Middle Market Digest-The Midwest

CHICAGO—The economic recovery has largely been slow and steady, but it has now gone on so long that investors are scrambling to bid on the dwindling number of distressed properties. And other investors have decided that the market is so strong they can turn away from class A properties, many of which have already recently changed hands, and instead focus their attention on healthy class B properties. This was illustrated by several recent deals that were announced this week.

LaSalle Income and Growth Fund VII, for example, purchased 123 N. Wacker Dr., a 549,941-square-foot building in the West Loop that had fallen into foreclosure before getting taken over last year by LNR Partners, LLC. Deals like this were much more common just a few years ago, and although there are a few remaining value-add opportunities in the CBD, this building still stands out. The occupancy rate is just 57%, lower than other buildings in a similar situation, and that means LaSalle will have the opportunity to pick and choose the best tenants.

“It has all the right bones,” JLL’s international director Bruce Miller tells GlobeSt.com. He helped lead the JLL team that completed the sale on behalf of LNR Partners. “What the building was missing to be competitive with its peer set was a set of modern amenities.”

And JLL got a good response from the investor community after the building hit the market. The rise of high tech in the CBD in the last few years has fueled a remarkable amount of activity, and that attracted both domestic and offshore investors, Miller says. “They felt confident that they could lease up this space. Investors believe in the Chicago market.”

And with the occupancy rate among the region’s industrial properties now hovering at a historic low, it makes sense for investors to pick up deals in the class B sector. As reported in GlobeSt.com, Brennan Investment Group, LLC recently completed the acquisition of a 30-building industrial portfolio of mostly class B properties spread across the Chicago region. “They are the functional equivalent of A properties,” says Michael Brennan, the company’s chairman. “Yet we can buy them for one-third the price, and pass on a significant economic benefit to our tenants.”

BY THE NUMBERS

COLUMBUS—Cushman & Wakefield released its annual industrial and office market reports for Columbus this week. Columbus experienced growth across both industrial and office commercial real estate sectors in 2016, according to the reports. “Central OH commercial real estate results in 2016 were strong, outpacing record-setting 2015 figures,” says Paul Krimm, C&W’s managing principal of the Columbus office. “Combined with positive absorption for the sixth consecutive year, both the office and industrial markets achieved the lowest vacancy rates and the highest asking rental rates since 2008. On the horizon, we expect strong results in 2017.” With five million square feet of positive absorption in the overall industrial market, and 2.3 million square feet among bulk properties, absorption reached its highest level since the recession. The overall vacancy rate reached a record low of 5.5% in 2016. The office market closed 2016 with more than 600,000 square feet for the entire year, and the year-end vacancy rate of 12.36% was the lowest since 2008.

NEWS & NOTABLES

CHICAGO—Transwestern has been retained as the exclusive listing agent for a 0.58-acre site in the Fulton Market District on the northwestern edge of Chicago’s West Loop. This property at 201 N. Elizabeth St. is currently home to a 13,996-square-foot food distribution facility, which is available for sale or lease. With the vacuum manufacturer Dyson’s recent decision to occupy space in Sterling Bay’s Fulton West, the neighborhood has real momentum. Transwestern principal Thomas Boyle, vice president Fred Freeman and associate Paul Boccellari are marketing the property on behalf of its owner, the Bosnos family, which operates the food distribution business.

DEALTRACKER

LOUISVILLE—Thorntons has just completed a sale/leaseback and build-to-suit deal for its 88,698-square-foot store support center and headquarters in Louisville. CBRE’s Andrew Sandquist, Anne Rahm, JC Asensio, Briggs Goldberg of corporate capital markets, David Tropp of advisory and transaction services, all based in Chicago, and David Hardy, managing director in the Louisville CBRE office, represented the client. Thorntons has called Louisville home for more than 45 years. It outgrew its current facility, decided to remain in Louisville, and opted for a headquarters in the city’s rapidly growing East End. Located off Old Henry Rd., Thorntons will occupy the facility in April of 2017 under a long-term net lease structure.