold Storage, told Commercial Property Executive. “Its strong food and beverage production base and proximity to two-thirds of the U.S. population within a two-day drive made it the perfect choice for expanding our footprint.”

Vertical Cold Storage also has distribution centers in and around Chicago, Dallas, Indianapolis and Miami, among others. In July, the firm acquired its 10th cold storage facility, a warehouse in Dotham, Ala.

Appetite for cold storage

The vacancy rate for cold storage has significantly outperformed the overall broader industrial market since the inception of record keeping, according to Ed Halaburt, managing director at JLL Capital Markets.

He told CPE “This is likely due to a more constrained development pipeline within cold storage and the inelastic demand for food despite economic conditions.”

And the subsector is poised for growth, attracting investors, developers and financiers alike. “C-PACE financing, available in Missouri and on a near-national level, has become an increasingly popular construction and bridge financing tool across markets and asset classes, including cold storage, due to its flexible and cost-effective terms,” Francisco Crespo, director of originations with Nuveen Green Capital, told CPE.

“Nuveen Green Capital recently provided C-PACE financing for Class A cold storage projects, one in Philadelphia and another in Jacksonville, Fla.,” Crespo added. “By utilizing C-PACE, the sponsor was able to fill a gap in the project’s capital stack and obtain more leverage.”

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A 30-story, Class A office property at 303 E. Wacker Drive on Chicago’s East Loop secured in $62.5 million collateralized first mortgage, senior-secured acquisition and lease-up loans.

The loan comes from Northwind Group, a Manhattan-based real estate private equity firm, and was structured so that $32.5 million was advanced for the acquisition, with the remaining $30 million held back as a good-news facility for accretive future leasing costs.

Repeat Northwind borrowers 601W Companies and David Werner Real Estate Investments acquired the property at a significantly low basis, reflecting over a 65 percent discount to the previous purchase price.

John Vavas of Polsinelli Law Firm represented Northwind.

A star of the Chicago office market

The property, which totals over 1 million square feet and includes a 282-space parking garage, is 75 percent occupied, with five years remaining on the lease term.

Since the pandemic, some 300,000 square feet of new leases have been signed there, making it one of Chicago’s best-performing office buildings by leasing volume.

“For various reasons, the Chicago CBD has endured incredible trauma over the past several years,” Jeff Brown, CEO of T2 Capital Management, a real estate private equity firm located just outside Chicago, told Commercial Property Executive.

READ ALSO: What’s Defining Office in 2025?

“With this purchase within the East Loop office market, it is encouraging to see well-heeled groups step out and be contrarians while also providing a benchmark on pricing. 303 E Wacker is a core located property, and Northwind’s commitment to fund good news money (leasing commissions and tenant improvement allowances for new leases) bodes well for the property’s viability,” Brown said.

The prior owners renovated and upgraded the asset for $32 million, including a new amenity center on the 30^th floor overlooking Lake Michigan.

In August, a joint venture between two New York City-based firms—Lloyd Goldman’s BLDG Management Co. Inc. and David Werner Real Estate Investment—acquired 100 Wall St., a 29-story Manhattan building from Barings for $116 million with a loan from Northwind Group.

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Inland Real Estate Group of Cos. has announced the loss of cofounder Joe Cosenza. Cosenza, who passed away at age 81 on Dec. 25, was director & vice chairman of the group and president of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions L.L.C., managing the firm’s acquisition strategies and due diligence.

The loss marks a sad bookend to a year that began with the passing of another cofounder, Dan Goodwin, on Jan. 19. Cosenza, Goodwin and fellow schoolteachers Robert Baum and Robert Parks formed the company as a single-family homebuilder in 1968, expanding it over more than 50 years to a diversified commercial real estate powerhouse.

In an interview with CPE following Inland’s 50^th anniversary, Cosenza recalled such milestones as the company’s foray into sale-leasebacks with Walmart following the savings-and-loan implosion, a move that ultimately earned the company and its partners back value that would otherwise have been lost. He also credited the late ‘90s growth in brokerage and consequent increased transparency for a rise in sales prices.  

Inland has transacted more than $80 billion in deals to date, acquired more than $55 billion, and raised over $30 billion in capital through a range of 834 sponsored investment programs. It has owned hundreds of millions of square feet of commercial real estate and more than 96,000 apartment units, with member companies providing a full range of services, including leasing, property management, development, brokerage/acquisition and lending.

Cosenza and Goodwin met during college at Northeastern Illinois University. Cosenza went on to earn his masters degree from Northern Illinois University, and was a local teacher and then an assistant principal while building up the company.

Over the years, he was active in both the real estate and financial worlds, serving as chairman of the American National Bank of DuPage and a board member for the Continental Bank of Oakbrook Terrace, as well as part owner of American National Bank of DuPage and Burbank State Bank, in addition to being a past chairman and director of Inland Bank & Trust and director of Inland Bancorp Inc. Cosenza has also won many awards over the years, including membership in the Chicago Association of REALTORS Hall of Fame.

Matthew Tice and Mark Cosenza are now leading Inland’s acquisition business, as per the company’s succession plan.

The post Inland’s Joe Cosenza Passes Away appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Institutional Property Advisors has arranged the $76.3 million sale of a shopping center portfolio in metro Columbus, Ohio. The property collection consists of Taylor Square in Reynoldsburg and Tuttle Crossing in Dublin, two retail assets totaling 622,000 square feet.

Taylor Square traded for $55.3 million, while Tuttle Crossing sold for $21 million, according to CommercialEdge information.

Island Capital in partnership with Casto sold the two shopping centers to DLC Management and Principal Asset Management. IPA Senior Managing Directors Erin Patton, Scott Wiles and Craig Fuller brokered the deal on behalf of the sellers.

Two Walmart-anchored retail centers

Completed between 2000 and 2003, Taylor Square is a 395,074-square-foot retail center featuring nine one-story buildings. Just off Interstate 70 and near Route 256, Taylor Square is the largest shopping center in the area. The tenant roster at the Walmart Supercenter-anchored center includes JoAnn, Marshalls, Dollar Tree, Famous Footwear, Bath & Body Works and Smokey Bones. Taylor Square was 99 percent leased at the time of sale.

The 226,718-square-foot Tuttle Crossing in Dublin covers a 19-acre site. The shopping center is situated off Interstate 270 exit ramps at Tuttle Crossing Boulevard. Its tenant roster includes Best Buy, Foot Locker, JCPenney, Bath and Body Works and Macy’s. Tuttle Crossing is also anchored by a Walmart.

Downtown Columbus is equidistant to the two assets, some 14 miles west of Taylor Square and south of Tuttle Crossing.

The retail sector has seen a significant post-pandemic recovery, attracting both investors and luxury retailers. A JLL report attributes this improved performance to a pedestrian-friendly infrastructure that increases foot traffic in prime urban corridors, including Miami’s Design District, Boston’s Newbury Street and Seaport, as well as Chicago’s Fulton Market and Wicker Park.

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The Opus Group has started construction on 33 Commerce Center, a 250,829-square-foot speculative industrial project in Marysville, Ohio. Completion is scheduled for August 2025.

The development team includes AST Engineering as structural engineer and Lee & Associates Principals Mike Spencer and Todd Spencer as exclusive leasing brokers in charge. Besides developer, The Opus Group is also the designer, general contractor and architect of the project.

READ ALSO: Industrial Report: Automation and AI Shape Future Demand

The Class A, multi-tenant building will include 32-foot clear heights, interior and exterior LED lighting, four storefronts with clerestory windows, a 3,870-square-foot office component, 24 docks, four drive-in dock doors and trailer parking spaces. The property is designed for light assembly and manufacturing uses.

The asset is within Marysville’s 33 Innovation Park, an industrial campus owned and developed by Union County Marysville Economic Development Partnership. It includes customized development sites from 7 acres to 165 acres, one completed industrial building and two others in planning stages.

The master-planned campus allows for easy access to the Columbus, Ohio, metro and the Midwest region via interstates 270, 70 and 71, as well as to Ohio’s 33 Smart Corridor.

Columbus’ pipeline in top 10 nationwide

Columbus has one of the most active industrial pipelines in the Midwest, a recent CommercialEdge report shows. The metro had nearly 8 million square feet underway as of November, outperformed only by Kansas City, Mo., which had 11.7 million square feet. The amount represented 2.5 percent of existing stock, ahead of the 1.8 percent national figure. Columbus also ranked fifth nationwide among the top U.S. markets in terms of amount of space underway.

The post The Opus Group Kicks Off 251 KSF Columbus Project appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

VanTrust has broken ground on the 526,119-square-foot Building C at the 2.4 million-square-foot Platte International Commerce Center development in Greater Kansas City, Mo. The speculative facility may be expanded to 1.1 million square feet, with delivery expected by July 2025. JLL will handle the marketing and leasing efforts.

Whiting Turner Contracting Co., together with Olsson Engineers and M+H Architects, provide design-build services for the development.

Platte International Commerce Center is a $185 million, three-to-four-building industrial project benefitting from a 16-year, payment-in-lieu-of-taxes Abatement Program.

READ ALSO: Kansas City Industrial Development Pipeline Balloons

Building C will feature four drive-in doors, 52 dock doors, 36-foot clear heights, 56- by 47-foot bay spacing, as well as a 135-foot truck court. Additionally, the parking arrangements are slated to include 405 auto and 61 trailer spaces.

VanTrust broke ground on the development’s first facility—Building B, which measures 748,833 square feet—in 2023 and completed it earlier this year. The 319,200-square-foot Building A was pad ready as of April and may take shape as either a build-to-suit or speculative facility.

Central Power Systems & Services fully leased Building B and, according to Business Facilities, pledged to invest more than $28.5 million to expand its manufacturing capabilities. The tenant specializes in the assembly of natural gas and diesel generators, among others.

Located at 4400 State Route 92 in Platte City, Mo., Building C will be less than 2 miles from Interstate 29 and 6 miles from the Kansas City International Airport, as well as roughly 26 miles northwest of downtown Kansas City, Mo.

JLL Managing Director Phillip Algrim and Senior Managing Director Kevin Wilkerson spearhead the leasing efforts for Building C. 

Greater Kansas City’s strong industrial demand

Metro Kansas City’s industrial pipeline encompassed 3.9 million square feet of space under construction as of September, according to a report by JLL. More than 85 percent of this pipeline was preleased, reflecting strong demand.

The market witnessed 2.7 million square feet of industrial space delivered during the first nine months of the year, the same source shows. Meanwhile, the industrial vacancy rate stood at 5.6 percent in September and remained flat throughout the year.

In September, BGO and Yukon Real Estate Partners broke ground on another industrial project in the metro. The 291,000-square-foot cold storage facility will open in the third quarter of next year.

The post VanTrust Breaks Ground on 526 KSF Kansas City Project appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

A joint venture of Cross Ocean Partners, Neuberger Berman Special Situations client funds and Onward Investors has acquired Wells Fargo Center, the third-tallest building in Minneapolis. Starwood Capital Group previously owned the 57-story, 1.2 million-square-foot high-rise, according to CommercialEdge.

The asset traded before in April 2019, when Starwood acquired it from Hines Interests for $313.6 million, the same source shows. After the acquisition, Starwood implemented several building upgrades.

The Class A skyscraper was developed in 1987, after a former building at the site was destroyed in the largest fire in U.S. history at the time. The high-rise became Norwest Corp.’s headquarters, a company that has later merged with Wells Fargo.

The LEED Gold-certified property features floorplates ranging between 11,000 and 30,707 square feet. Amenities include a fitness center, wellness rooms and a communal lounge, coworking spaces and focus rooms, as well as a conference center with training rooms.

Located in the city’s downtown at 90 S. Seventh St., the transit-oriented building was 62 percent leased at the time of sale, with tenants including BMO Capital Markets, Jones Day and KPMG.

Minneapolis’s recent office activity

Minneapolis’ office investment volume in the third quarter of this year reached $105 million, with sales in suburban areas accounting for most of the transactions, according to a CBRE report. The rolling four-quarter sales activity totaled nearly $524 million. Additionally, the market’s vacancy rate at the end of the third quarter clocked in at 23.9 percent.

In February, Ryan Cos. agreed to purchase a large portion of the Thomson Reuters campus in Eagan, Minn. The deal involved 179 acres of the 263-acre complex, including a 1.1 million-square-foot office building, three data centers and 90 acres of undeveloped land.

The post Neuberger JV Buys 1.2 MSF Minneapolis Tower appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

In partnership with Skybox Datacenters, Prologis is converting one of its warehouses into a high-capacity, turnkey data center with a marketed capacity of 32 MW.

The announcement did not include any further information on the transaction or the property, including its location. However, the Skybox website describes a similar project: Skybox Chicago I, a 10-acre, 190,000-square-foot, 30 MW in the northwestern Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, Ill.

Prologis stated that warehouse conversions are a key element of the company’s data center strategy, and that the warehouse in question is held in the U.S. Logistics Fund, a Prologis co-investment vehicle that’s focused on “premier logistics real estate, including higher and better use conversions.”

READ ALSO: Are Data Centers Immune to CRE Market Forces?

In a statement, Chris Curtis, global head of data centers, said that owning the world’s largest portfolio of warehouses gives Prologis the ability to identify higher-value conversion opportunities among the company’s approximately 5,600 buildings and 12,400 acres of land.

Prologis stated that over the next four years, it intends to develop about 20 data center projects, representing $7 billion to $8 billion in additional investment.

Sustained heat

The buyer has acquired the property under its DigiCo Infrastructure REIT, which reportedly intends to amass a AUD$4.3 billion ($2.76 billion) portfolio of data centers in Australia and the U.S.

In May, Commercial Property Executive took the temperature of the rapidly heating data center sector, in which Prologis and Blackstone are leaders among a sizable number of commercial real estate firms looking to take advantage of the AI-driven boom in data center development.

And earlier this month, we looked at the sector again, this time partly through the lens of the White House’s National Security Memorandum on AI.

The post Prologis, Skybox Sell Chicago-Area Data Center Project appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Continental Realty Corp. has sold Oakland Plaza, a 167,000-square-foot shopping center in Troy, Mich., on behalf of its Continental Realty Opportunistic Retail Fund I LP. RCG Ventures bought the property for $25.6 million.

Prior to this transaction, CRC also sold two Oakland Plaza outparcels for a combined $3.4 million, bringing the total sale proceeds to $29 million. This was the first property disposition on behalf of CRORF.

CRC had acquired Oakland Plaza, along with the adjacent Oakland Square, in 2021. The deal marked the firm’s entrance in Michigan and also CRORF’s first purchase.

Mid-America Real Estate Corp. Managing Brokers Ben Wineman and Daniel Stern worked on behalf of the seller and procured the buyer in the current transaction.

An improved retail property

Located at 268 John R Road, Oakland Plaza was completed in 1979 and underwent renovations in 1994 and 2014. TJ Maxx, Michael’s and Planet Fitness anchor the two-building property. The tenant roster also comprises Sally Beauty Supply and Vitamin Shoppe.

Under CRC’s ownership, the shopping center’s occupancy increased from 71 to 97 percent. New tenants included Kids Empire, Rally House and several restaurants across a combined 53,000-square-foot space. The former owner modernized the property, repainting the entire center and repaving the parking lot.

Oakland Plaza is across from the 1.5 million-square-foot Oakland Mall, in an area where the daily car traffic reaches approximately 32,000 vehicles. The shopping center serves more than 300,000 individuals within a 5-mile radius, with average household incomes north of $84,000. Interstate 75 is less than 1 mile away and downtown Detroit is some 16 miles south.

CRC currently owns and oversees more than 8 million square feet of commercial space across 12 states. The firm recently entered Utah with the purchase of a 630,000-square-foot super-regional shopping center in Salt Lake City, also on behalf of CRORF.

The post CRC Sells Metro Detroit Retail Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

With a $3 billion investment, Eli Lilly and Co. will expand its manufacturing operations at a facility purchased earlier this year in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Construction on a new manufacturing building is expected to begin next year.

This is the company’s single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside of its home state of Indiana, according to prepared remarks by Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president & president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations. Lilly’s latest Indiana investment clocked in at $5.3 billion in May.

The Pleasant Prairie facility

Lilly acquired the Pleasant Prairie plant in April from Nexus Pharmaceuticals. However, the facility is yet to be fully operational and Lilly expects production to start by the end of 2025.

The property is inside the 440-acre Prairie Highlands Corporate Park, which is located along a stretch of Interstate 94 running about 40 miles south of Milwaukee. Notable tenants at the park include Advocate Aurora Health Care and HARIBO of America.

READ ALSO: Manufacturing’s Comeback Gains Ground

Upon completion, the expanded facility will use advanced automation—incorporating guided vehicles and robotics—to enhance the company’s medicine production. The plant will produce injectable medicines and assemble and package products across various therapeutic areas and allow Lilly to grow its existing and future medicine pipeline in the Midwest.

As of December, the company’s footprint at the Pleasant Prairie site totaled 696,960 square feet, according to Kenosha News.

Lilly’s manufacturing expansion

The firm has gradually expanded in Kenosha County since the beginning of the year. In November, Lilly paid $40.8 million for a 323,930-square-foot warehouse in the nearby Bristol, Wis., and another $10.2 million for 30.9 acres surrounding that property, according to BizTimes. This brought the company’s total planned investment across Wisconsin to $4 billion.

At a global scale, Lilly has deployed upward of $23 billion for the construction and expansion, as well as the acquisition, of manufacturing sites since 2020. The company’s medication aims to combat diabetes, obesity and cancer, among others.

Chicago industrial investment soars

Greater Chicago’s industrial investment volume totaled more than $2.6 billion during the first 10 months of the year, according to a CommercialEdge report. For the first three quarters, the metro’s industrial sales were $678.2 million higher than the figure registered during the same period of last year.

However, Chicagoland was not one of the top 3 Midwest markets for industrial pipeline size, the same source shows. The metro had only about 6.9 million square feet under construction as of October, behind Kansas City (11.7 million square feet), Columbus, Ohio (8.1 million square feet) and Detroit (7.7 million square feet).

One of the largest projects underway in the market is Plainfield Business Center, developed in phases by Trammell Crow Co. At full build-out, the industrial campus will comprise 8 million square feet.

The post Lilly Earmarks $3B for Metro Chicago Facility appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Ryan Cos. has broken ground on a 160,000-square-foot industrial development in the South Side submarket of Chicago. This addition is the final phase of Pullman Crossings and is expected to come online in August next year.

The developer entered into a joint venture with Namdar Realty Group and Mason Asset Management for the project.

Pullman Crossings’ fourth and final speculative building will rise at 10800 S. Doty Ave. Plans call for 32-foot clear heights, ESFR sprinklers and designs intended to cater for multiple uses, such as distribution, warehousing and light manufacturing. Additionally, the building will have outdoor eating spaces and exterior bike racks.

READ ALSO: Top 5 Markets for Industrial Deliveries

The 10-acre site is across Interstate 94 and allows easy access to Interstate 57, while being 19 miles from Chicago Midway International Airport and within 23 miles of Gary-Chicago International Airport.

Since 2017, Ryan Cos. developed three other industrial buildings at Pullman Crossings, encompassing 685,000 square feet. Two are used as distribution centers by Whole Foods and Amazon, while the third is a warehouse used by SC Johnson.

Chicago industrial pipeline dwindles

Chicago had nearly 7 million square feet of industrial space under construction as of October, according to a recent CommercialEdge industrial report. Among Midwestern markets, Chicago placed fourth, while Kansas City remained the leader with 11.7 million square feet underway.

Significant projects in the metro include Venture One Real Estate’s 2 million-square-foot built-to-suit project in Crown Point, Ind. The company received city approvals in March. In early November, Trammell Crow Co. started construction on the first building of Plainfield Business Center, which is slated to include more than 8 million square feet of space in Plainfield, Ill.

The post Ryan Cos. JV Moves Forward With Chicago Industrial Park appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Omega Morgan, a specialist in moving heavy rigging and machinery, has inked a 250,020-square-foot lease for the entire Building D of The Cubes at Etna, a master-planned industrial park in Etna Township, Ohio, in the metro Columbus market.

The landlord, CRG, developed the spec building and completed it less than a year ago. Contegra Construction served as general contractor, while Lamar Johnson Collaborative was the architect.

Omega Morgan leased the facility as part of its ongoing expansion in the region. The company operates across much of the U.S. and Canada, and plans to utilize the building for distribution services across the Ohio Valley region.

Joe Kimener of CBRE represented CRG in the lease and Nick Tomasone of JLL negotiated on behalf of the tenant.

Part of a master-planned industrial campus

Building D has a rear-load design with 36-foot clear heights, 32 fully equipped dock positions (expandable to 50), a 60-foot speed bay and 62 trailer stalls. The facility is adjacent to the interchange of Interstate 70 and Ohio Highway 310, providing immediate access to major transportation routes.

The facility is the third development at The Cubes at Etna. The industrial campus occupies 305 acres of former farmland that CRG and its capital partner, LXP Industrial Trust, acquired in 2018. The property received a 15-year, 100 percent tax abatement.

The master-planned park also includes a 1.2 million-square-foot build-to-suit fulfillment center for retailer Kohl’s, that came online in 2020. A separate 1.1 million-square-foot speculative distribution facility, known as Building E, was completed in late 2022 and leased to a manufacturing tenant for a new distribution center.

All together, including the buildings at The Cubes at Etna, CRG has developed more than 53 million square feet of industrial projects nationwide. The Cubes is the company’s national industrial development platform.

