CHICAGO—Welbic Investments has just refinanced a 1.4-million-square-foot portfolio with 27 buildings, including two new buildings the suburban investment company recently purchased. The portfolio includes both industrial and office properties with more than 100 tenants located throughout the metropolitan area, including Southeastern Wisconsin.

Welbic is a private investor made up of members of the Cibula and Lewandowski families. The group was able to refinance the portfolio for $49 million with participation from Wells Fargo and First Merit Banks. Darwin Realty & Development Corp. director of asset management Erin Cibula and vice president Matt Lewandowski led the refinancing for the company.

In addition to the 25 buildings already in the portfolio, Welbic recently acquired the FedEx Freight Terminal in Aurora for $15.95 million and a 115,000-square-foot industrial building on 14 acres of land at 8100 S. 77th Avenue in Bridgeview, IL. According to Cook County property records, Welbic paid $2.35 million for the latter in January.

Pactiv, a food service and food-packaging vendor, currently occupies this building and just negotiated a new 10-year lease with Welbic. The company promised $3 million in building upgrades. Financing of $5.15 million for the acquisition and construction was provided by the Private Bank, and the Village of Bridgeview helped provide a 6B tax incentive to encourage Pactiv’s expansion.

George Cibula, chairman and chief executive officer of Darwin, represented Welbic in the purchase and lease. David Tropp and George Maragos of CBRE worked on behalf of the tenant and Sean Hufford, vice president of asset management worked in-house to represent the seller, Spirit Realty Capital. Peak Construction did the reconstruction and Pactiv took over the space within 120 days of closing. Larry Marchel, director of construction at Darwin, ran the fast track permit process between Bridgeview, Pactiv, Peak and ownership.

“This shows that transactions do not need to be bogged down in bureaucracy,” says Cibula. “The wonderful cooperation of the Village of Bridgeview, Pactiv, the contractor, the seller and the lender was a refreshing change.”

The FedEx property sits at 3883 Butterfield Rd. and includes: 14.5 acres of land; a 55,120-square-foot main building with office and cross dock area; a 6,550-square-foot repair building; and a 1,600-square-foot fueling station. Built in 2003 as a build-to-suit for FedEx, this is one of only 17 FedEx terminals in Illinois.

George Cibula and Matt Lewandowski, along with Marcus and Millichap’s Howard Wiese worked on behalf of Welbic. Marcus and Millichap’s Nick Manganais represented the seller, a private investment group.