CHICAGO—Mark Nelson ofNelsonHill has been handling real estatetransactions on the Near West Side for years, but has never seenproperties change hands at today's pace. “This is a consequence ofthe Google deal,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “It's beenlike a tsunami into the neighborhood.” When Sterling BayCos. bought and then began refurbishing the FultonMarket Cold Storage building at 1000 W. Fulton, now called1K Fulton, into modern office space, “nobody sawthat the property values would escalate as radically as they didafter the company signed Google as a tenant.” Google will move intothe 550,000-square-foot building next year.

Nelson estimates that by the end of 2014 the value ofneighborhood properties that trade hands will be double what wasbought and sold in 2013. Although most of the individual deals arerelatively small, taken together the transactions are transformingthe neighborhood from an industrial zone mostly dedicated to foodproduction and distribution and into a high-end office community.In 2014, NelsonHill has completed nine sales east of Ashland Ave.in the West Loop totaling more than $38 million.

“Some of these companies have been here for several generations,but the values have gotten to the point where for many it's ano-brainer to sell,” Nelson says. Sterling Bay, for example, justbought 172 N. Ada St. from Takis Royal Foods for$3.85 million. Still, Takis officials had to weigh the benefit ofselling what had become a desired property against leaving aneighborhood and facility where they were comfortable and had quickaccess to their downtown customers. To solve the dilemma,NelsonHill structured a deal that gave Takis 12 months to find anew home.