Columbus industrial supply exceeds demand

Spec industrial deliveries in Greater Columbus in the third quarter of 2024 upped the market’s vacancy by 60 basis points, with overall vacancy now at 7 percent, according to CBRE data. However, buildings under 100,000 square feet were less available for lease, marking a 2 percent vacancy rate.

Vacancies were up even though construction activity dropped in Q3, with four industrial developments adding 2 million square feet to the market, CBRE reports. The completed square footage was down by 22 percent quarter-over-quarter and 50.4 percent year-over-year.

Besides Building D at The Cubes at Etna, other developments in greater Columbus have been fully leased recently, including Building A at Canal Pointe Industrial Park, Building 1 at Silicon Heartland Innovation Park, and 885 Stelzer Road. Also, 1050 Gateway Drive is 82 percent leased.

The post CRG Lands Full-Building Tenant Near Columbus appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Venture One Real Estate has closed on VenturePark65, an industrial build-to-suit project encompassing 2 million square feet in Crown Point, Ind. Lee & Associates will lead the marketing efforts.

Hallmark Construction Co., together with Venture One, requested a zoning modification in January. Lake County Council unanimously approved the motion in March. Additionally, the development will benefit from a 50 percent tax abatement for 10 years.

VenturePark65 may take on two forms. The conceptual design envisions either a 2 million-square-foot single-facility plan or a two-building layout with the structures slated to measure 1 million square feet and 859,940 square feet. Across both plans, the buildings would have 40-foot clear heights and four drive-in doors.

READ ALSO: Chicago’s Industrial Sales Lead the Midwest

Located on roughly 137 acres at the intersection of 101st Avenue and Interstate 65, VenturePark65’s site is more than 47 miles southeast of downtown Chicago and approximately 20 miles from the Port of Indiana, as well as some 45 miles from the Midway Airport.

Lee & Associates Principal Brian Vanosky and Executive Vice President Michael O’Leary will lead VenturePark65’s marketing efforts.

In September, Venture One partnered with DRA Advisors to purchase a 718,709-square-foot, fully leased industrial asset in Monee, Ill., just 28 miles from VenturePark65’s site. Venture One’s acquisition fund, VK Industrial VI closed the deal. Kovitz Investment Group, along with Venture One, co-sponsored the fund. Additionally, the duo co-sponsored VK Industrial VII, utilized in the acquisition of a 421,638-square-foot industrial portfolio throughout the Windy City.

Chicagoland’s industrial pipeline shrinks

At the end of September, metro Chicago’s industrial pipeline included 11 million square feet under construction. Of these, 5.7 million square feet were in build-to-suit projects, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. The pipeline shrunk 42.7 percent year-over-year.

During the third quarter, developers broke ground on 16 industrial projects throughout the Windy City, while last year 46 developments were added to the pipeline during the same interval, the report shows.

In terms of industrial completions, Chicago had 10.3 million square feet added to its inventory during the first nine months of the year, a 52.9 percent decrease year-over-year, the same source reveals. However, build-to-suit deliveries rose 18.2 percent year-over-year, clocking in at 2.7 million square feet year-to-date through September.

The post Venture One Eyes 2 MSF Chicago-Area Industrial Project appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The transaction marks the first sale in the $150 million investment vehicle for minority-owned firm Standard.

Located at 8110 Lemont Road, the 217,000-square-foot facility is on a 17-acre parcel in the Village of Woodridge, Ill. It is 99.6 percent occupied, and rent is $8.29 per square foot. The facility includes 22 dock doors with 130-foot truck courts, a single-load, 291-foot-deep building and 270 parking spaces.

Two miles north of the I-55/I-355 interchange, the location offers efficient access to more than 4 million people within a 20-mile radius.

Chicago’s strong industrial market

Suburban Chicago is experiencing a significant boom in industrial development, driven by several key factors, Doug Ressler, business manager at Yardi, told Commercial Property Executive.

“The surge in online shopping has increased the demand for last-mile warehouses and distribution centers,” he said. “Companies like Amazon are expanding their footprint with large facilities in suburban areas like Markham and Matteson.”

Developers are constructing industrial spaces on speculation, anticipating high demand, Ressler added. “For example, a major 880,000-square-foot speculative facility is being built in Monee.”

According to Ressler, some suburban office spaces are being converted into industrial use due to changing market dynamics and the need for more warehouse space.

“Many new developments are strategically located along key transportation corridors like Interstate 55 and I-80, facilitating efficient logistics and distribution. These developments are part of a broader trend to meet the growing needs of businesses and consumers in the region.”

Tenants have a deep demand for shallow-bay industrial products, especially when the space is proximate to end-customer rooftops, according to Palladius Capital Management CEO Nitin Chexal.

“The Chicago MSA is one of the strongest in the country for this kind of product. We recently sold Woodridge Commerce Center in July of 2024. We are selling a large shallow-bay portfolio across the Great Chicago metro that closes in December and will be closing on another acquisition in January 2025.”

READ ALSO: Top 10 Markets for Cold Storage Development

The fundamentals within the Chicago industrial market have shown substantial resilience over the past 12 months where some markets across the country have not fared so well, Erik Foster, principal & head of industrial capital markets for Avison Young, told CPE. “This will lead to continued industrial asset optimism in the Greater Chicago area, which is positive for landlords and future investors.”

With the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates and industrial remaining one of the strongest property types, the metro Chicago industrial investment sales volume rose to $774.4 million in the third quarter, according to Nick Schlanger, director of research at NAI Hiffman.

This represents a 16.5 percent increase from the third quarter of 2023 and is significantly higher than the first-quarter figure of $370.7 million and the second quarter’s $454.5 million.

“Chicago industrial tenant demand remains strong, vacancy rates are still low, and rents continue to rise,” Schlanger said. “These market fundamentals led to robust pricing for industrial investment opportunities in 2024 and should produce a very active 2025.”

Trammell Crow Co. this month broke ground on the first building at Plainfield Business Center, a more than 8 million-square-foot industrial campus in Plainfield, Ill. The 788,000-square-foot speculative warehouse is forecast to be delivered by next fall.

Standard deals

Recently, Standard invested in several industrial projects, including the Apopka Business Center in Orlando, Fla., in partnership with TCC; Veterans Memorial Business Park, a 463,000-square-foot speculative, Class A industrial park in Houston in partnership with IDV; and a 180,000-square-foot industrial project in Reno, Nev., in partnership with Mohr Capital.

In addition to these projects, Standard targets transactions with a preference for shovel-ready warehouse/logistics properties of approximately 150,000 to 500,000 square feet in major logistics markets nationwide.

The post Trammell Crow JV Sells Chicago Industrial Asset appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

PREIT has obtained $80 million to refinance Woodland Mall, a 1.2 million-square-foot shopping mall in Grand Rapids, Mich. Starwood Capital originated the loan, according to CommercialEdge information.

The note has a fixed 7.35 percent interest rate over five years. The JLL-arranged transaction will save the company roughly $5 million in interest expenses.

The property’s previous debt was a $130 million loan originated by U.S. Bank in 2016, the same source shows. Five years later, the lender agreed to amend and restate the note.

Then, in 2023, the mortgage was modified twice. The final amendment moved its maturity date to November 2024 with an additional option to extend through May 2025.

A closer look at the super-regional mall

Woodland Mall came online in 1969 on some 61 acres. In the late 1990s the property underwent several renovations including new flooring and curves to the ceiling throughout the mall, and new lighting and decor. PREIT acquired the asset in 2006 for $177.4 million and started redeveloping it prior to the pandemic.

READ ALSO: Retail’s Post-Pandemic Recovery

In 2017, Sears closed the 313,000-square-foot store that anchored the property. The structure was demolished and replaced with an expansion wing that includes a nearly 90,000-square-foot Von Maur store, the retailer’s first West Michigan location.

Apart from Von Maur, the shopping mall now features more than 100 regional and national retailers such as JCPenney, Macy’s, Phoenix Theaters, Barnes & Noble, MAC, Apple, Lego, Claire’s, Forever 21, Game Stop, Lush, Starbucks, Pandora, Sephora, Urban Outfitters, The Cheesecake Factory and Spencer’s, among others.

Located at 3195 28th St. SE, Woodland Mall is in an area where the daily traffic count reaches approximately 85,000 vehicles, according to PREIT. The super-regional mall attracts shoppers from a 60-mile area and serves households with the average income of more than $100,000 within a 15-mile radius.

The post PREIT Gets $80M for Michigan Shopping Mall appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

CFM Properties has obtained a combined $38.5 million for The Gateway Center, a 272,300-square-foot regional shopping center in West Bloomfield, Mich. Citibank and Red Oak Capital Holdings provided the financing.

The larger note, originated by Citibank, is a five-year, $24 million CMBS loan, according to CommercialEdge information. The interest-only note carries a rate of 7.7 percent.

The $14.5 million bridge loan issued by Red Oak is also interest-only, with a two-year initial term. Red Oak’s Stratos Athanassiades, Thomas Gorski and Jesus Martinez handled the financing proceedings. SF Capital Group’s Matt Shane was also instrumental in the deal.

The property’s previous debt included a $42.5 million financing package originated by Seven Hills Realty Trust in 2021. Of the total, approximately $5.1 million were earmarked for tenant improvements and capital expenditures.

Rethinking Gateway Center

Completed in 1999 on a 3-acre site, The Gateway Center was 95 percent leased at the time of closing. Retailers such as Whole Foods, Kohl’s, Walgreens and Dunham’s Sports anchor the property.

The bridge loan proceeds will refinance only part of the shopping center, the 115,491-square-foot portion that includes Kohl’s, Harbor Seafood, J. Alexanders Restaurant, four other in-line stores and a currently empty lot. The remainder will be refinanced through the CMBS note.

CFM Properties plans to retain the Kohl’s pad and sell all outparcels to pay back the Red Oak loan. The ownership also intends to either redevelop Kohl’s into a luxury residential community or renew Kohl’s lease and refinance the pad long-term. 

The Gateway Center is at 7130-7440 Orchard Lake Road, near U.S. Road 10. Downtown Detroit is some 23 miles southeast. 

The post CFM Properties Lands $39M for Detroit-Area Retail Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The expansion, part of a $7 billion investment, marks the network-neutral interconnection and hyperscale edge data center company’s continued presence in Central Ohio’s digital infrastructure.

The campus will feature eight AI-ready data centers when fully built-out, delivering a potential 800 MW of scalable capacity across 2 million square feet.

“This new 800 MW data center campus will help us meet the growing demand for AI-ready infrastructure,” Chris Heinrich, chief revenue officer at Cologix, told Commercial Property Executive.

Central Ohio is a premier area for data center expansion thanks to its strategic location and robust infrastructure, Heinrich explained. “The region’s accelerating tech ecosystem and highly skilled workforce make it an ideal hub for innovation and growth. Breaking ground in 2025, this campus will mark the next step in our commitment to driving innovation and enabling our customers’ digital transformation.”

READ ALSO: Getting in the Heads of Data Center Tenants

Heinrich said Cologix recognized Central Ohio’s potential over a decade ago, identifying it as a strategic hub for digital growth. Since then, it has become the largest colocation provider in the region.

Cologix operates four data centers in Columbus with a combined footprint of 500,000 square feet and 80 MW of power.

“This area is rapidly becoming the digital heartland for tech businesses,” Heinrich said. “As demand for AI-ready infrastructure grows, Cologix sees even more opportunities to expand its colocation and interconnection footprint to help power customers across North America.”

Columbus’ data center market expansion

The Columbus data center market has experienced tremendous growth over the last five years, far exceeding the national average, according to Andrew Batson, head of U.S. data center research for JLL.

Across colocation and hyperscale facilities, the Columbus market has grown from 160 MW in 2019 to 2,100 MW in 2024, increasing 13 times in just five years.

“Columbus has many advantages working for it: abundant and affordable land, power rates below the national average, proximity to the national long-haul fiber-optic network, a growing labor pool, and a central Midwest location with seamless transportation options,” Batson said.

Before the surge in data center development in Columbus several years ago, the region had excess power capacity and offered relatively quick connections to the grid, Batson added. “Power capacity has become more constrained, and connection lead times have increased. Still, the current conditions in the region are on par with what data center developers and operators will find in other markets across the US.”

Columbus began to grow at scale in the late 2010s as a hyperscale market. Similar to the growth trajectory of other data center markets, one large hyperscale investment attracted other hyperscalers, which in turn attracted a number of colocation providers.

Columbus has since grown into a complete data center ecosystem with over 2.1 GW commissioned facilities, a trained data center labor force, and roughly 6 GW of land-banked sites.

Vantage Data Centers is another firm that has invested in the Columbus area. Last month, the company made a $2 billion investment and broke ground on a 192-megawatt campus dubbed OH1.

The facility will be more than 1.5 million square feet on 70 acres in New Albany, a suburb northeast of Columbus. Upon completion, it will total more than 1.5 million square feet and be designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.

The post Cologix Plans $7B Data Center Campus appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Patmos is expanding its Kansas City, Mo., presence with a second data center campus. The company is spending $1 billion to repurpose a vacant printing plant, formerly used by Kansas City Star, into a 100-megawatt facility.

The data center and cloud provider will oversee each development phase in-house and expects to have the first 5 megawatts online next month. Over a period of 18 months, the firm plans to have 40 megawatts ready.

Patmos’ new facility at 1601 McGee St. will have liquid and immersion cooling systems, along with rear-door heat exchangers.

The property is roughly 1 mile away from the company’s first Kansas City data center, a 4-megawatt facility at 1325 Tracy Ave. Patmos also has data centers in Dallas and Phoenix.

READ ALSO: How AI Is Pushing Cloud Data Center Providers to Scale Up

Ambassador Hospitality LLC owns the building, having picked it up in 2019 for $30.1 million, according to CommercialEdge data. Initially, Kansas City Star had plans to lease back the property for another 15 years, but it moved out in 2022, and the asset remained vacant until Patmos signed the agreement to occupy it, Kansas City Business Journal reported.

Midwest data center sector grows

Kansas City is one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the U.S. The metro’s low natural disaster risk together with its affordable green energy and robust fiber optic infrastructure contribute to its increased popularity among developers, which in turn helps grow data center talent in the region.

On a larger scale, the Midwest is attracting more and more investment from the data center sector. Last month, Vantage Data Centers begun work on a $2 billion development, in Columbus, Ohio—its first project in the region.

In Chicago, one of the primary data center markets, CyrusOne started construction on its second data center campus. Plans call for two buildings, encompassing 446,000 square feet, which will deliver an initial 40 megawatts.

The post Patmos to Build $1B Kansas City Data Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Vista Property Group has received $32 million for the refinancing of 609 West Randolph, its 95,000-square-foot, Class A boutique office building in Chicago’s West Loop/Fulton Market. JPMorgan Chase & Co. provided the five-year, 7.23 percent fixed-rate loan in a deal arranged by JLL.

The transaction marked the second refinancing of the property this year, according to CommercialEdge information. Initially, Vista took out a $30.7 million construction loan from Bank OZK in 2021, which matured in January.

Then, the owner obtained a $30.4 million in bridge financing from the same lender. That note had a maturity date set in January 2025.

READ ALSO: Life Cos. Drive More Lending While Banks Take a Back Seat

Completed in 2022, the office building features touchless technology and floorplates of 5,500 to 7,100 square feet. Amenities include a penthouse lounge and conference room, a green rooftop space with an amenity terrace, offices with private outdoor terraces and a lobby design modeled after boutique hotels.

The LEED Silver-certified property was 93.5 percent leased at the time of closing to 10 tenants. The roster includes Fetch Rewards, Buford Capital and NTT Data, among others.

Because it’s barely a block from the Ogilvie Transportation Center, the building offers quick access to three Metra commuter rail lines, as well as two Chicago Transit Authority elevated lines and numerous CTA bus lines. In addition, Interstate 90/94 is two blocks west.

JLL’s Debt Advisory team led by Managing Director Christopher Knight, Associate Matt Maksymec and Analyst Katia Novi represented the borrower.

Seeking stability

Chicago’s CBD office market is seeing greater stability, as total availability has decreased for two straight quarters, to 28.9 percent, according to a third-quarter report from Colliers.

Further, some timelines for proposed new developments have been pushed back to 2026–27, as office-to-residential conversions too are reducing office inventory.

In Fulton Market specifically, the total availability is 22.4 percent, on an inventory of 7.7 million square feet.

In July, Fulton Street Cos. topped out 919 West Fulton, their $300 million, 409,000-square-foot office building in the West Loop/Fulton Market submarket. The 11-story building is expected to open next year.

The post Vista Property Group Refinances Chicago Office Building appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Industrial Realty Group has purchased a 965,134-square-foot industrial portfolio in St. Cloud, Minn., within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro. Minnesota Logistics LLC sold seven buildings, while Maiers Transport & Warehousing Inc. sold the eighth, according to Stearns County public records.

IRG will redevelop the eight properties—part of St. Cloud Industrial Park—and has tapped Colliers to handle leasing at the campus.

Publisher’s Clearinghouse is the largest tenant of the industrial park. It will soon vacate the space, a transition that will allow IRG to attract a mix of distribution, manufacturing or warehousing tenants. Following the redevelopment, availabilities will range from 50,000 to 500,000 square feet.

The buildings are:

• 720 Anderson Ave. & 730 Anderson Ave., two 1969-built assets totaling 275,040 square feet
• 710 Anderson Ave., a 102,968-square-foot property completed in 1971
• 5 Mcleland Road, which came online in 1964 and has 106,528 square feet
• 19 & 21 Mcleland Road, two buildings completed in 1967 and totaling 222,940 square feet
• 20 Mcleland Road, a 161,968-square-foot building completed in 1985
• 30-34 Mcleland Road, a single, 1968-built asset totaling 114,789 square feet

All buildings are one-story with dock levelers and bumpers, loading doors, fire sprinklers. The portfolio has clear heights ranging from 12 to 21 feet. The campus is also rail-served and allows for easy access to Interstate 94 and to U.S. Highway 10. St. Cloud Regional Airport is 9 miles away, while Minneapolis is within 72 miles.

The deal comes about seven months after Fulfillment Distribution Center, another tenant at the campus, announced it will be laying off more than 350 employees after its client, Publisher’s Clearinghouse, decided to close its commerce line, St. Cloud Times reported.

The Colliers team in charge of leasing includes Vice President Casey O’Malley, Vice Chair Andy Lubinski, Associate Vice President Aaron Whitmore and Senior Associate Ethan Haglund.

Twin Cities metro ranks second for Midwest sales

A total of $862 million in industrial assets changed hands in the Twin Cities year-to-date through September, according to a recent CommercialEdge industrial report. Across Midwestern markets, only Chicago ranked higher, with $2.1 billion in sales.

In May, EQT Exeter acquired 5.1 million square feet—among the largest industrial transactions in the metro this year. The company picked up a 24-property industrial portfolio from Prologis. The deal’s total value was not disclosed, but 14 of these assets changed hands for a combined $284.6 million.

The post IRG Buys 1 MSF Minneapolis-Area Industrial Portfolio appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Fidelis Realty Partners LLC has purchased Adam’s Dairy Landing, a 280,000-square-foot retail center in Blue Springs, Mo., in the Kansas City metro area. JLL Capital Markets represented seller Albanese Cormier Holdings LLC, also sourcing acquisition financing through MetLife Investment Management. The property traded for $39.8 million and the acquisition loan totaled $27.9 million, CommercialEdge shows. The property last traded in 2021, for $32 million.  

Adam’s Dairy Landing is a regional open-air retail center developed between 2009 and 2012, covering 36 acres. The eight-building property has a diverse tenant roster, including Bath&Body Works, Michaels, Barnes&Noble, Old Navy, HomeGoods, Ross Dress for Less, TJ Maxx and Five Guys. The property is currently 98 percent leased. Shadow anchors include Target, a Walmart Supercenter and a Home Depot.  

A Kansas City retail center just off Interstate 70

The shopping center is at 880 NE Coronado Drive, just off Interstate 70 and Adam’s Dairy Parkway. Other major thoroughfares in the area include Highway 40 W and NW Highway 7. Downtown Kansas City is some 20 miles west.  

The JLL Capital Markets investment and sales advisory team brokering the deal included Senior Director Michael Nieder, as well as Managing Directors Chris Gerard and Keely Polczynski. Additionally, the company’s debt advisory team was led by Senior Managing Director Colby Mueck, as well as Managing Director Chris Knight and Director Michael King. 

Just last week, a JLL Capital Markets team brokered a similar transaction, but in the Houston area. Longpoint Realty Partners bought Mason Village Shopping Center, a 96,486-square-foot asset in Katy, Texas.

The post Fidelis Realty Pays $40M for Kansas City Shopping Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The Kansas City industrial market has a robust and adaptable character, benefitting from its central location and extensive infrastructure. The metro’s under-construction pipeline nearly doubled year-over-year through September, Kansas City being one of the most active markets for industrial development.

As of September, the metro demonstrated its strength by leading the Midwest for pipeline size, with 10.7 million square feet of industrial space underway across 14 properties. Additionally, it posted some of the lowest sale prices among U.S. industrial markets, highlighting its competitive edge.

Below, we’ve compiled CommercialEdge data for an overview of the metro’s industrial performance.

Kansas City industrial development forges ahead

At the end of September, Kansas City had 10.7 million square feet in its industrial supply pipeline across 14 properties. By comparison, at that same point last year nearly 6 million square feet of industrial space were underway in the market.

