Middle Market Digest-The Midwest

GlobeSt.com has written a great deal about the revival in Detroit. The downtown office market has attracted hundreds of new tenants in just the past few years, and regional corporate titans, led by Quicken Loans, have renovated dozens of towers in the CBD. New downtown sports stadiums for the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings have given the urban core an extra bit of flash, and thousands of new residents, including many millennials seeking an urban lifestyle, have sent the apartment vacancy rate down to almost zero. In addition, the industrial market in this Rust Belt region has been setting records for new absorption, construction and occupancy levels.

However, most of this activity is confined to either the downtown and riverfront, or the metro region’s vast suburban area. Left behind, it seems, are the in-between neighborhoods that form such an important part of the city’s history. But as reported below, Mayor Duggan has several initiatives that, with the help of big players such as the AFL-CIO and JPMorgan Chase & Co., seek to bring these areas back to life. It’s going to be a big job. Some areas, even ones adjacent to the downtown, have suffered so much from neglect and so many demolitions that they resemble rural small towns rather than dense urban neighborhoods.      

But it’s a job that has to get done. If left untended, the decades of disinvestment and blight could put limits on the downtown’s progress.

NEWS & NOTABLES

MINNEAPOLIS—Cushman & Wakefield NorthMarq’s Deb McKernan has just been named to the 2016 list of Top Women in Finance by Finance & Commerce, the firm said this week. McKernan, a vice president and operations manager in transaction and advisory services, has 40 years of financial and commercial real estate experience. She first joined Cushman & Wakefield NorthMarq in 2002. McKernan has since risen to major leadership positions in both operations and brokerage, and serves as a mentor to many in the company.

DETROIT—JPMorgan Chase & Co. this week made a $5 million investment that will help establish a $30 million strategic neighborhood fund to drive economic growth in Detroit’s neighborhoods. The fund will support the Detroit Strategic Neighborhood Initiative, which Mayor Mike Duggan has made a priority, and has cemented a partnership between Invest Detroit, the Detroit Development Fund and Opportunity Resource Fund. This initiative will dedicate resources towards commercial and residential real estate, jobs, and community infrastructure in several Detroit neighborhoods over the next decade. “Thanks to this funding, we are going to start seeing new small businesses open, existing businesses expand and new residential developments take place in several key areas of the city,” said Duggan. “This fits in perfectly with our strategy to revitalize our neighborhoods.” As reported in GlobeSt.com, last year the AFL-CIO put $30 million in pension money into the Detroit Neighborhood Home Repair Program to renovate up to 300 single-family homes that were neglected for decades.

DEALTRACKER

GREEN BAY, WI—Cohen Financial, a national real estate capital services firm, recently closed a $9.425 million fixed-rate, 10-year term loan for the acquisition of Bellevue Town Center, an approximately 75,000 square foot retail center in Bellevue, WI, a suburb of Green Bay. A Pick ’n Save grocery store, a division of Roundy’s Supermarkets, anchors the property, and a Target store shadow anchors it. Dan Rosenberg, partner and managing director, and Matt Terpstra, vice president of Cohen Financial in the Chicago office, secured the CMBS loan with Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital. The borrower is Midland Atlantic Properties, a full-service commercial real estate firm with offices in Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The loan closed on September 30.

ST. LOUIS—Baceline Investments, LLC, a boutique private equity real estate investment and management company, has acquired MLK Plaza, a 46,648 square foot neighborhood shopping center in St. Louis for $6.35 million. The Denver-based company has retail holdings throughout the Central US, and MLK Plaza becomes, along with Clinton Towne Center in Clearfield, UT, the second property in its High Yield Income Fund portfolio, a fund that opened in January. MLK Plaza, constructed in 2003, sits near Saint Louis University. The grocery store anchored shopping center is currently 94% occupied, and includes key tenants Save-a-Lot, Subway and H&R Block. Baceline officials say the High Yield Income Fund benefits investors who seek to earn consistent and higher levels of distributable income from their investment portfolio.

SKOKIE, IL—Darwin Realty, an Elmhurst, IL-based firm, recently represented the seller, Matrix Financial Partnership, LLC, in its disposition of a 38,500 square foot property on 1.48 acres at 3721 Chase Ave. in Skokie, a suburb just north of Chicago. Darwin’s Dan Prendergast represented Matrix. The buyer, R2 Cos., plans to redevelop the building along with others in the area for a mix of retail and industrial uses. “The full project for this conglomerate of three manufacturing companies included the purchase of a larger facility for their manufacturing businesses, renting a small building for one of their sister companies, and the selling of two buildings that they have owned for over 20 years,” said Prendergast. Aaron Kaplan of Vandon Forbes represented the buyer.

BUILDING BLOCKS

MELROSE PARK, IL—Chicago-based The Habitat Company, a leading multifamily property developer and manager in the US, in partnership with The Resurrection Project, a non-profit development organization, recently renovated Casa Heritage, an affordable housing community at 10315 W. Palmer in Melrose Park, IL. The 142-unit community is the only affordable housing option for families in a nine-municipality area. The partners celebrated the project’s completion with a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 29.

“As Habitat celebrates its 45^th year in business, it’s important to us to remember our roots in affordable housing,” said Matt Fiascone, president of Habitat. “Habitat was founded on the premise that no project is only an investment in real estate – it is an investment in the future of the community and in the lives of the people who will live and work there. That sentiment couldn’t be more true at Casa Heritage.”

On hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony were IL Sen. Dick Durbin, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, along with many long-time Casa Heritage residents.

ROMEOVILLE, IL—The retail group of Englewood Construction, a Lemont, IL-based firm, recently completed the ground-up construction of a 120,690 square foot Blain’s Farm & Fleet in Romeoville, a suburb southwest of Chicago. Located at 451 S. Weber Rd., the store opened in October as the national retailer’s 37^th location and its nearest to Chicago. Charlotte, NC-based Little Diversified Architectural Consulting was the project architect.

William Di Santo, president of Englewood, noted that this project “illustrates a trend in the retail sector of big box retailers opting for out-of-the-ground construction in new locations, allowing them to reimagine their physical space in order to enhance the brand experience for consumers.”