CHICAGO-The surprise return of the IBM building, soon to be renamed AMA Plaza due to the medical organization’s 300,000-square-foot lease announced in December, was the winner of the Innovative Deal of the Year at the 24h annual Greater Food Depository commercial real estate awards Thursday night. Prime Group Realty Trust, owner of the building, and Jones Lang LaSalle, the property broker, accepted the award among other winners at the dinner at the Hyatt Regency.

Other prominent deals were also award winners. Waterton Residential and US Equity Realty won the Redevelopment of the Year honor in conjunction with its work at Presidential Towers, purchased from the Pritzker family in 2007 for $475 million. The four towers, with more than 2,300 units, saw a retail redevelopment that includes the city’s first urban Wal-Mart store.

“It was a lot of work over four years to redevelop the space,” Pete Vilim, one of the founders of Waterton, in an interview after the win with GlobeSt.com. “It was truly a team effort, we’re pleased as can be. It was really our goal to make the place better for the people there.”

At Prime Group, CEO Jeffrey Patterson tells GlobeSt.com that his firm is honored to earn the win. The repositioning of 330 N. Wabash has been one of the past year’s top stories. “We went from about 47% leased a year ago to more than 80% leased,” he says, referring to additional leases by SmithBucklin and Latham & Watkins. The hotel at the building should open early next year, allowing the 1.5-million-square-foot Mies van der Rohe tower to shed some of its vacant office and compete again in the marketplace.

The Hyatt ballroom for the dinner was packed, sold out, says Food Depository organizers. A fundraiser during the event raised almost $49,000 for the non-profit food pantry group, though the sponsorship tables purchased by scores of CRE companies will go toward a good cause, said Depository CEO Kate Maehr at the event. “Tomorrow morning, a family will walk into a pantry somewhere around the city, during a painful time in their lives, and because of the support of everyone in this room, there will be food there,” she said, “just as there has been food there the past 23 years.”

Other award winners included:

Interior Design Firm of the Year – Partners by DESIGN

Developer of the Year – Bridge Development Partners

Office Property Representative of the Year – Mark Baby, Jack McKinney Jr., Matt Pistorio and Brain Whiting with J.F. McKinney & Associates Ltd.

Project Manager of the Year – MB Real Estate

Mortgage Broker of the Year – David Knapp, Chang Lee, Stephen Livaditis and Michael Pagliari with Eastdil Secured LLC

Build to Suit Project of the Year – Astellas US North American HQ, MB Real Estate and GlenStar Properties LLC

Retail Broker of the Year – Joseph Parrott and Jim Sakanich, CBRE

Industrial Broker of the Year – Daniel Leahy, NAI Hiffman

Property Management Company of the Year – CBRE

Special Achievement of the Year – Rivers Casino: Development Management Associates, Pepper Construction and Rivers Casino

Interior Contractor of the Year – Leopardo Cos. Inc.

Investment Sales Broker of the Year – Nooshin Felsenthal, Bruce Miller, Jim Postweiler and Jascint Vukelich, JLL

Office Broker of the Year – Joe Learner and Robert Sevim, Studley

Instant Insights /

AMA Lease, Presidential Towers Redo Among Winners

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