Among peer markets, the Inland Empire (10.3 million) and Atlanta (9.4 million) recorded fairly similar numbers, while Phoenix (32.6 million) and Dallas (17.0 million) took the lead. Kansas City’s September 2024 pipeline accounted for 3.7 percent of existing stock—above the national average of 1.8 percent and leading the Midwest for development on a percentage-of-stock basis.

Year-to-date through September, approximately 2.7 million square feet of industrial space broke ground in Kansas City across eight properties, representing 0.9 percent of the total stock. The index was slightly higher than the national average of 0.8 percent.

Notable projects currently underway include Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Co.’s first phase of a 1.2 million-square-foot industrial development in Olathe, Kan. The initial 600,000-square-foot stage will encompass roughly 312,000 square feet of production, equipment and recycling space, 287,000 square feet of warehousing accommodations and 14,000 square feet of office space, as well as other accessory structures.

Another project that recently broke ground is a 291,000-square-foot cold storage facility in New Century, Kan. BGO and Yukon Real Estate Partners are developing the warehouse to be solar-ready and target LEED certification. As part of its sustainability commitments, it will include clean and efficient energy usage. 

Deliveries reduced by half year-over-year

Year-to-date through September, 3.9 million square feet of industrial space came online in Kansas City. Deliveries accounted for 1.3 percent of the market’s total stock, slightly higher than the 1.1 percent national average. The metro’s industrial delivery volume fell to almost half its year-ago size, when 8.1 million square feet entered the market.

Indianapolis (6.1 million square feet), Atlanta (7 million square feet) and New Jersey (7.1 million square feet) recorded better deliveries, but still lagged behind Dallas (25.3 million square feet) and Phoenix (23.5 million square feet).

In June, VanTrust Real Estate completed construction on Building B2, a 330,000-square-foot industrial facility within New Century Commerce Center, a 535-acre campus in New Century, Kan.

Flint Development recently completed Building C at Flint Commerce Center, a 370-acre industrial park in De Soto, Kan. The 1 million-square-foot facility represents the project’s first phase.

The $390 million Flint Commerce Center is being developed in multiple phases and will encompass six buildings, ranging from 300,000 to 1.3 million square feet.

Kansas City industrial sale prices low

Industrial sales totaled $54.3 million year-to-date through September in the metro, with properties trading at an average of $36.18 per square foot, according to CommercialEdge data. Almost 2 million square feet spread across 21 properties changed hands.

Kansas City posted one of the lowest average sale prices among the top U.S. industrial markets. Prices in the Inland Empire ($266 per square foot) and New Jersey ($227 per square foot) were much higher than the $131 national average.

Vacancy lower than the national average

Kansas City’s industrial vacancy rate at the end of September clocked in at 5.2 percent, below the national average of 7 percent and above the 3.7 percent registered at that same point in 2023, as CommercialEdge data shows.

Other markets with vacancy rates higher than the national average were New Jersey (8.6 percent), Indianapolis (8.3 percent), Dallas (7.5 percent) and the Inland Empire (7.3 percent).

Despite new deliveries, Detroit led the Midwest markets with the lowest vacancy rate at 4.6 percent, outperforming Kansas City for the first time in months, according to CommercialEdge.

One of the more significant leases was CJ Logistics America’s commitment to the upcoming 291,000-square-foot cold storage facility in New Century mentioned above, with most of the space dedicated to global food company Flora Food Group. Completion is expected by the third quarter of 2025.

The post Kansas City Industrial Development Pipeline Balloons appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Trammell Crow Co. has broken ground on the first building at Plainfield Business Center, an industrial campus to total more than 8 million square feet in Plainfield, Ill. The 788,000-square-foot speculative warehouse is slated for delivery by next fall.

The industrial building will take shape on approximately 52 acres at 26220 W. 143rd St. When complete, the cross-dock facility will feature 40-foot clear heights, 80 dock doors expandable to 160 and 211 trailer parking stalls. Matt Mulvihill and Phil DeBoer of CBRE represented TCC in acquiring the land and are marketing and leasing the property.

TCC is currently planning the future phases of Plainfield Business Center. Harris Architects designed the entire project, Krusinski Construction Co. is the general contractor, while Kimley-Horn and Associates serves as civil engineer.

READ ALSO: Chicago’s Industrial Sales Lead the Midwest

The site is some 40 miles from both downtown Chicago and Chicago O’Hare International Airport. The location provides proximity to both interstates 55 and 80, two of the Chicago area’s major thoroughfares.

TCC Senior Vice President Josh Udelhofen said, in prepared remarks, that the location’s desirability will be heightened by local road improvements. The entire 143rd Street will be extended to both east and west, with the goal of eventually rerouting Highway 126 onto that street to reduce downtown Plainfield congestion.

Ample activity

The Interstate 55 corridor in Chicago’s southwestern suburbs is seeing a rising average vacancy in industrial space—although only to 2.5 percent—driven in large part by the delivery of two speculative developments totaling 438,200 square feet, according to a third-quarter report from Colliers.

This could be either a blip or a trend, because industrial absorption remained strong—1.3 million square feet in the third quarter—even as two more spec projects totaling 967,000 square feet are currently underway. Colliers predicts an increase in overall vacancy, followed by a lull in construction.

In late October, Stream Realty Partners secured $63 million in financing for its five-building Chicagoland Industrial Portfolio. JLL Capital Markets arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan. Two of the five buildings are in Mokena, Ill., in the Joliet submarket.

The post Trammell Crow Breaks Ground on 8 MSF Chicago Campus appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Four Springs TEN31 Xchange, a Delaware Statutory Trust, has purchased a 1.1 million-square-foot industrial asset in Monroe, Mich., for $139.5 million, according to S&P Global. FSXchange used $76.7 million in acquisition financing secured by Colliers. InSite Real Estate previously owned the asset that is fully leased to Ford Motor Co., CommercialEdge data shows.

Four Springs launched the industrial DST offering at $157.2 million in August. At the time, the required equity amounted to $80.5 million and was suitable for Section 1031 Exchange or direct investment alike.

The leverage ratio clocked in at 48.8 percent. The DST offering also included five five-year extension options and a 2 percent annual base rent increase.

READ ALSO: EV Battery Quest Super-Charges Demand for Sites, Facilities

InSite purchased the 97.8-acre development site and broke ground on the build-to-suit project two years ago. Completed this February, the facility features 36-foot clear heights, 100 loading doors—expandable to 150—and four grade-level doors, as well as 900 vehicle and 700 trailer and parking slots, respectively.

Ford Motor Co. fully occupies the property under a triple-net, 10-year lease. Ford has invested more than $70 million in the facility to maximize operational efficiency, which consolidated several older facilities throughout the Midwest.   

Ford will also use the facility to assemble and repackage vehicle parts. Additionally, the site includes an entitled lot that is shovel-ready for up to 450,000 square feet of future industrial and logistics development.

Located at 14741 Laplaisance Road, the building is 40 miles southeast of downtown Detroit, having direct access to Interstate 75. Additionally, the facility is about 11 miles away from Ford’s velocity parts distribution center, a 1 million-square-foot property in Newport, Mich., also developed by InSite.

Colliers Executive Vice President Jeremy Thornton and Vice President Lauren Smyle, together with Senior Vice Presidents Nicole Sayers and Andrew Gibson, arranged the financing on behalf of the DST.

Four Springs bullish on triple-net industrial

FSXchange is a subsidiary of Four Springs Capital Trust, a REIT that focuses on purchasing and managing single-tenant commercial properties including industrial, medical, office and retail assets with long-term, triple-net leases.

Last month, FSXchange fully subscribed its $150.5 million FSC Industrial Portfolio 27. The DST offering, which launched in April of last year, included an equity raise of $78.3 million and a 1031 debt placement of $72.2 million.

The portfolio consisted of 22 fully leased industrial assets encompassing 1.3 million rentable square feet across 13 states. The tenant roster included Domino’s, Columbia Gas and New York State Electric & Gas, among others.

Motor City industrial investment hits the breaks

Metro Detroit plays a crucial role in the U.S. auto industry through its interstates and railways, as well as the Detroit Metropolitan Airport and The Port of Detroit. However, industrial investment in the Motor City was tepid during the first three quarters of the year, a CommercialEdge report shows.

Year-to-date through September, the total industrial sale volume in Greater Detroit amounted to $226 million, the same source shows. Assets traded on average for $76 per square foot, nearly halving the national average of $130 per square foot.

Several Midwestern markets fared better, such as Chicago and the Twin Cities, their respective industrial investment volumes clocking in at $2.1 billion and $862 million during the same period, the report reveals. Despite the higher sales totals, properties still traded below the national average in Chicago ($98 per square foot) and Twin Cities ($94 per square foot).

Detroit’s vacancy rate stood at 4.6 percent in September. The metro became the tightest industrial market in the Midwest, surpassing Columbus, Ohio (5.1 percent) and Kansas City, Mo. (5.2 percent), but also Chicago (7.8 percent) and Indianapolis (8.3 percent).

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Glenstar, a national commercial real estate owner, developer and operator which has had ownership stakes in the 14.7-acre property dating back to 2006, did not disclose the name of its new equity partner.

However, Crain’s Chicago Business reported earlier this month a venture led by Patrick Halloran of Wayzata, Minn., was under contract to buy Presidents Plaza in a joint venture with Glenstar for more than $60 million. Halloran is an executive with private equity firm Wayzata Investment Partners. Dan Deuter, Tom Sitz and Cody Hundertmark of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the transaction.

The sale is significantly less than the $147 million price tag from 2018, when Glenstar and TPG Angelo Gordon—then known as Angelo Gordon—acquired the office campus, according to CommercialEdge data. In July 2021, the owners refinanced the asset with a 10-year, $147.5 million loan provided by Bank of America.

READ ALSO: Chicago Office Buildings Trade for Less, Development Slows

Located at 8600-8700 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. in the O’Hare submarket, the buildings are LEED Gold certified and were completed in 1979 and 1982. The campus is at the four-way intersection of Cumberland Avenue and Interstate 90 and served by the CTA Blue line, which allows tenants to recruit employees from both the Chicago suburbs and city. Numerous dining, entertainment and retail venues are nearby.

Glenstar has served as the property and asset manager of the complex since 2006 and its property management team will continue serving tenants on-site and through Glenstar Connect, an app-based platform to improve tenant experiences. Crain’s reported the complex was 63 percent leased at the time of sale, down from 92 percent in 2018.

Upgrades planned

Glenstar and TPG Angelo Gordon invested $34 million to renovate the buildings in recent years. Property upgrades included a three-story atrium lobby, three-level health club, fully renovated lounge, café with full seating and 6,300-square-foot conference center.

The latest infusion of capital will enable Glenstar and the new equity partner to make about $16 million in additional capital improvements to common areas, add a golf simulator and build spec suites to make it easier and cheaper for new tenants to move in. The spec suites will feature open ceilings, collaborative working spaces and conference rooms.

Michael Klein, Glenstar co-founder & managing principal, said in prepared remarks the availability of fresh capital will allow the tenant improvement projects to move forward quickly because they will be insulated from interest-rate pressures and cash constraints. Klein noted companies want to be in top-tier buildings with modern, creative work environments that help with attracting top-level talent.

The post Glenstar JV Recaps Chicago Office Complex in $62M Deal appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The portfolio consists of the following properties:

•  Mokena Logistics I and II, 268,226 square feet across two buildings at 8965 and 8905 W. 187th St. in Mokena in the Joliet submarket;

•  Rockwell Logistics Center, a 174,262-square-foot building at 2545 W. 24th St. in Chicago in the City South submarket;

•  Asbury Drive, a 157,500-square-foot building at 850 Asbury Drive in Buffalo Grove in the Lake County submarket; and

•  Halsted Pershing Business Center, a 104,008-square-foot building at 815 W. Pershing Ave. in the Stockyards submarket.

Stream had purchased four of the five buildings (all but the last one on the list above) from Westcore Properties for $83.5 million this past July.

These Class A distribution and warehouse facilities total 703,996 square feet, and feature suites ranging from 25,100 to 174,262 square feet with an average clear height of 32 feet. The portfolio serves 10 diverse tenants, representing the IT, electronics manufacturing, health-care and construction industries; food distribution; and government agencies.

READ ALSO: E-Commerce Growth Revives Industrial Market

The buildings are in infill distribution sites or near key transportation networks within the Chicagoland MSA, according to JLL, and are situated in densely populated areas with extensive infrastructure and strong labor markets, enabling local and regional customer access.

The JLL Debt Advisory team was led by Senior Managing Director Colby Mueck, Senior Director Brian Walsh and Associate Tara Hagerty.

Portfolios are popular

Industrial portfolio transactions seem to be the “in thing” in Chicagoland this year.

In July, Sperry Equities acquired the two-building, 640,000-square-foot Northwest Indiana Logistics Portfolio, in Portage, Ind., from Investcorp for an undisclosed amount. JLL both brokered the deal on behalf of the seller and arranged a five-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan through New York Life Real Estate Investors.

In September, Venture One Real Estate purchased a five-building, 421,638-square-foot industrial portfolio through its VK Industrial VII acquisition fund. Zilber Property Group was the seller of the five buildings, in Mokena, Elgin, Willowbrook and Northbrook, Ill.

Just last week, Commercial Property Executive reported that  metro Chicago led the Midwest in industrial sales, with a combined $1.9 billion over the first eight months of this year. That figure represents 165 properties totaling 20.8 million square feet, according to CommercialEdge data.

The post Stream Realty Secures $63M for Chicago-Area Portfolio appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Vantage Data Centers has entered the Midwest with a $2 billion investment. The company has broken ground on a 192-megawatt campus, with Tuner Construction serving as general contractor.

Dubbed OH1, the facility will be situated on 70 acres in New Albany, a suburb northeast of Columbus, Ohio. Upon completion, it will total more than 1.5 million square feet.

Designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, OH1 will be constructed to meet the company’s sustainability blueprint, which is targeting net zero operational carbon emissions by 2030. The campus will employ more than 1,500 people through construction and long-term operations.

Ohio is the fifth market in Vantage’s national hyperscale portfolio. The first building on the new campus is slated to open in late 2025.

Alongside the development, Vantage is partnering with the New Albany Community Foundation and the Columbus State Community College Foundation. It aims to positively impact the community through influencing its talent, health, housing affordability, job creation and education.

Earlier this year, Vantage completed a $9.2 billion equity raise to fund its growth nationwide and in the EMEA region. The fundraise was oversubscribed by $2.8 billion, a sign of global investors’ bullishness on the data center industry. Vantage estimated that the funding would drive some $30 billion of additional development, accelerating its capacity to partner with global hyperscalers.

The post Vantage Starts $2B Ohio Data Center Project appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

EQT Exeter has purchased the first phase of The Hub at London Groveport, an industrial park in the Columbus suburb of Lockbourne, Ohio, as well as a 6.7-acre trailer parking lot. A joint venture between Xebec and Heitman sold the assets with assistance from JLL.

The Hub’s Phase One comprises 1.6 million square feet across four industrial buildings that debuted in 2021. Two more facilities are expected to come online during Phase Two.

The portfolio includes a cross-dock facility measuring approximately 1 million square feet and three rear-load properties totaling 531,495 square feet.

All four buildings have 32-foot clear heights and a total of 277 dock-high doors and 10 grade-level doors, while truck courts’ depth ranges between 60 and 130 feet. The portfolio was 91 percent leased at the time of sale, Amazon being one of the two tenants on the roster.

READ ALSO: Industrial Deal Volume Down, Prices High

Carrying the addresses 6201 and 6322 Collings Drive, as well as 1260 and 1302 London Groveport Road, The Hub is 10 miles southeast of downtown Columbus. Rickenbacker International Airport—one of the world’s largest cargo-dedicated airports, handling monthly more than 30 million pounds—operates 3 miles away.

The JLL team representing the seller included Senior Managing Director John Huguenard, President Jody Thornton, Managing Director Ed Halaburt and Director William McCormack.

EQT Exeter expands near airports

As of October, EQT Exeter had more than $30 billion in global equity under management. Across the globe, the company owns and operates north of 2,000 assets spanning more than 375 million square feet—and it keeps expanding its industrial portfolio.

Just this week, EQT Exeter paid $143.2 million in an all-cash transaction for the Phoenix Gateway Portfolio. Link Logistics sold the six industrial buildings encompassing 860,200 square feet, also located in an airport submarket.

Despite sizable pipeline, Columbus’ industrial vacancy remains stable

The industrial investment volume in Greater Columbus reached $571 million year-to-date as of August, according to a CommercialEdge report. Assets traded for $82 per square foot, below the national average of $132 per square foot.

In one of the metro’s larger transactions W.P. Carey acquired Rickenbacker Exchange at Commercial Point’s Building 2, a 1.2 million-square-foot speculative industrial facility. VanTrust Real Estate sold the asset for $94.1 million.

Greater Columbus’ vacancy rate clocked in at 4.6 percent in August, the report goes on to show. The Discovery City had the third-lowest rate in the U.S., overshadowed only by Charlotte, N.C. (4.0 percent), and Bridgeport, Conn. (4.2 percent).

One factor in Greater Columbus’ rise in vacancy can be attributed to its industrial pipeline. As of August, the metro had 8.7 million square feet of industrial space underway—representing 2.8 percent of stock, ahead of the national average of 1.9 percent, the same source reveals.

The post EQT Exeter Buys 1.6 MSF in Columbus appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Benefiting from its position, robust rail and airport systems, Chicago’s industrial market remains strong and adaptable. Despite a pipeline reduction to half of last year’s volume, the metro remains one of the most active markets for industrial development. As of the end of August, the Windy City had 10.3 million square feet of industrial space under construction.

Chicago’s industrial market continued to demonstrate its strength this year, leading the Midwest with $1.9 billion in transactions during the first eight months, and ranking fourth nationally in sales volume. Below, we’ve compiled CommercialEdge data for a current overview of the Windy City’s industrial market performance.

Driving success in industrial sales

Chicago led the Midwest with industrial sales amounting to $1.9 billion during the first eight months of this year, ranking fourth nationally, according to CommercialEdge data. A total of 165 properties changed hands in the metro, totaling 20.8 million square feet. Assets traded at an average of $98 per square foot, the highest in the region but still well below the national average of $132 per square foot.

The Inland Empire ($263 per square foot) and New Jersey ($230 per square foot) were the priciest metros, while Cleveland ($49 per square foot) and Kansas City ($48 per square foot) recorded the lowest average sale prices nationwide. 

In one of the larger transactions, Stonepeak purchased a three-building, 1.7 million-square-foot rail-served logistics portfolio in the Chicago market from CenterPoint Properties. The New York-based company paid $125 million for the fully leased assets. Situated in the CenterPoint Intermodal Center–Joliet/Elwood—the largest inland port in North America—the properties are in Elwood, Ill., at 26318-26634 S. Walton Drive, 21561 Mississippi Ave. and 26634 Mississippi Ave.

Development pipeline remains steady

At the end of August, Chicago had 10.3 million square feet of industrial space under construction across 31 projects. The pipeline accounted for 0.9 percent of existing stock, below the national average of 1.9 percent. The Windy City ranked fifth nationally on a square footage basis and second regionally after Kansas City, according to CommercialEdge data.

In the first eight months of 2024, approximately 2.7 million square feet of industrial space broke ground in Chicago across 14 properties, representing 0.3 percent of the total stock. The index was lower than the national average of 0.9 percent.

In June, Dermody Properties broke ground on LogistiCenter at Pleasant Prairie, a 2.4 million-square-foot logistics park in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. As Wisconsin’s sole rail-served logistics park, the facility will be able to accommodate build-to-suit projects ranging from 250,000 to 1.8 million square feet.

Uline Inc. also is working on the expansion of its campus in Kenosha, Wis. The 1.4 million-square-foot addition, a distribution center located at 3002 128th Ave., will offer racking totaling approximately 882,900 square feet, as well as 476 dock doors and 41 bays.

Deliveries slow down

Chicago’s industrial sector saw 25 properties completed year-to-date through August, totaling 9.4 million square feet. This represents 0.9 percent of total stock, lower than the 1.3 percent national figure. The metro’s deliveries fell to nearly half its year-ago volume, when 17.2 million square feet of industrial space entered the market.

Among peer markets, Chicago surpassed Indianapolis (6.1 million square feet), Atlanta (5.8 million square feet) and New Jersey (5.8 million square feet). The Inland Empire (19.2 million square feet), Phoenix (20.2 million square feet) and Dallas (22.8 million square feet) recorded the highest number of industrial deliveries.

Logistics Property Co. recently completed Oak Forest Logistics Center, a 664,453-square-foot industrial building located at 16799 Cicero Ave. in Oak Forest, Ill. The facility marked the developer’s 11th project in metro Chicago.

HSA Commercial Real Estate also delivered Highland Commerce Center of Somers, one of the largest speculative industrial buildings in Wisconsin. Located at 2655 113th Ave., the 918,884-square-foot distribution facility is directly off Interstate 94 at the Burlington Road Interchange in Kenosha.

Vacancy rates surpass national average

Chicago’ industrial vacancy rate at the end of August clocked in at 7.3 percent, higher than the national average of 6.7 percent and the 3.7 percent rate registered same month last year, as CommercialEdge data shows.

Other vacancy rates higher than the national average were reported in markets such as New Jersey (8.1 percent), Dallas (7.7 percent) and Inland Empire (6.9 percent). Other markets recorded lower vacancy rates, such as Atlanta (5.8 percent). 

WestRock signed a build-to-suit with Dermody Properties at LogistiCenter at Pleasant Prairie. Upon the facility’s expected delivery next year, the company will occupy more than 580,000 square feet.

Venture One Real Estate secured a 444,600-square-foot lease with John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc. at Venture Park 47, an industrial building totaling 729,823 square feet in Huntley, Ill. The deal was the largest industrial lease of the second quarter in Chicago’s North Kane County submarket and the fourth largest in the Chicago metropolitan area.

The post Chicago’s Industrial Sales Lead the Midwest appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

PMAT Real Estate Investments has sold Waterside Marketplace, a 276,244-square-foot shopping center in Chesterfield, Mich. Octave Holdings and Investments acquired the asset through its Octave Realty Fund IX.

Mid-America Real Estate Corp. arranged the deal. The brokerage company had also represented PMAT in acquiring the asset in 2018, as reported by Rejournals.

Earlier this year, the New Orleans-based firm has also sold a 124,005-square-foot retail property in Downers Grove, Ill., with Mid-America brokering the $25 million transaction.

READ ALSO: Underserved Areas Are Grabbing Retail Investors’ Attention. Here’s Why.

Completed in 2007 on some 13 acres, Waterside Marketplace was 94 percent leased at the time of sale. Waterside Marketplace is anchored by TJ Maxx, Sierra, Burlington, Best Buy, Ulta, DSW and Old Navy, while Aldi, Lowe’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and JCPenney shadow-anchor the property. The tenant roster also includes Carter’s, Rally House, Kid’s Empire, Five Below and Bath & Body Works, among others.

The shopping center is at 50753 Waterside Drive at the high-traffic intersection of Interstate 94 and 23 Mile Road in Detroit’s Warren – Sterling Heights submarket. The shopping center serves around 109,000 individuals within a 5-mile radius, with the average household income of approximately $112,000, according to Mid-America.

The firm’s Principal Ben Wineman and Vice President Emily Gadomski brokered the transaction, with Principal Daniel Stern representing the seller. Wineman also arranged the $15.4 million sale of Metro Centre, a 166,290-square-foot retail property in Peoria, Ill.

Detroit’s retail market sees strong activity

Despite the disruption which affected the industry in recent years, Detroit’s retail market has seen strong activity across all metrics in the second quarter of 2024, according to a recent Colliers report.

The metro’s investment activity totaled more than $92 million in transactions, while approximately 443,625 square feet of retail space—across 33 projects—were under construction in several submarkets at the end of June. The vacancy rate clocked in at 4.9 percent, marking a 20-basis point decrease from the previous quarter.

The post PMAT Sells 276 KSF Detroit-Area Retail Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

A joint venture between Westminster Capital and GEIS sold Gateway Commerce Center, a 434,171-square-foot, Class A industrial property in Streetsboro, Ohio, to EQT Exeter. The asset traded for $40.2 million, according to CommercialEdge data. JLL represented the seller.

FNS, a 3PL company, is the sole tenant, occupying the entire building. It inked the lease in the third quarter last year, Newmark reported. Prior to the deal, the facility had been vacant for nearly two years.

The cross-dock facility features 32-foot clear heights, 56 dock doors, eight drive-in doors and 180-foot truck courts. Gateway Commerce Center may be divided into 100,000-square-foot units.

READ ALSO: Lower Rates Signal Increase in Industrial Sales

Located at 10242 State Route 43, the building is roughly 32 miles southeast from downtown Cleveland and about 27 miles northeast of downtown Akron, Ohio. Interstates 480 and 80 can be found within 5 miles of the facility.

JLL Senior Managing Directors John Huguenard and Sean Devaney, as well as Managing Director Ed Halaburt, led the Investment Sales and Advisory team representing Westminster and GEIS in the transaction.

The duo teamed up in 2020 to build the facility on a speculative basis. Funding included a $20.3 million note issued by the Lake Forest Bank & Trust Co., CommercialEdge shows. JobsOhio’s Site Inventory Program—which offered grants and low-interest loans for speculative projects—also provided debt. Gateway Commerce Center was the first Northeast Ohio development to benefit from the program.  

At that time, the project tied with a 434,000-square-foot industrial property in Glenwillow, Ohio, for Northeast Ohio’s largest speculative facility, JLL reported. Investcorp bought that facility in 2020 as part of a portfolio deal.

Metro Cleveland’s industrial assets trade at a bargain

Greater Cleveland’s industrial sales volume clocked in at $254 million year-to-date through August, a CommercialEdge report shows. Assets traded at an average of $49 per square foot, substantially below the $132 national average. Only metro Kansas City, Mo., recorded a lower figure, $48 per square foot.

Earlier this year, Caspian Group purchased Shoreway Commerce Park for $9 million from First Interstate Properties. The 445,682-square-foot industrial park is in an Opportunity Zone within Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

The post EQT Exeter Buys Cleveland-Area 434 KSF Industrial Asset appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Saxum Real Estate has kicked off construction on a 322,600-square-foot, build-to-suit cold storage facility in Crown Point, Ind. Arcadia Cold is slated to occupy the facility upon completion in the second quarter of 2026.

The building will feature 50-foot clear heights and comprise roughly 45,000 pallet positions, as well as convertible rooms with temperature capabilities ranging from -10 to 38 degrees F. According to Inside Indiana Business, the warehouse will be used to support food manufacturers and retailers.

The 26-acre development is at 13301 Mississippi Parkway, about 51 miles southeast of downtown Chicago. Interstate 65 and U.S. Route 231 are within 3 miles.

Earlier this year, the company unveiled plans to build two cold storage facilities throughout Greater Windy City in collaboration with Saxum. Arcadia Cold COO JD Schwefler said in prepared remarks that the company will announce its proposal regarding the other property at a later date.

Saxum Real Estate owns another 294,840-square-foot cold storage project in the metro, which is currently in the planning and permitting stages, CommercialEdge data shows. Bank OZK originated a $53.3 million construction loan in August for that development.

Developers bullish on Chicago cold storage

Metro Chicago’s industrial construction pipeline shrunk by 23 percent year-over-year through June, as developers had 12 million square feet of industrial space underway, a report by Avison Young shows.

According to Grand View Research, the cold storage market was valued at $36.9 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow by 17.5 percent annually through 2030. Developers seized the opportunity, as Avison Young’s report shows that the largest industrial development to break ground across metro Chicago during the second quarter was Alston Construction and Barber Partners’ 389,880-square-foot speculative cold storage project in Plainfield, Ill.

The post Saxum Breaks Ground on Indiana Cold Storage Project appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Sealy & Company has inked a two-building lease renewal, totaling more than 1.6 million square feet, with World Wide Technology at Lakeview Commerce Center II and III in Edwardsville, Ill. WWT has been a long-term—and the firm’s largest—tenant.

Lakeview Commerce Center II is at 3971 Lakeview Corporate Drive and spans 539,877 square feet, with a range of enhancements tailored for industrial, office and lab use. Delivered in 2006, the building features 29,900 square feet of office and lab space, as well as T5 lighting and backup generators, among others.

READ ALSO: E-Commerce Growth Revives Industrial Market

Lakeview Commerce Center III is a 1,109,830-square-foot distribution building at 3951 Lakeview Corporate Drive. It was completed in 2008 and expanded in 2015 to offer additional office pods, more trailer stalls and enhanced security with multiple guard stations.

The building recently was the recipient of the BOMA 360 designation for meeting high standards with regard to energy efficiency, life safety and security, and tenant relations, as well as other considerations.

Located in St. Louis’ Metro East submarket, the properties are just west of Highway 111, having direct access to Interstate 270. Downtown St. Louis is some 20 miles away.

Sealy Regional Director William Shagets led the negotiations on behalf of the owner, assisted by Cushman & Wakefield Managing Director Ed Lampitt and Executive Director Matt Eastin.

Strong leasing activity

The St. Louis industrial market witnessed a vacancy rate of 4.7 percent in the third quarter of this year, up by only 10 basis points over the quarter, according to a CBRE report. Leasing activity totaled more than 1.2 million square feet, up 24 percent quarter-over-quarter.

The Metro East submarket had the second-largest vacancy rate in the region at 9.9 percent, marking a 100-basis-point quarter-over-quarter increase. However, the submarket saw the strongest leasing activity in the metro that quarter, totaling 414,000 square feet.

The post Sealy Signs 1.6 MSF Renewal Near St. Louis appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Phoenix Investors has acquired 600 E. Sherwood Drive, an industrial asset in Union City, Tenn. The property, measuring nearly 411,500 square feet, was previously owned by MVP Group International. The purchase puts Phoenix’s portfolio at more than 78 million square feet nationwide.

The building is on 34 acres and features nearly 398,000 square feet of warehouse space, 13,500 square feet of office space and a 2,200-square-foot break room. Originally developed in 1985 and renovated as recently as 1995, the warehouse also includes 18 dock doors, clear heights up to 28 feet, two compressors and an extensive racking system.

READ ALSO: E-Commerce Growth Revives Industrial Market

Located in Obion County on U.S. Route 51, the property is zoned for both Planned Industrial and Intermediate Business. Union City is in western Tennessee near the border with Kentucky. The largest nearby metro markets are Nashville, Memphis and St. Louis.

Phoenix intends to substantially improve the asset, with a goal of attracting industrial users to the area. The plan is similar to what the company is undertaking, and has undertaken, elsewhere.

In August, Phoenix acquired three industrial properties and a solar farm in Nashville, Ark., measuring more than 815,000 square feet, with plans for capital improvement. Husqvarna, which makes lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws and other machines, sold the assets.

One recently completed repurposing by Phoenix was of a former Maytag factory in Galesburg, Ill. A company that produces meat snacks inked a lease for 179,000 square feet at that building.

Domestic manufacturing spikes in uncertain times

Overall, demand for U.S. manufacturing facilities has been increasing in recent years, driven by reshoring and the shortening of supply chains in the wake of the disruptions caused by the pandemic, as well as heightened and ongoing international tensions, especially between the U.S. and China. The trend has legs, reports The Boston Consulting Group.

More than 90 percent of North American manufacturing companies have moved some of their production or supply chain since the late 2010s, BCG reported in 2023. Half of those reported shifted more than 20 percent of their manufacturing and supply chain spending.

Companies need to rethink their manufacturing and distribution networks, build capabilities in new geographies, and establish new relationships across supplier ecosystems to enhance their competitive advantage, according to Ravi Srivastava, global leader of BCG’s Operations practice and a coauthor of the report.

The post Phoenix Investors Buys Tennessee Industrial Asset appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Chicago’s office fundamentals didn’t show signs of improvement year-over-year through August, except for its sales volume, which has increased since last year. Developing headwinds continue to put pressure on the sector and some owners are trying to minimize their exposure, leading to swaths of office space being divested.

Others look to conversions as a means to address the fundamental shift in how office buildings are utilized and repositioned. Far from being a catch-all solution to the sector’s woes, office-to-residential redevelopment can be a good avenue for some owners to capitalize on these shifting trends.

CommercialEdge recently released the Conversion Feasibility Index, a proprietary tool that offers scores assessing the potential for an office building’s conversion to residential. Chicago has around 18.6 percent of its office space in buildings that have a high potential for such adaptive reuse, putting it around the top of the list nationwide.

Pipeline decreases, large projects are few and far in between

As of August, Chicago’s office construction pipeline dropped significantly to just 811,394 square feet, or 0.3 percent of stock—70 basis points behind the national rate. There is still demand for high-quality product, those developments tending to have significant preleasing activity.

Among its peer gateway office markets, Chicago’s rate of construction as a percentage of stock was the lowest. Boston led with 4.4 percent, followed by Miami (3.9 percent). On the lower end were Manhattan (0.6 percent) and Los Angeles (0.9 percent).

Fulton St. Cos.’ 919 W. Fulton was the largest office project underway, taking shape in the West Loop submarket. The developer topped out its $300 million development earlier this year, with 112,000 square feet out of its 409,000 already preleased to Harrison Street Real Estate Capital.

About 1.1 million square feet of office space came online in the metro year-to-date through August, across nine properties. Nearly half of this space was in a single project, as Sterling Bay completed its 25-story tower at 360 N. Green St. The 500,000-square-foot office building is also in Chicago’s West Loop, and has a tenant that preleased a large portion of the property. Boston Consulting Group will use it as its Midwest headquarters.

Sales volume grows, but assets depreciate

Chicago investors traded $699 million in office assets year-to-date through August, 47.6 percent more than the volume recorded the same period last year. A total of 62 properties, encompassing 12.5 million square feet, changed hands for an average of $92.6 per square foot, nearly half the $168.8 national figure.

Chicago office buildings sold for the least amount per square foot when compared to peer gateway markets. On the higher end of that spectrum were Los Angeles ($423.4 per square foot) and Manhattan ($370.6 per square foot).

In June, Beacon Capital Partners acquired the office tower at 333 W. Wacker Drive for $125 million. This was the largest single-asset sale year-to-date through August, with the building trading at roughly $144 per square foot. The new owner also secured a $185 million acquisition and development loan from Allianz. Notably, the asset had previously changed hands in 2015 for $320 million.

This trend was present in virtually all major transactions that closed in the first eight months of the year. Of the top five office building sales across metro Chicago, all except one—which traded for the first time—changed hands for at least 50 percent less than their previous sale value.

Office vacancy grows year-over-year

Office vacancy in metro Chicago increased 120 basis points year-over-year to 19.0 percent as of August, 40 basis points below the national figure. Compared to gateway markets, only San Francisco’s 27.6 percent was higher than Chicago’s.

A few significant leasing deals took shape at the start of the year. In January, financial services company Mesirow signed an extension at Heitman’s office tower in Chicago’s CBD, at 353 N. Clark St. The tenant downsized its footprint to 100,000 square feet and agreed to a 10-year lease.

In February, Pinterest signed a 24,000-square-foot agreement at Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge’s office campus in the West Loop. JLL represented the tenant.

Shared space solutions gain ground

In August, Chicago’s coworking footprint amounted to more than 6.2 million square feet, or 1.9 percent of its entire office stock. The national figure stood at 1.8 percent, while a few peer gateway markets exceeded Chicago’s rate—Miami (3.7 percent), Manhattan (2.3 percent), Los Angeles (2.1 percent) and San Francisco (2.1 percent).

Regus is one of the largest operators in Chicago’s coworking market, with nearly 985,000 square feet across 45 locations. It recently ceded one of those to Expansive—the shared space provider leased the 35th floor at Two Pru at 180 N. Stetson Ave., its seventh location in the metro. Expansive previously had slightly more than 487,000 square feet of shared office space across six locations.

The other large providers with significant footprints were WeWork, with 474,000 square feet across eight locations, Industrious with 360,000 square feet and eight locations and Convene, which had three locations encompassing 315,000 square feet.

The post Chicago Office Buildings Trade for Less, Development Slows appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Sentinel Net Lease has signed two new leases totaling nearly 45,000 square feet at Bannockburn Corporate Center, a three-story office building in Bannockburn, Ill., within Chicago’s North Shore submarket.

JLL’s Managing Director Chris Cummins worked on behalf of the landlord on both deals.

London-based insurance provider AON will occupy some 40,000 square feet of the former Donlen space, which became vacant in August. The company planned the move since July this year, when AON downsized from the 600,000 square feet it occupied at Realty Income’s office complex at 4 Overlook Point in Lincolnshire, Ill., according to The Real Deal. The insurance provider will move at its new location by December.

Engineering firm Baxter Woodman, which signed a 4,768-square-foot commitment at the property, will also move to the corporate center by the end of 2024.

Other tenants include Winix America Inc., Resurgence Capital, Webley Systems Inc. and DeLaval Inc.

READ ALSO: Office Finance Freeze Begins Slow Thaw

Bannockburn Corporate Center is a 209,225-square-foot building located at 3000 Lakeside Drive. Sentinel Net Lease purchased the property last year for $28.6 million from seller Axial Real Estate Advisors, according to CommercialEdge.

Completed in 1999 and renovated in 2016, the building features 69,742-square-foot floorplates, two passenger elevators and a tenant lounge. Additionally, the property includes a fitness center, a conference room, landscaped greenspaces and provides 837 parking spots.

The 14-acre office campus is near Interstate 94, allowing easy access to the Greater Chicago area. The property is 17 miles from Chicago O’Hare International Airport and 31 miles from downtown Chicago.

Recent office leases in Chicago

In September, Medline expanded its footprint at The Mart, a 3.7 million-square-foot mixed-use property in the city’s central business district. The company committed to 161,000 square feet, while also signing another 210,000-square-foot lease in Northbrook, Ill.

That same month, law firm Smith, Gambrell & Russell signed a 57,000-square-foot deal at 155 N. Wacker Drive, the 1.2 million-square-foot office tower owned by The John Buck Co. JLL negotiated on behalf of the tenant, which will relocate its Chicago office at the property’s 30th and 31st floors.

The post Sentinel Inks 2 New Leases in Suburban Chicago appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Olshan Properties has refinanced The Greene Town Center, a 1.1 million-square-foot mixed-use property in Dayton, Ohio. Wells Fargo Bank and Argentic originated the $106.3 million loan, according to Greene County public records. The 10-year financing ends all foreclosure proceedings at the property.

In April 2013, Olshan took out a $137.3 million CMBS loan from Citibank, CommercialEdge information shows. The note was split into two loans that were transferred to Wells Fargo, Dayton Daily News reported.

Wells Fargo initiated a foreclosure lawsuit against Olshan earlier this year, as the owner had failed to pay the debt, according to WDTN. The outstanding balance was estimated at around $113 million.

READ ALSO: Why Mixed-Use Developments Are All About the Right Synergies

Developed in two phases, The Greene came online in 2006; at the time, the estimated cost of the project was $200 million. The mixed-use campus comprises 760,000 square feet of retail space, alongside some 125,000 square feet of office space and 206 apartments. The property spans 72 acres and is home to more than 100 businesses.

The Greene is at 51 Plum St., just west of Interstate 675. Downtown Dayton is within 10 miles, while Dayton International Airport is some 23 miles away.

Mixed-used destinations to revitalize the U.S.

According to a CBRE report, vibrant mixed-use destinations which often include office, multifamily retail and recreational space post vastly improved fundamentals in comparison to their counterparts.

For example, after analyzing 68 such asset types in 19 U.S. markets, the paper shows that the office vacancy rate in those mixed-use districts was 18 percent on average, compared to 22 percent in the cities’ nonprime business districts.

The post Olshan Properties Lands $106M for Mixed-Use Complex appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

CyrusOne has broken ground on its second data center campus in Aurora, Ill., a Chicago submarket. The project is set to comprise two buildings totaling 446,000 square feet and will deliver an initial IT capacity of 40 MW with scalable capacity to meet future growth needs.

Partners on the project include ComEd, which will help deliver the needed electrical infrastructure. The development is expected to cost about $350 million and is scheduled to come online in two years.

Owned by KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners, CyrusOne currently operates 24 sites across the U.S. The new data center campus marks a key expansion for the REIT in Illinois, where its total capital investments have now surpassed $1 billion.

READ ALSO: More Data Centers, Please!

The development is taking shape at 2725 Bilter Road, just off Interstate 88. Downtown Chicago is 34 miles away, while downtown Aurora is some 10 miles southwest.

The data center’s site was initially designated for hospitality and retail uses. Earlier this year, CyrusOne and the city of Aurora reached an agreement, in which the company paid $15.5 million to compensate for the alteration in land use.

The campus will also feature two 350-foot towers, which will accommodate a collaboration between the developer, CME Group and Google, according to Yahoo Finance. The buildings are set to house financial trading systems for CME customers, which are currently operating in CyrusOne’s other Aurora data center.

More data centers to come online in Chicagoland

According to a JLL midyear report on U.S. colocation data centers, Chicago had about 818 MW completed in the first half of this year. Additionally, there were 733 MW under construction, with 1,222 MW in planning stages. A total of 466 MW were absorbed in the first six months of this year.

In June, Compass Datacenters began work on a hyperscale data center campus in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The project will include five buildings and will be the firm’s first hyperscale campus in the state. The development’s total cost is estimated at about $10 billion.

The post CyrusOne Kicks Off Chicago Data Center Campus appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Deliveries in the metro decreased significantly, with only 6.1 million square feet coming online year-to-date through August, marking a more than 50 percent drop year-over-year, CommercialEdge data shows. However, the under-construction pipeline slightly increased, with 2.3 million square feet underway, up from 1.9 million square feet registered during the same period last year.

Additionally, the metro’s industrial vacancy rate is also on the rise. The rate reached 6.3 percent in August, slightly below the 6.7 percent national average, but more than twice the 2.5 percent recorded that same month last year.

Indy deliveries halve year-over-year

Indianapolis’ industrial sector saw 13 properties delivered year-to-date through August, totaling 6.1 million square feet. This accounts for 1.6 percent of total stock, slightly above the 1.3 percent U.S. figure, but less than half the metro’s 13.8 million square feet completed during 2023’s same period.

The metro surpassed Atlanta and New Jersey, each having 5.8 million square feet in deliveries. The Inland Empire (19.2 million square feet), Phoenix (20.2 million square feet) and Dallas (22.8 million square feet) led nationwide.

Earlier this year, a joint venture between Browning and Prologis completed Subaru of America’s 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center in Zionsville, Ind. The developer took out a $78 million construction loan for this project, CommercialEdge shows.

New projects boost pipeline

The Indianapolis industrial market registered almost 2.3 million square feet of space under construction at the end of August, spanning eight projects and accounting for 0.6 percent of the metro’s total inventory—placing it below the 1.8 percent national average. Indianapolis lagged peer markets, with New Jersey (7.0 million square feet), Atlanta (8.2 million square feet) and Chicago (9.5 million square feet) faring better, while Phoenix remained in the lead with 34.9 million square feet underway.

Year-to-date through August, five properties totaling 1.7 million square feet broke ground in Indianapolis, about 0.4 percent of the market’s stock. This figure is on par with the 0.7 percent U.S. average.

One of the largest developments that started going vertical this year is Sephora’s Midwest distribution center. The beauty retailer tapped VanTrust Real Estate to construct its 746,672-square-foot build-to-suit facility in Avon, Ind., which is expected to be delivered next summer.

In May, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co. invested an additional $5.3 billion at its 600-acre campus in Lebanon, Ind. The firm’s site is within the 9,000-acre LEAP Research and Innovation District and is set to include manufacturing facilities for antidiabetic and weight loss drugs.

Indianapolis industrial sale prices go up

Year-to-date through August, the Indianapolis market recorded $252 million in industrial deals. The average trading price was $93 per square foot, significantly lower than the $132 national average. Although sales nearly halved year-over-year, the average sale price per square foot rose by $12.

The metro fared worse than all peer markets. Dallas ($3.0 billion), Chicago ($1.9 billion) and Phoenix ($1.6 billion) were at the opposite pole.

In May, Nuveen Real Estate purchased a two-building portfolio in Plainfield, Ind., from HSA Commercial Real Estate. The properties totaling 371,200 square feet are part of Gateway Business Park.

Two months later, Lincoln Property Co. sold 4321 Albert S. White Parkway, a 146,640-square-foot facility in Whitestown, Ind. Battery manufacturing company SungEel HiTech acquired the recently completed asset, according to CommercialEdge.

Vacancy rate continues to rise

The average listing rate during the same month was $4.88, an 8.0 percent increase from August last year. The market’s rate was below the $8.11 U.S. figure and those registered in Dallas ($6.09) and Atlanta ($5.86).

Indianapolis’ industrial vacancy rate at the end of August clocked in at 6.3 percent, 40 basis points below the national average and considerably above the 2.5 percent rate registered in 2023’s same month. Among peer markets, Phoenix (5.6 percent) registered the lowest vacancy, followed by Atlanta (5.8 percent), Dallas (7.7 percent) and New Jersey (8.1 percent).

In May, global power solutions company Cummins Inc. fully leased a 1.1 million-square-foot building at Mohr Logistics Park, a 475-acre industrial campus. Mohr Capital recently completed the facility.

The post Indianapolis Industrial Scene Sends Mixed Signals appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The facility will give the Indianapolis-based company the ability to research new ways of producing medicines, while also scaling up production for clinical trials. It is slated to open in late 2027 and is expected to add 400 full-time jobs for highly skilled workers including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians.

The Medicine Foundry will combine research, manufacturing and the latest technology to develop innovative solutions for new production methods, increase capacity for clinical trial medicine, scale global access for the company’s growing pipeline while reducing costs and environmental impact.

In particular, the facility will enable production of various molecular therapies, including drug substances for small molecules, biologics and nucleic acid therapies. The new technologies will then be transferred to other manufacturing sites for full-scale production.

READ ALSO: Recovery Is in Sight for the Life Science Sector

The new location in LEAP will offer close proximity to the Lilly Research Laboratories in Indianapolis and the company’s manufacturing sites in Lebanon.

In May 2022, Lilly announced plans to invest $2.1 billion in two new manufacturing sites in Lebanon to expand its network for active ingredients and new modalities including genetic medicines. Lilly broke ground on those facilities nearly a year later and announced an additional $1.6 billion investment.

This May, Lilly announced another $5.3 billion investment at the Lebanon manufacturing site to increase production capacity for ingredients for its latest diabetes and obesity medicines, Zepbound and Mounjaro.

Lilly CEO David Ricks told CNBC yesterday the pharmaceutical giant has 11 obesity drugs in its pipeline and is also seeking to develop more treatments for neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Mounjaro and Zepbound, part of a popular group of GLP-1 drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, have been successful products for Lilly. They are expected to provide $50 billion in revenue alone by 2028 or twice the company’s entire 2022 revenue, according to CNBC.

State support

The State of Indiana will provide infrastructure improvements at the site including roads, water, electricity and other utilities. The state will also offer economic incentives tied to Lilly’s investment and employment goals in Lebanon.

The Indianapolis Star reported the Indiana Economic Development Corp. will contribute an additional $456 million in tax incentives based on achieving certain hiring goals. The newspaper stated Lilly’s total incentive package would reach more than $1.25 billion, including an additional $20 million in redevelopment tax credits.

Lilly began construction on its 600-acre campus last year. The combined projects are expected to bring about 1,300 jobs to the area as well as approximately 5,000 construction jobs.

Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg said in prepared remarks the LEAP district is quickly becoming an international destination with $18 billion in committed capital investment on 2,300 acres since its launch in 2022.

The LEAP district is located about 30 miles to the northwest of Indianapolis and 35 miles to the southeast of Purdue University. The 9,000-acre site is located along Interstate 65 and is dedicated to the development of life science and tech-related office, industrial, mixed-use and multifamily projects.

Expanding its reach

With the new investment in the Medicine Foundry, Lilly’s total capital commitment in the U.S. has reached more than $23 billion since 2020.

In August, Lilly opened its Lilly Seaport Innovation Center, a research and development facility in Boston’s Seaport district. The 12-story, 346,000-square-foot building at 15 Necco St. was developed by Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., in partnership with National Development. Lilly had preleased the building during its construction in early 2022.

The company plans to use the site for research in RNA- and DNA-based therapies. It will also be used to pursue new medicines and treatments for diabetes and obesity as well as chronic pain, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.

The company is also developing facilities in Concord and Research Triangle Park, N.C., as well as in Ireland and Germany. Lilly has also allocated $1.2 billion to upgrade its existing facilities in Indianapolis and acquire an injectable drug production plant previously owned by Nexus Pharmaceuticals.

The post Eli Lilly Launches $4.5B R&D, Manufacturing Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Gantry Inc. has acquired Q10 | Triad Capital Advisors, a member of Q10 Capital. The combination will expand the commercial mortgage banking firm‘s servicing portfolio by more than $1.5 billion, putting its total servicing portfolio at about $20 billion.

The deal is also a geographic marriage, expanding San Francisco-based Gantry’s footprint in the Midwest. Trial Capital has offices in Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis.

“Our goal is to expand with like-minded companies and individuals,” Gantry Principal Robert Slatt told Commercial Property Executive. “We felt that adding the individuals in Kansas City and St. Louis was a seamless strengthening of our mortgage banking services.”

READ ALSO: Commercial Mortgage Delinquency Rates Increased in Q2 2024

Triad has built a strong reputation in the Midwest and allows Gantry an opportunity to continue to expand in other markets that it historically hasn’t had representation, Slatt said. He led the Gantry acquisition team alongside Principals Michael Heagerty, George Mitsanas and Jeff Wilcox.

Going forward, Triad Capital will operate under the Gantry name, with Principals Mark Reichter and Joe Monteleone holding an equity stake in the newly expanded firm.

In fact, Gantry is no stranger to this kind of expansion. The company acquired the mortgage banking arm of Norris, Beggs, and Simpson in 2020 and the mortgage banking company, The Rose Hill Group, in 2019.

Commercial mortgage industry heading for uptick

The deal comes at a time of guarded optimism in the commercial mortgage industry, as elevated interest rates started to moderate somewhat even before the Federal Reserve’s recent half-point cut.

Total U.S. commercial and multifamily mortgage borrowing and lending will finish the year at $539 billion, which would represent a 26 percent increase from the 2023 total of $429 billion, according to the latest forecast by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Besides interest rates, a large volume of loans is maturing in the coming quarters, which will probably prompt an uptick in mortgage borrowing from the low levels seen over the last two years, according to Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s head of commercial real estate research. Players that have been on the sidelines are more likely to act in the near future, he noted.

The post Gantry Buys CRE Finance Company appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

BGO and Yukon Real Estate Partners have broken ground on a 291,000-square-foot cold storage facility outside of Kansas City, Mo.

CJ Logistics America will lease the upcoming property, with most of the space dedicated to global food company Flora Food Group. The warehouse is expected to open in the third quarter of 2025.

The facility is being developed adjacent to Flora Good Group’s plant, which produces brands such as Country Crock, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and Violife.

YREP Director of Development Axel Anderson stated, in prepared remarks, that the buildings will be connected by an above-ground conveyer bridge to allow finished products to be delivered directly into the warehouse for cold storage, which will increase operational efficiencies for both the food company and CJ Logistics America.

READ ALSO: Why Cold Storage Is Getting Hotter

The warehouse will also be solar-ready and will target LEED certification as part of its sustainability commitments, including clean and efficient energy usage. The facility will also feature Alta EXPERT refrigeration systems.

Located in New Century, Kan., some 30 miles from Kansas City, the site will have a direct connection to the BNSF Railway, the largest freight railroad in the U.S., with a rail spur into the warehouse. The new facility will be less than 4 miles away from Interstate 35. Location-wise, approximately 85 percent of the U.S. will be reachable within two days either by highway, rail or air.

CJ Logistics growth

CJ Logistics, which operates 280 bases in 40 countries around the world, has been expanding its footprint across the U.S. and North America.

In June 2023, CJ Logistics America teamed up with Korean Ocean Business Corp., a South Korean government entity, in a public-private partnership to develop three large-scale logistics centers across the U.S, totaling 3.9 million square feet.

The plan called for CJ Logistics to contribute land for the projects and subsequently to operate them, while KOBC would provide the funding. The facilities will be used to handle import and export cargo of global and South Korean companies.

CJ Logistics America also occupies a 1.1 million-square-foot cross-dock facility in Wilmer, Texas, which is part of Logistics Property Co.’s 252-acre campus. The company also leases a 1 million-square-foot distribution facility in Channahon, Ill.

Previous BGO deals

In August, BGO and RL Cold, a division of RealtyLink LLC, broke ground on a 215,766-square-foot speculative cold storage warehouse in Mount Laurel, N.J. The building is slated for completion in the second half of 2025. Located on a 12-acre site, the property is taking shape just off Interstate 295 and about 13 miles from downtown Philadelphia.

Last December, Saxum Real Estate and equity capital partner BGO completed the recapitalization of an approximately 1.5 million-square-foot, six-property cold storage portfolio. The collection is located in major U.S. distribution hubs, including Phoenix, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth as well as Hazleton, Pa., and Reno, Nev.

A seventh facility in Atlanta was also recapitalized at a later date, bringing the portfolio to about 1.7 million square feet. Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics, a leading cold storage operator, occupies nearly 81 percent of the entire properties.

The post Cold Storage Warehouse Coming to Kansas City appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has purchased a 180,000-square-foot, six-story office building in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Terrex Development & Construction sold the asset for an undisclosed price.

JobsOhio, the state’s private nonprofit organization in charge of economic development, originated a $32 million low-interest acquisition loan, funded by its initial $100 million investment in Cincinnati Innovation District.

As part of this deal, Cincinnati Children’s will create 100 new research jobs with a minimum payroll of $10 million. Additionally, the new owner also committed to increase research opportunities that rely on federal funds.

READ ALSO: Life Science Prospects Are Looking Up: JLL

The health-care system services provider will occupy two floors at the Class A office property, which will host the company’s more than 200 current employees. Cincinnati Children’s will take up a total of 60,000 square feet in the building, while the remaining four floors will be available for lease, with Cushman & Wakefield as exclusive leasing agent.

Cincinnati’s newest innovation and technology hub

Dubbed Digital Futures Building 2, the new location is at 3090 Exploration Ave., and is part of the three-building Digital Futures complex. Completed in 2022, the space includes floor-to-ceiling glass windows, energy efficient systems, an outdoor plaza and other on-site amenities, such as conference and meeting spaces.

The buildout of the interior spaces that Cincinnati Children’s will occupy will take nine to 12 months for completion. TriVersity Construction is overseeing the project, while BHDP Architecture is in charge of design. The team also includes Motz Engineering, which will oversee mechanical, electrical and plumbing, RCF Group will provide the furniture and Kolar Design will be in charge of graphic design.

The building is close to Interstate 71 and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive interchange. Sitting on 3 acres, Digital Futures Building 2 is 4 miles from downtown Cincinnati, 16 miles from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and within 50 miles of Dayton, Ohio.

Big office projects coming in the area

The complex is part of the Cincinnati Innovation District, a 65-acre technology and innovation hub that includes notable tenants in the research field, such as the University of Cincinnati, UC Health, TriHealth, The Environmental Protection Agency and The Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife. The more than 1.1 million-square-foot life science campus totaled more than $1 billion in investments and is Greater Cincinnati’s most recent development.

Last month, another large office project moved forward in the area. Skanska was tapped as developer for Medpace’s upcoming 562,000-square-foot, nine-story office building, in Cincinnati’s Madisonville neighborhood. The $164 million project is slated for delivery in 2027.

The development is part of the clinical research company’s $327 million expansion of its corporate campus, that will total 654,000 square feet across two buildings and is expected to become the largest office project in the city.

The post Cincinnati Children’s Buys 180 KSF Life Science Asset appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Medline is significantly expanding its footprint in the Chicagoland area by tripling the company’s space at The Mart in Chicago’s Central Business District and adding 210,000 square feet of new space in a nearby suburb.

Medline and landlord Vornado Realty Trust—owner of the 3.7 million-square-foot mixed-use property in downtown Chicago previously known as the Merchandise Mart—revealed that the firm was expanding its lease from 51,000 square feet to 161,000 square feet as part of a single, contiguous space across most of the 12th floor. The medical supplies giant committed to a long-term lease with Vornado at the 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza property, running through 2036.

READ ALSO: Innovative Solutions for Return-to-Office Challenges

In a separate announcement, Medline said it was renting 210,000 square feet at 2375 Waterview Drive in Northbrook, Ill., located about 4 miles west of the company’s global headquarters in Northfield, Ill. Previously known as 1 Astellas Way, the Northbrook campus totals 432,000 square feet across two six-story buildings owned by Astellas Pharma Inc., which has its headquarters there. Last March, CF Industries signed a long-term, 77,863-square-foot lease at the Class A office campus managed by Transwestern.

A Medline official told Commercial Property Executive the expansion at both properties will accommodate current and future growth. Medline will be continuing as a hybrid workplace but the expansion will bring various teams together, as more than 1,000 employees will relocate across the two locations with room for incremental growth.

With the expansion of The Mart office space, which first opened in 2022, and addition of the new Northbrook space, Medline’s footprint across Cook and Lake counties will be more than 3.8 million square feet. In the last five years, Medline boosted its Chicagoland workforce by 33 percent, growing from more than 4,600 local employees at the end of 2019 to nearly 6,100 as of Sept. 1. Medline has more than 39,000 employees worldwide and does business in more than 100 countries and territories.

Medline expects to complete expansion at The Mart by the end of the first quarter of 2025 and at the Northbrook office by the second quarter of 2025.

Iconic growth

Located on 6.2 acres, The Mart is an iconic mixed-use property that fronts North Orleans Street in Chicago’s Central Business District. It was built in 1930 and underwent thorough renovations in 1991 and 2007. Vornado acquired the asset for $356 million from Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises in April 1998 as part of a larger, $625 million portfolio transaction.

Vornado recently completed the final phase of a more than $70 million renovation program at The Mart. The upgrades included adding a grand staircase leading to a second-floor amenity program and gathering space that features food and beverage options, fitness and conference center, tenant lounge and landscaped River Park, which serves as a “front lawn” to the building.

The 25-story building spans two full city blocks and has about 3.5 million square feet of rentable office space, 90,000 square feet of retail space and is the largest design center in North America, with more than 250 premier design showrooms offering resources for residential and commercial markets. The LEED Platinum certified building has 2,250 parking spaces in both above-ground and subterranean facilities.

READ ALSO: Chicago Office Prices Lowest Among Gateway Markets

The Medline lease expansion will make the company one of The Mart’s largest tenants. Other companies in the building include tech firms such as Motorola Mobility, 1871 and MATTER, as well as Fortune 500 companies including Conagra Brands, Allstate, Beam Suntory, Avant and Grainger. PayPal leases 108,000 square feet, GoHealth leases 180,297 square feet and Interpublic Group leases 77,535 square feet of space, according to CommercialEdge.

J. Frank Franzese and Steven Bauer of Colliers represented Medline in its lease transaction. Vornado was represented by Andrea Saewitz, Wendy Katz and Ben Cleveland of Stream Realty, which is the leasing manager for The Mart.

More Medline expansion

In October 2022, Medline leased about 710,000 square feet at 264 S. 5750 W., a newly built industrial development in Salt Lake City. The health-care company had outgrown its 250,000-square-foot distribution center in the metro.

The new building is located on a 42-acre site and features 113 dock doors, 40-foot clear heights, 251 trailer parking spots and 383 parking spots for employees. It is close to interstates 80 and 215, less than 5 miles from Salt Lake City International Airport and about 8 miles from downtown Salt Lake City.

The post Medline Expands Chicago Office Presence by 320 KSF appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The John Buck Co. has signed a 57,000-square-foot lease at 155 N.  Wacker Drive, an approximately 1.2 million-square-foot office tower in Chicago’s central business district.

The tenant is law firm Smith, Gambrell & Russell, that will relocate its Chicago office at the building’s 30th and 31st floors, with moving in scheduled for early 2026. JLL brokered the deal on behalf of the tenant.

Notable tenants at the property include Monroe Capital, Marsh USA Inc., LSV Asset Management, Greenhill & Co., WP Global Partners, American Hospital Association and UL Solutions, among others, according to CommercialEdge. A recent office deal signed at the property is Sompo International’s more than 28,000-square-foot relocation, The Real Deal reported. The lease closed in February this year with the insurance provider doubling its footprint at the location.

The office tower earned WELL Health-Safety Rating, Wired Platinum certification and SmartScore Platinum rating. 155 N. Wacker Drive rises 46 stories and features 20 passenger elevators, 25,570-square-foot floorplates, 11,393 square feet of retail space and 160 vehicle parking spots, according to the same source. Other features include a fitness center, a conference center, energy-efficient glass and column-free spaces.

Designed by Goettsch Partners and completed in 2009, the property is close to multiple bus and subway stations, as well as to various dining and retail options. The building allows easy access to interstates 290 and 90, being 11 miles from the Chicago Midway International Airport and 17 miles from Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

JLL International Director Meredith O’Connor and Executive Managing Director Matt Carolan negotiated the lease on behalf of the tenant.

Low rent prices in the Windy City

Chicago’s office vacancy rate stood at 19.1 percent as of July, a recent CommercialEdge office report shows. The figure is higher than the national figure of 18.1 percent and marked a 50 basis points year-over-year decrease. Meanwhile, the average asking rent fell 1 percent year-over-year and stood at $27.27 per square foot, putting Chicago among the top five most affordable office markets in the U.S.

Among significant leases closed in the metro is Heitman’s 10-year extension signed with financial services firm Mesirow. The tenant will continue to occupy more than 100,000 square feet at 353 N. Clark St., a 1.2 million-square-foot office tower in downtown Chicago.

The post The John Buck Co. Inks Lease at 1.2 MSF Chicago Tower appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

MCB Science + Health has acquired iMed Naperville Medical Office, a 72,000-square-foot medical office building in Naperville, Ill., a Chicago submarket. DynaCom Management Inc. sold the asset for $28 million, in a deal brokered by Greenstone Partners.

The four-story medical office building came online in 2015 and was 96 percent leased at the time of sale. Endeavor Health, previously known as Edward-Elmhurst Health, anchors the facility. Other tenants include ABC Pediatrics, Basko Dermatology and Naper Grove Vision Care.

READ ALSO: Outpatient Facilities Step Into the Spotlight

The Class A property features floorplates averaging 18,000 square feet, 10-foot ceiling heights, a two-story lobby atrium and covered patient drop-off and pick-up areas, as well as a 300-spot parking.

The property is at 1331 W. 75th St., 2 miles from the Endeavor Health Edward Hospital and 1 mile from downtown Naperville. Downtown Chicago is 35 miles northeast.

Greenstone Partners Managing Partner Jason St. John brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller.

MCB’s expansion in the health-care sector

MCB Real Estate launched the Science + Health platform in 2022 in a partnership with real estate executive Wilkingson Germain. The venture focuses on acquisition and development in the medical office, senior housing and life science sectors across the U.S.

Earlier this year, MCB broke ground on Drexeline Medical Office Building, the 60,000-square-foot health-care component of Drexeline Town Center in Drexel Hill, Penn. The three-story facility is already fully leased to Delaware County Human Services and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

And, last year, the firm completed the construction of Wellness Center at Yard 56, an 80,000-square-foot, Class A medical office building in Baltimore. The asset is leased by Baltimore Medical System, Innovative Physical Therapy, Bay Vanguard Bank and LabCorp.

The post MCB Acquires Chicago-Area MOB appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Expansive will open a new flexible workspace location in Chicago at Two Pru, a nearly 1.1 million-square-foot Class A office tower. The company’s expansion will come to fruition through a partnership with Wanxiang Real Estate Group and Riverside Investments.

This is Expansive’s seventh location in the metro. The flex office provider will occupy the building’s 35th floor, previously leased by Regus.

Expansive’s new location is currently under renovation, plans calling for private offices, on-demand meeting rooms, coworking spaces and day offices. Upgrades are slated for completion this month, with an official opening ceremony scheduled for October.

READ ALSO: Managing Coworking: Building Brands, Building Experiences  

Two Pru is part of The Pru, the 2.3 million-square-foot office complex formerly known as Prudential Plaza. Notable tenants at the property include Amsted Industries Inc., Presidio Aircraft Leasing, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, Envisionit and The Terry Group, according to CommercialEdge.

A closer look at One and Two Pru

Wanxiang Real Estate Group has been the majority owner of The Pru since 2018, when it purchased the majority stake in the property for $680 million, the same source shows. The company owns the asset together with Sterling Bay, which retained a minority stake.

At the time of the sale, the two-building asset became subject to a $389 million loan provided by CW Capital, with a maturity date set for 2027 and a two-year extension option. The ownership is currently investing $50 million in upgrades, with a focus on tenant amenities, The Real Deal reported.

One Pru, at 130 E. Randolph St., comprises 1.3 million square feet across 41 stories. Completed in 1955 and renovated in 2014, the high-rise features 30 passenger elevators, floorplates ranging between 22,000 and 70,000 square feet and 336 parking spots.

Two Pru rises 58 stories at 180 N. Stetson Ave. The 1.1 million-square-foot property came online in 1990 and features 21,000-square-foot floorplates, 30 passenger elevators and 608 parking spots.

The amenity package includes a 7,000-square-foot rooftop terrace with lounge spaces, 23,000-square-foot tenant lounge, fitness center, space for nursing parents and a public park with outdoor seats. The amenities at One and Two Pru are currently undergoing multiple upgrades, which will include the addition of golf simulators, an entertainment area, a 22,000-square-foot conference center, an extended tenant lounge and rooftop terrace.

The Pru is at the edge of Grant Park, in the city’s central business district, close to multiple train and bus stations. The Chicago Midway International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport are 12 and 18 miles away, respectively.

The post Expansive to Open 7th Chicago Coworking Location appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Venture One Real Estate has purchased a five-building, 421,638-square-foot industrial portfolio through its VK Industrial VII acquisition fund. Zilber Property Group previously owned the five facilities throughout metro Chicago, according to CommercialEdge data.

In February, Venture One set out to raise $300 million for its seventh industrial fund, SEC filings show. Kovitz Investment Group is a co-sponsor of the investment vehicle. This portfolio acquisition is among the first to use proceeds from VK Industrial VII. Its previous industrial fundraiser had set its goal at $250 million, the same source shows.

READ ALSO: First-Half Investor Darlings

CBRE Vice Chairmen Zach Graham, Ryan Bain and Michael Caprile alongside Vice President Joe Horrigan represented the seller in the transaction.

Comprising single- and multi-tenant facilities, the portfolio was fully leased to 13 tenants at the time of the acquisition. The buildings range from 37,174 to 154,335 square feet with units between 7,953 and 84,373 square feet.

The largest of the five assets is in Northbrook, Ill. The 154,335-square-foot facility came online in 1974. Features include 24-foot clear heights, 40- by 40-foot column spacing, as well as a 120-foot truck court and 187 parking spaces.

Located in Mokena, Elgin, Willowbrook, Ill., and Northbrook, the facilities are within an average of 31 miles from downtown Chicago, as well as some 27 and 35 miles from the Chicago O’Hare International Airport and the Illinois International Port District, respectively.

Venture One’s industrial acquisition funds

Venture One utilizes discretionary funds to source, acquire and operate industrial assets. It mainly targets the Chicago metro, the Northeast U.S. and Florida regions. The investment vehicle closes transactions with cash and no financing contingencies.

The company completed another Chicago-area purchase earlier this year, acquiring a 785,181-square-foot industrial portfolio in St. Charles, Ill., for $50.2 million. Venture One utilized funds from VK Industrial VI and secured a $30.4 million loan from Lake Forest Bank & Trust.

Chicago’s industrial pipeline drops year-over-year

Year-to-date through June, investors traded 10.8 million square feet throughout metro Chicago, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. This was a 2.4 percent decrease year-over-year.

Industrial completions in The Windy City dropped 34.3 percent year-over-year, to 7.5 million square feet year-to-date through June. The metro had 12 million square feet under construction, down 54.5 percent year-over-year, the same source shows.

Of Chicago’s industrial deliveries this year, 4.8 million square feet—63.8 percent—were in speculative projects with only a 6.7 percent prelease rate, Cushman & Wakefield’s report reveals. This contributed to a higher vacancy rate in June, which clocked in at 4.5 percent—a 90-basis point increase year-over-year.

The post Venture One Buys 422 KSF Metro Chicago Industrial Portfolio appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The two-story enclosed super regional shopping mall came online in late 1999. Poag Development plans to leverage redevelopment expertise to transform the 80-acre RiverTown Crossings both inside and out.

The new owner will collaborate with JLL—its management and leasing partner—to revitalize the shopping mall by introducing new uses and taking advantage of underutilized parking areas.

Macy’s, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Celebration Cinemas and Dick’s Sporting Goods are anchoring the property. RiverTown Crossings also features a mix of national and regional retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Bath & Body Works, Claire’s, GameStop, H&M, Hollister, Olive Garden, Pandora, Old Navy, Sephora, Sushi Go Go and Victoria’s Secret, among others.

READ ALSO: Charting Luxury Retail’s Course in the New Economy

Located at 3700 Rivertown Parkway, RiverTown Crossings is part of the Grandville – Wyoming submarket. The shopping mall is close to Interstate 196, allowing direct access to downtown Grand Rapids, which is less than 10 miles northeast of the property.

The retail scene in Grand Rapids

The Grand Rapids retail market ended the second quarter with negative absorption and several notable sales transactions, according to a Colliers report. Despite a general slowdown in investment volume, prime and well-located properties still attract buyers, reflecting current retail market trends.

The vacancy rate clocked in at 5.3 percent, rising by 70 basis points from the previous quarter and surpassing the national average of 4.1 percent, the same source shows. The overall average in the market slightly decreased, falling from $15.69 to $15.35 per square foot triple net.

The post Poag Development Buys Michigan Super Regional Mall appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

As part of the agreement, Sixth Street will assume a 65 percent stake in Plymouth’s Chicago-area industrial portfolio, which totals roughly 5.9 million square feet across a 34-building mix of warehouses, distribution centers, light manufacturing and small bay facilities. Plymouth will retain a 35 percent stake.

“Plymouth is active in markets such as Memphis, Columbus, Atlanta and Jacksonville,” Jeff Witherell, Plymouth’s chairman & CEO, told Commercial Property Executive. “We will pursue additional acquisitions in these markets as we believe they will be major beneficiaries of the reshoring and onshoring initiatives of manufacturers.” 

In addition to acquisitions, Plymouth intends to use the capital to de-risk obsolete industrial assets, pay borrowing costs from the recent $100 million purchase of a Memphis-area industrial portfolio, and retire $67 million of existing debt.

Sixth Street cited the strong performance and demand for Plymouth industrial properties that clock in below 250,000 square feet, which have seen elevated demand from local warehouse occupiers and manufacturers. Sixth Street intends to partner with Plymouth on future joint ventures.

Plymouth’s payouts

Sixth Street’s initial $250 million contribution to the portfolio will come in two parts. The first $116 million is 65 percent of the required equity for the joint venture and asset ownership. An additional $140 million consists of a non-convertible Series C investment in Plymouth’s preferred equity. The initial preferred equity investment was seeded with $61 million, while the remaining $79 million will be paid within nine months of the partnership’s closing.

The financing for the industrial portfolio will consist of $178 million worth of secured mortgages, which will amount to $294 million worth of gross proceeds for Plymouth. After assuming the mortgage debt and paying for transaction costs, the REIT will have access to $212 million worth of investable capital.

Currently, the Chicago portfolio is valued at $356 million, with a 6.2 percent cap rate. The properties have a net operating income of $22 million.

Sixth Street’s returns

Sixth Street’s payout will come at a 7 percent return per year, with 4 percent in cash and the remaining 3 as payments in kind. The total returns will increase in the fifth and seventh years following the investment.

READ ALSO: First-Half Investor Darlings

Sixth Street’s payout will come at a 7 percent return per year, with 4 percent in cash and the remaining 3 as payments in kind. The total returns will increase in the fifth and seventh years following the investment.In addition to the new industrial assets, Sixth Street will receive 11.76 million warrants to purchase Plymouth’s common stock units.

Windy City windfall

Chicago’s industrial market continues to show sound fundamentals, with a supply pipeline and transaction volume that lead the nation. CommercialEdge’s latest national industrial report found that the market has 10.6 million square feet of space in the works, and a sale price of $98 per square foot, tops in the Midwest and fourth highest in the nation.

The city is also attracting steady interest from the tech sector, with PsiQuantum signing on as the anchor tenant at a $500 million,128-acre research and development campus that will be the site of the nation’s first utility-scale quantum computer.

The post Plymouth, Sixth Street Launch $500M Partnership appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Cardinal Health has unveiled plans for a nearly 249,000-square-foot distribution center in Walton Hills, Ohio, as it continues to its strategy of modernizing its U.S. operations and increasing warehouse capacity.

The facility, which is slated to be operational by spring 2025, will be more than 30 percent larger than the location in nearby Solon, Ohio, it will replace.

Intended to support Cardinal Health’s U.S. Medical Products and Distribution business, the warehouse will integrate new technology solutions, deliver operational efficiencies and provide expanded capacity in the Cleveland area.

READ ALSO: Industrial Development Pipeline Shrinks

The future distribution center will rise in the Forward Innovation Center East industrial park, a 1 million-square-foot, 111-acre property that was the site of the former Ford Motor Co. Stamping Plant. The campus borders Interstates 271 and 480, has access to the Northern Southern Columbus & CSX North Baltimore rail line and is less than 18 miles from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Cardinal officials said Northeast Ohio is a major health-care hub and critical market that the company’s medical products and distribution business has serviced for more than 25 years.

Expanding and modernizing

The Walton Hills site is one of several new locations Cardinal Health has been investing in over the past several years as it grows its footprint and modernizes its distribution capabilities.

In April, the company broke ground on a 575,000-square-foot medical distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, at the Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park. The property is about 10 miles from downtown Columbus.

Last year, the firm opened two new distribution centers in Central Ohio, one supporting the U.S. Medical Products and Distribution business in Groveport and a second property in Grove City handling products for the at-Home Solutions business. The facilities total more than 782,000 square feet.

Cardinal also opened a new medical products replenishment center last year in Montgomery, N.Y., which strengthens on-hand inventory levels and the ability to rapidly restock its distribution network.

And, later this year, Cardinal will celebrate the opening of a new nearly 317,000-square-foot  distribution center in Boyleston, Mass., near Boston. That facility will provide expanded warehouse capacity and specialized handling capabilities for products requiring refrigeration.

The post Cardinal Health to Expand Medical Distribution Footprint appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings has opened its fourth distribution center, a facility spanning more than 615,000 square feet in Princeton, Ill. The total investment landed north of $75 million.

Built by Arco Design/Build, the project topped out last year. With a pivotal role in the company’s westward expansion, the facility is slated to initially service roughly 60 stores in nine states, with final plans involving 150 stores.

President Eric van der Valk previously told Commercial Property Executive that the bulk of the facility was assigned for warehouse storage. The building features sortation and conveyor systems, as well as 58 truck docks and 100 truck parking spaces.

READ ALSO: Top 5 Markets for Industrial Deliveries

Following Ollie’s purchase of the 130-acre Princeton Logistics Park, the city authorized naming the park’s right-of-way after its new owner. Therefore, the facility is located at 1 Ollie’s Bargain Blvd., less than 1 mile from Interstate 80 and some 3 miles from downtown Princeton.

The first Ollie’s Bargain outlet store opened in Mechanicsburg, Penn., in 1982. According to Forbes, the company went public in 2015, at the time having almost 200 stores and $640 million in revenue. Its first week of trading ended with a market capitalization of $1.2 billion. In August 2024, Ollie’s operated 525 stores.

Despite retail chain closures, such as Dollar Tree which stated it will close about 1,000 stores, Ollie’s keeps expanding. Van der Valk stated, in prepared remarks, that the firm aims to open more than 1,300 stores nationally.

Illinois’ efforts to incentivize businesses

In 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker released a five-year economic plan focused on job creation. Working alongside the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the plan aimed to improve wages, build greater equity, as well as attract and support businesses.

One of the business incentives is the Economic Development for a Growing Economy Tax Credit Program which issues annual corporate tax credits to businesses that support job creation and provide capital investment in the state of Illinois. In June 2022, DCEO awarded Ollie’s with tax credits and in exchange, the company pledged to invest $75 million in the community, as well as create more than 200 jobs.

The post Ollie’s Opens 615 KSF Distribution Center in Illinois appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Schnucks Market shadow-anchors the property, while the tenant roster shows a diverse mix including Hallmark, JoAnn, Sushi Ko, Noodles & Co., Sunrise Health Foods, PNC, Great Clips, Merle Norman, Holmes Shoes, Le Bakery, Roger Burke and 50’s Diner, among others.

Located at 4700 N. University St., Metro Centre is near Route 50 and Interstate 74, which allow easy access to downtown Peoria.

Principal & Managing Broker Ben Wineman of Mid-America’s Investment Sales Group brokered the deal. The firm also recently closed on several other retail transactions in the wider area, including the sale of Iroquois Center, a 108,412-square-foot value-add neighborhood center in Naperville, Ill. Northpond Partners purchased the asset from DRA Advisors. 

Last month, Core Acquisitions purchased a 251,584-square-foot shopping center in Wheaton, Ill., in a deal brokered by Mid-America. The new owner paid $34.2 million for the property in the Chicago area.

The post Mid-America Arranges Sale of Illinois Shopping Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The project will feature a six-story office building atop a three-floor parking garage and conference center. It will be developed at 5355 Medpace Way, the site of a 57,340-square-foot building constructed in 2011 that is currently home to the company’s Clinical Pharmacology Unit. The CPU building will be demolished to make way for the new tower. The building will have a front courtyard, connecting stairs on all six floors, open office spaces, collaboration spaces, private offices, a fitness center and conference rooms, according to additional details released by Skanska.

Preparatory work began in February and the project is slated for completion in March 2027.

Skanska is also working on a new 75,000-square-foot CPU building that will include a loading dock, reception areas, conference rooms and sleeping rooms for inpatient study subjects.

READ ALSO: Tenants Are Leasing More Office Space in Prime Buildings

Stockholm-based Skanska is overseeing the campus expansion on behalf of the project’s developer, RBM Development, which is owned by the Medpace CEO August Troendle. The Medpace expansion will be the largest office construction project in the city.

Project incentives, grants

The project received several incentives totaling more than $120 million in May from both the city of Cincinnati and the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority after reaching an agreement to form a tax-increment financing district worth $3.4 million annually. It is believed to be the largest economic incentive deal in Cincinnati history and calls for Medpace to add approximately 1,500 new jobs at the site and keep the existing 3,000 jobs. The deal included about $33 million through a 55 percent payroll tax credit for 14 years and at least $90 million from the TIF over 30 years, according to local12.com.

The city will also contribute $1.5 million for public improvements at the site and $200,000 for infrastructure upgrades to the intersections of Medpace Way and Hetzell Street, the campus’ surrounding streets, Commercial Property Executive previously reported.

Other funding includes $55 million worth of lower-interest bonds issued by the port authority and a $23 million development grant from JobsOhio, the state’s private development arm. The Ohio Department of Transportation is providing $325,000

Creating a mixed-use campus

Founded in 1992, Medpace is a global clinical research organization for development of drugs and medical devices. Medpace began making plans to move to the former NuTone manufacturing site in 2008. Following several years of construction, Medpace moved from Norwood, Ohio, to the new space in Madisonville in 2012. Over time, the campus grew to include five buildings with about 600,000 square feet of total space.

Skanska has worked on several other projects at the Medpace campus in recent years as it has been transformed into a mixed-use district. In 2018, Skanska completed the adaptive reuse redevelopment of a former NuTone warehouse and parking garage into a 239-key, 426,000-square-foot full-service boutique hotel and conference center, known as The Summit.

Two years later, Skanska completed Madison Square, which includes street-level retail, a plaza level public commons and seven-story, 263,000-square-foot Class A office building.

The post Skanska to Construct $164M Building in Cincinnati appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Following its strong launch into the U.S. data center market earlier this year, Edged Energy is well underway with the expansion of that initial footprint. The firm is developing a 24 MW data center in New Albany, Ohio.

Edged Columbus is rising on a 15-acre parcel at 6525 New Albany Road E., less than 20 minutes from downtown Columbus, Ohio. Development work started earlier this year and the facility is expected to open in July 2025.

The New Albany City Council approved the $250 million project in November. The council also granted a 15-year, 100 percent real property tax abatement.

Edged Columbus, up close

The 210,000-square-foot data center will feature ultra-efficient energy systems and waterless cooling technology designed to support the demands of generative AI and advanced computing.

The ThermalWorks waterless cooling system will drastically cut energy usage and Edged Columbus is expected to save nearly 95 million gallons of water annually, compared to conventional data centers, helping to conserve water in a state where several areas are already in severe drought. The system supports densities of up to 70 kW per rack with air cooling and 200 kW per rack with plug-and-play liquid cooling integration.

Edged Energy burst onto the U.S. data center market earlier this year with plans to build four campuses, totaling nine buildings, in the Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and Kansas City metro areas. At the time, Edged announced that it intended to break ground on several additional sites in major U.S. urban markets in the following months, but did not specify where, till now.

Silicon Heartland

A U.S. data center overview by Newmark earlier this year highlighted Columbus—aka the Silicon Heartland—as an emerging data center market. The region’s advantages include ample availability of land, relatively low-cost power and various tax incentives.

Earlier this year, 5C Data Centers started the expansion of CMH01, its 200 MW data center in Columbus. The firm acquired a 66,000-square-foot live facility that will grow to 320,000 square feet in the next development phase. The initial 100 MW are scheduled for completion in the first quarter of next year.

The post Edged Data Centers Continues US Drive With $250M Project appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Alterra IOS has purchased 2222 New World Drive, a 14-acre, infill industrial outdoor storage asset in Columbus, Ohio. Transport Properties sold the asset, CommercialEdge data shows. JLL brokered the sale.

The property includes a 50,238-square-foot warehouse with 18-foot clear heights, eight drive-in doors and 3,400 square feet of office space. The facility includes a gated entrance with a 3,900-square-foot intake facility and is adjacent to 34 acres of land available for expansion.

Located within 10 miles of the John Glenn and Rickenbacker International Airports, the IOS property is rail-served by CSX, making it the largest paved rail site in Columbus. Several major thoroughfares are within 5 miles, including interstates 270, 70 and 71, as well as U.S. routes 33 and 23.

READ ALSO: Why 2024 Is the Year to Invest in Industrial Real Estate

Two months ago, Alterra purchased another IOS asset in Columbus. Star Leasing sold 4080 Business Park Drive for $6.1 million, CommercialEdge data reveals. Constructed in 1996, the property served as Star Leasing’s headquarters. With this latest purchase, Alterra now owns six such assets in metro Columbus.

A full-service trailer leasing provider signed a long-term agreement to occupy the property at 4080 Business Park Drive. The 8-acre industrial outdoor storage site comprises 20,120 square feet of warehouse space while being located near the conflux of I-270 and I-70.

Last month the company expanded its Southeast portfolio. Alterra acquired three IOS assets in metro Atlanta, boosting its footprint in the region to 23 properties. Alterra paid $22.4 million for the 28.3-acre portfolio.

Investors bullish on IOS

GreenPoint Partners CEO Chris Green underlined some of the benefits of IOS in a recent article on Commercial Property Executive. These include low ongoing capital expenditures and tripe-net, multi-year, single-tenant leases. Green also mentioned that profitability is expected to increase thanks in part to growing demand and dwindling supply.

Seizing this opportunity, Triten Real Estate Partners and TPG Angelo Gordon upsized their 2020-launched joint venture to acquire north of $1 billion in IOS assets over the next five years. The venture bought more than $500 million worth of IOS properties with an average of 18 yearly purchases since 2020.

In another recent move to capitalize on this niche market, Catalyst Investment Partners closed its Catalyst IOS Fund II with $186.9 million—surpassing its goal of $150 million. The fund focuses on densely populated, infill industrial markets with high barriers to entry.

The post Alterra IOS Expands Columbus Footprint appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Sperry Equities has acquired Northwest Indiana Logistics Portfolio, measuring 639,829 square feet across two buildings in Portage, Ind. Investcorp was the previous owner, according to CommercialEdge information.

JLL brokered the deal on behalf of the seller. Additionally, the company arranged a five-year, fixed-rate loan through New York Life Real Estate Investors.

At the time of sale, the portfolio boasted a 97 percent occupancy rate with eight tenants, including Tosca Services, MCP USA and Green Sense Farms Holdings, CommercialEdge data shows.

READ ALSO: Chicago Industrial Market Outshines the Rest of the Midwest

Building 1 is a 122,829-square-foot facility featuring 25-foot clear heights, 13 dock-high loading doors and six drive-in doors with dock levelers and bumpers. Additionally, the distribution center has 305-foot truck courts and about 115 parking spaces.

Completed in 2000, the more than 8-acre property is at 6525 Daniel Burnham Drive and provides easy access to Interstate 94. Downtown Chicago is some 41 miles away and the Port of Chicago is within 28 miles.

The 2003-completed Building 2 is a 517,000-square-foot warehouse that has 30-foot clear heights, 60 dock-high loading doors and four drive-in doors with levelers and bumpers, as well as 140-foot truck courts and 384 parking spaces. The 31-acre property is at 6750 Daniel Burnham Drive, less than 1 mile from Building 1.

The distribution centers are also part of AmeriPlex at the Port, a 387-acre, mixed-use business park that broke ground in 2000 and is still under construction.

JLL Investment Sales and Advisory Senior Managing Director John Huguenard, alongside Managing Directors Ed Halaburt and Kurt Sarbaugh brokered the deal. The JLL Debt Advisory team was led by Senior Director Brian Walsh.

Larger deals are still happening in Chicago

Metro Chicago registered the largest industrial sales volume in the region year-to-date through June, clocking in at more than $1.3 billion, according to the latest CommercialEdge industrial report. However, assets traded at an average of $98 per square foot, well below the $139 national figure.

In April, Stonepeak acquired a three-building, 1.7 million-square-foot logistics portfolio in the Chicago market. CenterPoint Properties sold the fully leased properties for $125 million.

At the beginning of the year, an acquisition fund managed by Venture One Real Estate and Kovitz Investment Group purchased a 785,181-square-foot portfolio totaling two buildings in St. Charles, Ill. The buyer financed the purchase with a $30.4 million acquisition loan.

The post Investcorp Sells 640 KSF Chicago Industrial Portfolio appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

CRG and Related Midwest will develop the 128-acre Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park for anchor tenant PsiQuantum. The campus is just the initial phase of a broader 400-acre master-planned development at the site of the former U.S. Steel South Works.

The State of Illinois committed $500 million to the development of the park, including $200 million for the construction of a cryogenic plant to serve the cooling needs for PsiQuantum and other potential users. In addition, the newly announced Quantum Proving Ground program, a partnership between the state and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, will provide another $280 million.

Designed by Lamar Johnson Collaborative, IQMP’s first phase will occupy about 30 acres and is scheduled for completion in 2027. Clayco will be the general contractor for this initial phase.

Future home of the first U.S.-based utility scale quantum computer

PsiQuantum, of Palo Alto, Calif., plans to build the nation’s first commercially useful “utility-scale” quantum computer at the IQMP. Its Quantum Computer Operations Center will span more than 300,000 square feet, with additional acreage for future expansion.

IQMP’s 128 acres are at the southern end of the overall site. Besides the PsiQuantum facility, the park will include equipment labs, as well as research and office spaces for private companies and universities. DARPA will also have a presence at the campus.

READ ALSO: Industrial Property Values on the Upswing

The location, bearing the street address of 8080 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive, is in the South Chicago neighborhood, near the mouth of the Calumet River, which provides access to the Port of Chicago. The site reportedly is one of the nation’s largest contiguous infill waterfront properties.

It’s about 10 miles from downtown Chicago and is accessible from the Metra Electric 87th Street station, served by CTA bus routes and close to the Chicago Skyway and other major thoroughfares. The site is also within the Illinois International Port District, which provides access to intermodal transportation and offers high power and water capacity for quantum and other advanced-technology industries.

Brown to green

The U.S. Steel South Works once produced 1 million tons of steel every year, but after decades of declining production and a contracting labor force, it closed down in 1992.

The former steel mill site has been the target of various redevelopment proposals since then, including overtures from Solo Cup to build a manufacturing facility there.

Now that the site appears ready to finally be on the path to redevelopment, the City of Chicago has estimated the IQMP’s economic impact over the next decade as in excess of $20 billion.

Interestingly for such a stereotypical brownfield setting—much of the acreage is landfill made from steelmaking slag—16.5 acres of the site was acquired by the Chicago Park District in 2002. One of the distinctive features of Steelworkers Park is a 30-foot climbing wall built on massive concrete walls remaining from the mill.  

The post Related Midwest, CRG to Develop Quantum Innovation Hub in Chicago appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The properties are strategically located in key submarkets, ensuring robust market presence and high tenant demand. The portfolio is fully leased to seven tenants.

The assets include Asbury Drive, a 157,500-square-foot building located at 850 Asbury Drive in Buffalo Grove in the Lake County submarket, which sold for $20 million; Rockwell Logistics Center, a 174,262-square-foot building located at 2545 W. 24th Street in Chicago in the City South submarket, which sold for $33.5 million; and Mokena Logistics I and II, 268,226 square feet across two buildings located at 8965 and 8905 W. 187th Street in Mokena in the Joliet submarket, which sold for a combined $30 million.

Chicago’s strong industrial market

Alex Olshansky, principal & head of Investments, Zenith IOS, told Commercial Property Executive that institutional industrial investors continue to be drawn by the unique factors driving demand in the Chicagoland market, such as its strategic central location, a strong and diversified manufacturing and population base, and most importantly its irreplaceable position as the most rail and freight-advantaged logistics market in the country.

“Given its position as one of the largest and most dynamic industrial markets in the country, Chicago is well-positioned to continue to attract interest from both corporate users and value-oriented investors,” Olshansky said.

READ ALSO: Industrial Property Values on the Upswing

Stream Executive Managing Director and Partner Patrick Russo, Portfolio Manager Mustafa Ali and Associate Ben Harrison facilitated the acquisition.

CBRE’s Capital Markets Advisors, which include Ryan Bain, Michael Caprile, Zach Graham, Judd Welliver, Bentley Smith, Joe Horrigan, and Victoria Gomez, along with local brokers Whit Heitman, Sam Badger, Larry Goldwasser and Terry Grapenthin, also assisted in the transaction.

Stream currently manages a portfolio of 41 investments totaling 23.2 million square feet and approximately $2 billion of equity across five commingled funds, several joint venture vehicles and wholly owned assets.

The post Stream Realty Buys Industrial Portfolio for $84M appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

General contractor Skender has topped out 919 West Fulton, a 409,000-square-foot office building in Chicago, on behalf of Fulton Street Cos. Completion is anticipated next year.

The developer secured $233 million in equity and debt for this project in October. The building was already underway at the time.

Other project partners on the $300 million development include JDL Development, lead designer Shanna Khan and Morris Adjmi Architects, along with Thornton Tomasetti as structural engineer and Eriksson as civil engineer. Additionally, Madison Rose is handling leasing.

READ ALSO: Chicago Office Prices Lowest Among Gateway Markets

Designed by FitzGerald Associates Architects according to WELL and LEED Silver standards, the 11-story building will be the tallest in the Fulton Market Historic District. The office property will feature floorplates ranging between 25,000 and 40,000 square feet, as well as 40,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Amenities are to include multiple outdoor terraces, a rooftop lounge and bar, several conference centers and coworking spaces, along with a fitness center and two main lobbies. Harrison Street Real Estate Capital is set to be the anchor tenant after having committed to 112,000 square feet in 2022.

The transit-oriented building is taking shape at 919 W. Fulton Market, but will change its address to 217 N. Sangamon St. The property is less than 2 miles from downtown Chicago, close to a host of retail options. Chicago O’Hare International Airport is some 15 miles away.

The project also comprises an adjacent residential building at 910 W. Lake St., according to Chicago YIMBY. That six-story property will include street-level retail space as well.

Chicago’s modest office pipeline

With construction costs rising, Chicago’s office pipeline as of June stood at 1 million square feet, representing only 0.3 percent of total stock, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. During the same month, the metro’s vacancy rate clocked in at 19.1 percent, 20 basis points higher year-over-year.

One of the current developments is a 302,388-square-foot life science project rising in in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood. Trammell Crow Co. and Beacon Capital Partners topped it out in February and the first tenants are expected to move in by early 2025.

More recently, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago started construction on a 75,000-square-foot outpatient facility in Schaumburg, Ill. Skender serves as general contractor for this project as well.

The post Fulton Street Tops Out $300M Chicago Office Project appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Developed between 2014 and 2017, the buildings are located within the 1,700-acre master-planned industrial park and inland port developed jointly by NorthPoint Development and BNSF Railway. The properties offer immediate access to BNSF Railway’s state-of-the-art intermodal rail facility. Located along the railway’s Transcontinental Corridor, LPKC opened in 2013. It has a total building capacity of 17 million square feet.

In 2017, NorthPoint sold a majority stake in the portfolio to Ares Management Real Estate, a global alternative investment manager with nearly $50 billion in assets under management as of March. NorthPoint retained a minority stake as part of the joint venture and also continued to operate and maintain the buildings.

The portfolio is currently 93 percent leased to a variety of premier tenants including Amazon, Stanley Black & Decker, Sam’s Club, Assa Abloy and Smart Warehousing. The buildings feature concrete tilt-panel construction with an average 35-foot clear height and 706 dock doors.

Amazon agreed to lease an 822,104-square-foot building at LPKC in March 2016 for a fulfillment center expected to create about 1,000 jobs. At the time, it was the largest speculative industrial building ever constructed in the Kansas City, Mo., market.

Barings Transactions

Steve Murray, a Barings managing director, said in a prepared statement the refinancing transaction is closely aligned with the asset management firm’s real estate debt strategy that is focused on investing in high-quality assets in dynamic markets and backed by experienced sponsors. The company’s real estate debt platform is now more than $28.4 billion.

Also this month, Barings provided a $102 million five-year construction loan alongside $63.3 million in green financing from Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate to help redevelop downtown Darien, Conn.’s Corbin District. Phase II will feature 11 new buildings including a mix of apartments along with office and retail space.

Last year, Barings purchased Warner Commerce Center, a newly built speculative 197,000-square-foot industrial property in Tempe, Ariz., from The Opus Group for $42.4 million.

The post 6.4 MSF Kansas City Industrial Portfolio Lands $244M Refi appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

VanTrust Real Estate will develop a 746,672-square-foot build-to-suit facility for Sephora in Avon, Ind. The 61-acre property will serve as the beauty retailer’s Midwest distribution center and is scheduled to come online next summer.

This marks the second collaboration between the two companies. In 2019, VanTrust completed Tropical Distribution Center 2, a 715,000-square-foot facility in North Las Vegas that is fully occupied by the cosmetics supplier.

Development partners for the upcoming facility include general contractor Pepper Construction, architecture firm MacGregor Architects and civil engineer American Structurepoint. The building is designed to meet LEED Silver certification. CBRE Executive Vice Presidents Toby Mink and Andrew Morris arranged the deal on behalf of Sephora.

READ ALSO: I.CON East Special Report: Industrial Opportunity Snapshot

VanTrust will build the distribution center within its Avon Landings Commerce Park, a two-phase industrial project measuring 119 acres. The developer broke ground on the first three speculative buildings two years ago, of which one has already been completed. Together with the upcoming Sephora distribution center, the campus will encompass nearly 1.5 million square feet.

The industrial park is on Ronald Reagan Parkway, allowing access to interstates 465 and 74. The Indianapolis International Airport is within 8 miles, while downtown Indianapolis is some 12 miles east.

Indianapolis’ steady industrial sector

Despite increased construction costs, Indianapolis had nearly 4.8 million square feet of space under construction as of May, representing 1.3 percent of existing stock, according to the latest CommercialEdge industrial report. Additionally, the market’s vacancy rate was 4.7 percent, 90 basis points lower than the national average.

In May, Eli Lilly and Co. announced a $5.3 billion investment at its Lebanon, Ind., manufacturing site. This new funding is aimed at enhancing production capabilities for ingredients used in Zepbound and Mounjaro, which are injectable antidiabetic and weight loss drugs. Production at the 600-acre campus is expected to start at the end of 2026.

The post VanTrust to Build Sephora’s New Midwest Distribution Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Lincoln Property Co. has sold 4321 Albert S. White Parkway, a 146,640-square-foot distribution center in Whitestown, Ind. Colliers brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller.

In 2022, Independent Bank issued a $10.4 million construction note set to mature in June of 2025, according to CommercialEdge. Peterson Construction & Property Services served as general contractor.

The 2023-built property features 32-foot clear heights, 53-foot by 56-foot 8-inch column spacing with a 60-foot speed bay, 12 dock doors, two drive-in doors, 40,000-pound mechanical levelers, as well as a truck court depth of 130 feet, 126 parking spaces and 41 trailer spots.

READ ALSO: 5 Capital Trends to Watch in H2

Located inside the 616-acre industrial park AllPoints at Anson, the distribution center is less than 1 mile from Interstate 65. Boone County Airport and the Indianapolis International Airport are some 4 and 26 miles away, respectively.

Colliers Executive Vice President Jason Speckman and Senior Vice President Jimmy Cohoat represented Lincoln Property Co.

Indianapolis industrial vacancy rate inches upward

In the first quarter, investors traded $64 million in industrial assets throughout metro Indianapolis. EQT Exeter’s disposition of Park 130 at Whitestown Building Three is one noteworthy transaction that took place earlier in the year. The asset changed hands for $28.4 million.

As of March, Indianapolis’ industrial vacancy rate rested at 3.2 percent, 80 basis points higher than a year ago but still significantly below the U.S. average.

One notable lease also occurred relatively recently within AllPoints at Anson. Last year, Rockwell Automation doubled down on its 369,449-square-foot lease at CBRE Investment Management’s Anson 8A, renewing the deal at the 708,367-square-foot building.

The post Lincoln Property Sells Indianapolis-Area Industrial Asset appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Venture One will construct a build-to-suit, 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility for John Deere in Lowell, Ind.

The Fortune 100 company purchased the 234-acre site from Hallmark Construction Co. for $7 million. Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty represented the seller.

Lake County Planning and Building Administrator Steve Nigro claimed that the rezoning was approved, and the board is currently awaiting the site development plan, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana.

John Deere intends to invest up to $125 million in the project, dubbed Tempo, the same source reveals. These funds include $100 million for construction, $15 million for equipment and $10 million in miscellaneous costs.

READ ALSO: It’s Time for Investors to Get Off the Sidelines

Attorney James L. Wieser, who represented the developer, stated that there are plans to further expand the project by roughly 500,000 to 700,000 square feet. Tempo will generate roughly 1,200 union construction jobs and an estimated 500 permanent positions will be available upon the facility’s completion.

Located at 2105 W. 181st Ave., the development site has direct frontage on Interstate 65 South and Indiana Route 2. Downtown Chicago is some 59 miles northwest.  

Coldwell Banker Realty Brokers Nancy Frigo and Nicholas Smith represented Hallmark Construction Co. in the transaction proceedings.

Chicago’s industrial pipeline grows

Chicago ranked third nationwide for industrial development in May, with 10.8 million square feet of space under construction, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. The figure represented 1.0 percent of total stock, nearly half the national 1.9 percent figure.

Last month, Dermody Properties broke ground on a $140 million, 2.4 million-square-foot logistics park in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Completion is estimated in 2025.

Earlier this year, a joint venture of Avgeris and Associates, The Missner Group and Wylie Capital unveiled plans to redevelop a 459,927-square-foot, two-building property into an industrial campus measuring upward of 1.1 million square feet.

The post John Deere Eyes $125M Warehouse Near Chicago appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Clark Construction Group has topped out the first phase of Andretti Global’s new headquarters in Fishers, Ind., measuring almost 400,000 square feet. Partners on the development also include master developer Bradford Allen, architect of record RATIO and design firm Ridge and Partners.

The building is part of a 90-acre campus and more than quadruples Andretti’s current headquarters. The company broke ground on the $200 million project in December 2022 and plans to relocate to the new complex in 2025. At full build-out, the property will measure some 575,000 square feet.

In 2022, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. announced plans to invest up to $19 million in Andretti Autosport through conditional tax credits and up to $125,000 in training grants, contingent on the company’s investments in its Indiana operations. Additionally, the city of Fishers has granted further incentives.

READ ALSO: Indianapolis Industrial Construction Booms in Q1

The Phase One building will house day-to-day operations for the racing team, as well as Andretti Technologies’ advanced research and development pursuits. A fitness center, walking trails, amphitheaters, employee gathering areas and expanded dining options will be part of the facility’s set of amenities.

Plans also call for the construction of Andretti Experience, an expanded section of the complex that will cater to fans and the community. The property will include interactive experiences, memorabilia, museum exhibits and public dining, among others.

The development is on the southeast side of Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport, near E. 96th St. and Hague Road. Downtown Indianapolis is some 18 miles away.

The post $200M Indianapolis HQ Tops Out appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

A joint venture between Lincoln Property Co. and IMC Management has secured a refinancing loan for The Sevens, a 197,311-square-foot Class A office building in Clayton, Mo. Additionally, Lincoln recapitalized the asset, adding IMC to the venture.

Old National Bank provided the $19.4 million note with a maturity date set in May 2027, St. Louis County records show. Previous financing included a $19.6 million bridge loan also originated by Old National Bank in 2022, according to CommercialEdge information.

Lincoln purchased the metro St. Louis asset in a joint venture with Stockbridge in 2015. EQ Office sold it for $10.7 million, CommercialEdge also shows.

Completed in 1971 and renovated in 2000 and 2017, the vintage office building rises 24 stories and includes eight levels of parking with 888 spaces. The tower features 18,186-square-foot floorplates, an on-site café, conference center and gym, among others.

The property is 73 percent leased. Riot Games, the League of Legends video game’s developer, recently renewed the lease on one of the two floors it occupies the building. NUSO, a communications-focused software-as-a-service provider, also signed a full-floor commitment with limited downtime.

St. Louis’ office vacancy rate stabilizes

Located at 7777 Bonhomme Ave., The Sevens is nestled inside the city’s central business district, while downtown St. Louis is some 10 miles east. Clayton received federal grants for the CBD’s Resurfacing Project, which started this March and aims to mill and overlay the streets.

Several upscale dining facilities, transit stops and a 47-acre park are within walking distance of the property. Roughly 10 miles away, a joint venture of Good Developments Group, Vault Partners and Millstone Co. is planning a $1.2 billion mixed-use development spanning 100 acres. CBRE was selected to provide brokerage services for up to 500,000 square feet of Class A office space.

The office vacancy rate in metro St. Louis stood at 14.6 percent at the end of 2024’s first quarter, according to a Newmark report. The figure marked a 50-basis-point decrease year-over-year, but a 10-basis-point increase quarter-over-quarter.

The post Lincoln JV Lands Refi for St. Louis Office Tower appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Due to several challenges in the office sector, including reduced demand and high interest rates, office sales nationwide have been driven by institutions selling high-quality assets. This strategy helped them balance their portfolios, reduce their office exposure and mitigate risk on their balance sheets.

Despite the market’s tame metrics, year-to-date through April, Chicago logged $223 million in office sales at an average price of $81 per square foot, according to CommercialEdge data.

A halt in new construction starts

In April, Chicago had 1.0 million square feet of office space underway, which represented 0.3 percent of existing stock. Meanwhile, the national figure stood at 1.5 percent. Among peer markets, Chicago was on par with Washington, D.C. (0.9 percent), while other metros such as Seattle (3.6 percent) recorded above-average figures.

The second largest project underway is 919 West Fulton, a 360,000-square-foot development in Chicago’s downtown. The developer, Fulton Street Cos., has secured $233 million in both equity and debt financing for the 11-story office building.

Trammell Crow Co. and Beacon Capital Partners have recently topped out another major project, a 302,388-square-foot life science development in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood. Hyde Park Labs is scheduled to be fully delivered in the fourth quarter of this year, with first tenants expected to move in by early 2025.

Approximately 875,000 square feet of office space across seven properties was delivered in the metro year-to-date, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total stock. A few gateway markets stood out in terms of office space coming online in this period, including Seattle (2.5 million square feet), Boston (1.4 million square feet) and San Francisco (1.4 million square feet). 

Lowest sales price among gateway markets

Year-to-date through May, some $223 million in office sales were recorded, as Chicago office prices stood at $81 per square foot. That’s lower than the national average of $151.29 per square foot. A total of 21 properties exchanged hands, totaling 7 million square feet.

Coming up next, the Twin Cities saw $177 million in closed office deals at an average of $163 per square foot, while Detroit recorded a small volume of $43 million, with properties trading at $76 per square foot.

Sixth-lowest asking rent

Meanwhile, the market’s vacancy rate stood at 19.1 percent, up 30 basis points year-over-year in April, while the rents contracted by 20 basis points, coming in at $27.85 per square foot: the sixth-lowest asking rent across the top 25 U.S. office markets.

Boston (12.4 percent), Miami (13.0 percent), Washington, D.C. (16.8 percent) and Los Angeles (16.5 percent) all fared better than Manhattan in terms of vacancy. On the other side of the spectrum, Seattle (23 percent) and San Francisco (25.9 percent) saw even larger rates.

A small number of leases closed in Chicago’s office sector through April. Heitman has landed a 10-year lease extension at its office tower in Chicago’s River North area. Financial services firm Mesirow will continue to occupy more than 100,000 square feet at 353 N. Clark St. through 2036. 

Ivanhoé Cambridge and Hines have signed a lease agreement with Pinterest at 10 and 120 S. Riverside Plaza, a two-building office complex in Chicago’s West Loop. The company committed to 24,000 square feet at the 1.4 million-square-foot Class A campus.

Coworking maintains stability

As of April, the Windy City’s coworking sector included more than 6.2 million square feet of coworking space, representing 1.9 percent of all leasable office space—on par with the 1.8 percent national average.

Among peer markets, Manhattan was the forefront with almost 12.7 million square feet, followed by Los Angeles (6.6 million square feet) and Washington, D.C. (6.3 million square feet).

The post Chicago Office Prices Lowest Among Gateway Markets appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Dermody Properties has broken ground on LogistiCenter at Pleasant Prairie, a 2.4 million-square-foot logistics park in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., as it secured the property’s first tenant. WestRock signed a build-to-suit lease for a more than 580,000-square-foot facility at the site, with delivery expected in 2025.

Westrock, a sustainable packaging manufacturer, announced plans for the estimated $140 million development early this year. The company intends to shut down its current plant in North Chicago upon the new facility’s completion.

READ ALSO: Boost in US Manufacturing Spurs Construction Boom

Dermody purchased the park’s 232-acre site, previously home to a We Energies power plant, in September 2023. The acquisition also included the property’s redevelopment plans, which initially comprised three buildings of 593,565 square feet, 675,200 square feet and 1.1 million square feet, respectively.

Standing as Wisconsin’s only rail-served logistics park, LogistiCenter at Pleasant Prairie will be able to accommodate build-to-suits from 250,000 square feet to 1.8 million square feet and will feature flexible clear heights, trailer parking, fresh water service from Lake Michigan and a 345 KV transmission line available for direct connectivity.

Dermody Properties has invested more than $10 billion of total capital across all platforms nationwide, having acquired and developed approximately 110 million square feet of logistics and industrial facilities. The company currently has multiple properties available in the Midwest region totaling 3.6 million square feet.

Chicago’s industrial market stands out

Located at 8000 95th St., the site is near Interstate 94, which allows easy access across the downtown Milwaukee and Chicago. The property is also adjacent to the 1,496-acre LakeView Corporate Park.

Chicago ranked fourth among leading U.S. industrial markets with 10.8 million square feet of space under construction in May, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. The Windy City also stood out for industrial transactions, registering the largest sales volume in the Midwest year-to-date as of May, at $910 million. 

The post Dermody Breaks Ground on 2.4 MSF Chicagoland Logistics Park appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The loan had originally closed in April, and the expansion now covers recent acquisitions by MDH in Phoenix and Chicago. Called Frontier Loan, the financing now supports more than 2.2 million square feet of MDH’s recent acquisitions and developments in Phoenix; Streamwood, Ill.; Savannah, Ga.; Indianapolis; El Paso, Texas; and Ocala, Fla.

MDH CFO Arun Singh and Michael Loffredo, capital markets associate, secured the loan, which was originated by Capital One’s Senior Vice President Mary Lucy Lester.

MDH did not reply to Commercial Property Executive’s request for additional information.

The Frontier Loan is MDH’s second term financing deal with Capital One in the past 12 months. The first was the $59.5 million Gemini Loan that closed in July 2023. The Frontier Loan supports acquisitions and developments from MDH’s Fund II, a discretionary fund equating to $750 million of equity, with $2 billion in buying power.

READ ALSO: Top 5 Industrial Properties Under Construction in Phoenix

The loan expansion includes 800 Phoenix Lake Ave. in Streamwood, Ill., just west of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The 152,000-square-foot Class A facility is fully leased to two users.

The other property in the expansion is Freeport Distribution Center in Phoenix, a fully leased 245,000-square-foot Class A industrial facility.

Watery woes

Last December, MDH scored a big win when it leased the entirety of the Ocala Logistics Center in Ocala, Fla., to BroadRange Logistics. Avison Young Principal & Managing Director Clay Witherspoon represented ownership, and Strategic Real Estate Partners Principal John Gosnell represented the tenant.

Although industrial real estate investment cooled across the globe during the first quarter, a recovery in demand is expected in the second half of this year, according to a JLL report released at the end of May. Rental growth, though slowing, remains positive.

The report notes that “… climate-related disruptions were evident in the Panama Canal. East Coast port markets in the U.S. are also dealing with the aftermath of the bridge collapse in Baltimore, which will shift sea cargo volumes to nearby ports in the short term while wreckage is cleared, and a temporary shipping lane is created.”

The post MDH Partners Expands Loan From Capital One to $162M appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Hines, Marquee Development and AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust have officially completed North Loop Green, a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development in Minneapolis.

The project comprises 350,000 square feet of office space, 350 multifamily units, 100 short-term rental residences, 10,000 square feet of retail space and a 1-acre public park.

Construction began in 2021, with ESG Architecture & Design and Kraus-Anderson acting as designer and general contractor, respectively.

The 3.4-acre development represents the third phase of a Planned Unit Development, which includes two additional office buildings and a multifamily property. The joint venture redeveloped a six-parcel site for the project’s assembly, which served as a surface parking lot.

READ ALSO: Why Mixed-Use Developments Are All About the Right Synergies

North Loop Green consists of two towers and a park. The office component includes 14 stories with ground-floor retail, while the residential building rises 34 floors.  

North Loop Green’s office tower

The office component features floorplates averaging 28,523 square feet, terraces on each level, floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as a swimming pool and gym, to name a few. Moreover, the property is Wired pre-certified, while pursuing LEED Silver certification.

Piper Sandler & Co. will relocate its headquarters to North Loop Green in the summer of next year. The investment banking firm inked a 15-year lease for 113,000 square feet of office space in 2022.

Other notable leases include Värde Partners’ 12-year agreement for 28,000 square feet of office space signed last year, as well as KPMG and the development’s own designer—ESG Architecture & Design. Currently, the office component is 70 percent leased.

A host of eateries and bars will occupy the mixed-use development’s retail component, with one already in service and two others slated to open this fall.

Located at 350 N. Fifth St., North Loop Green is less than 1 mile from interstates 94 and 394. The Mississippi River and the Target Field, home to the Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins, are within walking distance.

Taking Twin Cities’ office pulse

According to a recent CommercialEdge report, the Twin Cities’ asking office rate was down 7.9 percent year-over-year as of May. However, the vacancy rate was also down 80 basis points during the same period, standing at 16.2 percent—below the national average of 17.8 percent as of May.

Due in part to the rise in construction costs and the overall performance of the office sector, Minneapolis-St. Paul’s office supply pipeline was virtually non-existent, with only 35,666 square feet under construction as of May, the same report shows.

The post Hines JV Completes 1 MSF Minneapolis Mixed-Use Development appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

The new owner paid $9.4 million for the neighborhood center and used a $9.9 million loan from Inland Mortgage Capital for the acquisition, according to CommercialEdge data. DRA Advisors had purchased the retail center for $11.9 million back in 1998.

Iroquois Center came online in 1981. Its tenant roster includes a diverse mix of national and regional retailers such as Planet Fitness, Duly Health and Care, Illiana Financial Credit Union, Cookies by Design, Spa Oasis, Travel Leaders and DPC Computer, among others.

READ ALSO: Retail Always Comes Back—and With New Twists: An Attorney’s Insights

Situated on some 12 acres at 1163 Ogden Ave., Iroquois Center is near Route 34 and Interstate 88, which allow easy access to downtown Chicago.

Mid-America Principals Joe Girardi, Rick Drogosz and Ben Wineman from the Investment Sales Group brokered the deal on behalf of the seller.

DRA’s strong activity in Chicagoland

Iroquois Center is just one of the many Chicagoland assets that DRA traded since the beginning of the year. Last month, the firm sold Townes Crossing, a 105,731-square-foot grocery-anchored retail center in Oswego, Ill. Other transactions involved the Marketplace at Six Corners, a 116,941-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Chicago, and Oak Forest Commons, a 115,754-square-foot value-add retail asset in Oak Forest, Ill. 

According to a first-quarter Lee & Associates report, Chicago’s retail market is experiencing its highest demand for retail space since 2017, up by 1.9 million square feet year-over-year. Meanwhile, leasing activity marked another consecutive quarter of positive absorption since Q3 2021, leading to an availability rate below 6 percent, a record low.

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5C Data Centers is expanding CMH01, its 200 MW data center in Columbus, Ohio. The firm acquired a 66,000-square-foot live data center that will grow to 320,000 square feet in the next development phase.

Work is underway at the 40-acre property, facilitated by a partnership between 5CDC and the local utility. The initial 100 MW is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of next year, while the first shell is fully leased and will reach its full capacity by the third quarter of this year.

CMH01, the firm’s first mega campus, is anticipated to be one of the largest data centers in the region. It will feature 42 data halls optimized to accommodate average densities of more than 500 W per square foot.

READ ALSO: AI Is Changing the Game for Data Centers

First Energy will power the development through its own substation. With additional power capacity being secured, the project will have significant potential for scalability over time.

The owner is also planning to develop a 25-acre data center in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. That project is set to encompass 240,000 square feet of data hall space with up to 144 MW at full build-out.

Data centers on the rise

As demand for cloud and AI grows, operators are focusing on building larger developments for hyperscale users. This includes securing more extensive power resources and acquiring larger land parcels across different regions.

In September, Aligned Data Centers entered Ohio with the purchase of a 129-acre site. The Sandusky development has 1.3 million square feet available for construction and is equipped with power feeds capable of delivering up to 80 MW, expandable to more than 200 MW.

Around 27.4 million square feet of data center space were under construction as of April, according to a CommercialEdge report, while another 33.5 million square feet were in different planning stages. As of June, Columbus had 35 facilities totaling more than 7.1 million square feet completed, with 2.7 million square feet underway across six developments, the same source shows. 

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Stream Realty Partners has acquired Halsted Pershing Business Center, a 104,008-square-foot industrial facility in Chicago. Sagard Real Estate sold the asset for $19 million, according to CommercialEdge data.

An in-house team represented the buyer, while JLL Capital Markets worked on behalf of the seller. The property previously traded in 2014, when Dayton Street Partners sold it for $10.7 million, the same source shows.

The warehouse came online in 2009 and was fully leased to three tenants at the time of sale, including U.S. General Services Administration and Goodman, with a weighted average lease term of four years. The property has a recently renewed 6b tax classification.

READ ALSO: I.CON East Special Report: Industrial Opportunity Snapshot

The Class A facility features 10 dock-high loading doors and four drive-in doors with dock levelers and bumpers, as well as 30-foot clear heights. Additionally, the building has a 5 percent office build-out, refrigerated storage and 85 parking spaces.

The property sits on almost 7 acres at 815 W. Pershing Road, close to interstates 90 and 55. Chicago Midway International Airport and downtown Chicago are within 6 miles, while the O’Hare International Airport is 23 miles northwest.

Stream Executive Managing Director Patrick Russo, Manager Mustafa Ali and Associate Ben Harrison facilitated the acquisition. JLL Managing Directors Ed Halaburt and Kurt Sarbaugh, Senior Managing Directors Sean Devaney and John Huguenard, along with Director Will McCormack and Senior Vice President Michael Conway, represented the seller.

Chicago leads the Midwest in industrial sales

Chicago led the Midwest in terms of industrial transaction volume, registering $834 million in sales year-to-date through April, according to a CommercialEdge report. The metro also ranked fourth nationally, being surpassed by Dallas-Fort Worth ($1 billion), Los Angeles ($1.4 billion) and the Bay Area ($2.2 billion). Assets in the Windy City traded for $97 per square foot on average.

In April, Stonepeak acquired a 1.7 million-square-foot logistics portfolio for $125 million. CenterPoint Properties sold the three properties located in Elwood, Ill.

Other notable deals in the area include VK Industrial VI LP purchase of a 785,181-square-foot, two-building industrial portfolio in St. Charles, Ill. RR Donnelley sold the assets for $50.2 million, or about $63.9 per square foot.

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Venture One Real Estate has secured a 444,600-square-foot lease with John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc. at Venture Park 47, an industrial building spanning 729,823 square feet in Huntley, Ill.

Lee & Associates brokered the deal, securing the long-term lease on behalf of the new tenant. Colliers represented the landlord.

This transaction marks the largest industrial lease of the second quarter in Chicago’s North Kane County submarket, and the fourth largest in the Chicago metropolitan area, according to Lee & Associates.

READ ALSO: The Case for Last-Mile Facilities

Venture Park 47 came online just last year, featuring 40-foot clear heights, a ESFR fire sprinkler system and 72 docks, expandable to 124, as well as 130 trailer parking spaces and approximately 448 car parking spaces. The developer broke ground on the $71.3 million speculative development at the 40-acre greenfield land site back in 2022.

Located at 12300 Jim Dhamer Drive, Venture Park 47 is within Chicago’s Golden Corridor submarket. The property is near Interstate 90, which allows easy access across the Chicago metropolitan area. The industrial asset is also roughly 30 miles west of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Lee & Associates’ Principals Frank Griffin and John Sharpe represented the tenant in the deal, while Colliers Vice Chair Brian Kling and Vice President Reed Adler worked on behalf of the owner.

Chicago leads the Midwest industrial market

As of April, the average industrial rent in Chicago clocked in at $6.09, a 5 percent increase over the past 12 months, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. Vacancy was at 5 percent, slightly below the 5.2 percent national rate.

In addition, the Windy City recorded the largest sales volume in the Midwest and the fourth-largest nationally, with industrial deals totaling $834 million in 2024’s first four months. During this period, the average sale price clocked in at $97 per square foot.

The post Venture One Leases 445 KSF at Chicago Industrial Asset appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Hub Group Inc. has signed a full-building, 966,753-square-foot lease in Taylor, Pa., commencing July 1, 2024. Gladstone Commercial owns the industrial property since 2014.

Hub Group is a third-party logistics firm based in Oak Brook, Ill. The company provides transportation and logistics services including intermodal, truckload, less-than-truckload, flatbed, temperature-controlled, dedicated and regional trucking.

The warehouse is a “high-quality, functional building with sufficient clear heights, loading, and trailer parking to meet the needs of tenants,” Catherine Gerkis, director of investor relations/ESG at The Gladstone Cos., told Commercial Property Executive.

READ ALSO: Extra-Large Warehouse Leasing Slows Down

As of March 31, Gladstone Commercial’s real estate portfolio consisted of 132 properties located in 27 states, totaling approximately 16.7 million square feet.

Part of the I-78/I-81 corridor

Hub Group’s future home came online in 2002 within Stauffer Industrial Park, according to CommercialEdge information. Kane Properties sold the 51.6-acre lot which included the warehouse to Gladstone for $39 million.

The property previously housed Kane is Able, a regional third-party logistics company which was acquired by ID Logistics in 2022. Its 10-year lease expired in 2024.

The warehouse is at 6 Kane Lane, along the I-78/I-81 industrial corridor, some 4 miles from downtown Scranton, Pa. Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport is roughly 7 miles southwest.

The PA I-78/I-81 corridor showed signs of returning to prepandemic indicators in the first quarter of this year, according to a CBRE report. Leasing activity witnessed a few large deals, but the vacancy rate remained unchanged at 6.4 percent over the quarter.

The post Gladstone Signs 967 KSF Tenant Near Scranton appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Westrock Coffee Co. has opened the largest roast-to-ready-to-drink manufacturing facility in North America, a 570,000-square-foot factory in Conway, Ark.

The company poured in $315 million in investments, including a comprehensive beverage development laboratory, with the goal of putting it at the forefront of coffee and ready-to-drink beverage innovation and production.

The facility features robotics and end-to-end automation, using those techniques from roasting, grinding and extraction to bottling and packaging.

Westrock Coffee is a leading integrated coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients solutions provider. Its services include coffee sourcing, supply chain management, product development, roasting, packaging, and distribution services to retail, food service and restaurant, convenience store and travel centers, non-commercial accounts, CPG, and hospitality industries around the world.

The story of a RTD facility

In December 2021, Westrock Coffee acquired an existing 524,000-square-foot factory in Conway and redeveloped it into the current facility during a two-phase process. Initial investment costs totaled $185 million. Later on, another $90 million went toward the expansion of the factory’s production capacity.

Early last year, the company also started construction on a 530,000-square-foot warehousing and distribution center, located 2 miles from the RTD facility. The industrial building came online in January on some 30 acres and features 36-foot clear heights and 72 dock doors.

The Little Rock, Ark., metro saw a small uptick in industrial vacancies in the first quarter of this year, according to a Colliers report. The index jumped to 4.4 percent, up 90 basis points from the value recorded at the end of 2023. Rental rates continued to remain steady, but they could grow due to the lack of new speculative construction.

The post Largest Ready-to-Drink Coffee Facility Opens in Arkansas appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Compass Datacenters, of Dallas, has begun work on a hyperscale data center campus in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The project is taking shape on the nearly 200-acre former Sears headquarters site.

The Chicago-area campus will include five hyperscale data centers and will be Compass’ first hyperscale campus in Illinois. The firm estimates the project’s value on completion at about $10 billion in local investment.

Commonwealth Edison, Northern Illinois’s largest electric utility, will provide infrastructure upgrades for the project, which will include a new onsite substation that will be energized in mid-2026.

READ ALSO: Prologis, Blackstone Double Down on Data Centers, but Hurdles Remain

The fate of Sears’ seven-building campus had been up in the air ever since the once-giant retailer filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Plummeting demand for office space during and since the pandemic didn’t help, making finding a new future for the site difficult.

Compass acquired the property in September 2023. The site is now being prepared for structural demolition, which will begin this summer. Construction is scheduled to start next year.

Compass CEO Chris Crosby said, in a prepared statement, the company is taking a methodical approach to demolition, so this work will take more than a year to complete. As the existing buildings come down, concrete, stone blocks and asphalt from the site will be repurposed as fill and as aggregate in concrete production. Compass uses an AI application to help optimize these types of locally available materials for concrete production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A central hub

A JLL report on data centers in the U. S. highlighted metropolitan Chicago as a market that can anticipate substantial data center growth over the next five years.

In February, Edged Energy announced that its U.S. debut would consist of four data centers totaling more than 300 MW. One of the four will be a three-building, 96 MW facility in Aurora, Ill.

The post $10B Data Center Campus Kicks Off Near Chicago appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

Essential Growth Properties has purchased Silvernail Plaza, a 116,135-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center in Pewaukee, Wis. The asset changed hands for $16.4 million, as reported by BizTimes.

United Properties sold the property in a transaction brokered by Mid-America Real Estate Corp. At the time of the sale, the retail center was 62 percent leased.

The seller had acquired Silvernail Plaza for $9.4 million back in 2001, according to CommercialEdge data. In 2018, the property became subject to a $10.5 million loan provided by PNC Bank.

READ ALSO: How Retail Properties Are Getting Greener

Serving the Milwaukee suburbs of Pewaukee and Waukesha, Silvernail Plaza has a diverse mix of retailers such as Metro Market and Dollar Tree, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Firestone, Hallmark Cards, Cost Cutters, The UPS Store and T-Mobile.

Located at 2100 Silvernail Road, the shopping center is near Interstate 94, providing access to downtown Milwaukee which is some 20 miles east. The property is also adjacent to Waukesha County Airport.

Mid-America Principals Rick Drogosz and Dan Rosenfeld, along with Senior Vice President & Principal Scott Satula, represented the seller in the transaction.

Retail gains in the Midwest

Milwaukee’s retail market recorded 132,530 square feet of net absorption in the first quarter of 2024, according to a recent Cushman & Wakefield report. The overall vacancy rate was 6.9 percent, while the leasing activity was robust, with a total of 37 transactions comprising 175,656 square feet signed in the first three months of the year.

One large recent retail deal in the Midwest was Core Acquisition’s $34.2 million purchase of Rice Lake Square. The 251,584-square-foot asset is in suburban Chicago, and Mid-America Real Estate Corp. brokered this transaction as well.

The post United Properties Sells Milwaukee-Area Shopping Center appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.

CBRE has been selected by the team behind Gateway South, the $1.2 billion mixed-use development in St. Louis, to be the exclusive brokerage to lease up to 500,000 square feet of Class A office space. That space is part of the first phase of the project taking shape at the former Crunden Martin industrial site.

Tom Ray, a CBRE first vice president based in the firm’s St. Louis office, will spearhead leasing on behalf of the developers—Good Developments Group, Vault Partners and Millstone Co.

READ ALSO: Why Mixed-Use Developments Are All About the Right Synergies

The 100-acre master-planned project is officially known as the Gateway South Advanced Building Collaboration District. Its $200 million first phase will involve the repurposing of the former Crunden Martin industrial buildings at 760 S. Second St. The adaptive reuse project will feature commercial space, office and advanced manufacturing real estate.

The overall Gateway South development will have more than 1.5 million square feet of light manufacturing facilities. It is expected to take at least 10 years to build out and create thousands of jobs.

The development team intends to break ground at the Crunden Martin site in the third quarter of this year and complete the first phase by the second quarter of 2026, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Bob Millstone, a St. Louis developer who recently joined the project’s team, told the business journal they plan to meet a June 30 deadline set by the City of St. Louis to secure financing.

More Gateway South details

The site will be repurposed to include food and beverage retail, prototyping spaces, production facilities, flex and office space catering to construction-centered tenants. Tenants like distilleries, roasteries and bakeries could be among the concepts to locate there as part of the F&B offerings.

The redevelopment site is located near downtown St. Louis, directly south of the 91-acre Gateway Arch National Park and along the Mississippi River. It has direct access to river, rail and road transportation and is minutes from interstates 55, 64 and 44. The property is also close to Anheuser Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village, a sports-themed district by the stadium with restaurants, bars and nightlife venues.

The post CBRE Tapped to Lease Major Part of $1.2B St. Louis Mixed-Use District appeared first on Commercial Property Executive.