Middle Market Digest-The Midwest

CHICAGO—E-commerce has made headlines for years by bleeding many retailers dry, so it’s understandable that those working in the sector point out the bright spots. And those bright spots definitely exist. Well-located stores that can provide real experiences, along with desired goods, are still popular with shoppers. And smart landlords have brought in businesses, such as healthcare providers, largely impervious to online competition. Furthermore, some spectacular flameouts in the retail world, including the iconic brand Toys R’ Us, crashed due to debt hangovers from leveraged buyouts rather than e-commerce. Still, these considerations aside, commercial real estate professionals can’t deny that a very real erosion has happened, and will continue for the foreseeable future. In today’s GlobeSt.com, Ten-X’s retail forecast shows Chicago and other Midwest cities, most of which have less-than-impressive job growth, are especially vulnerable.

BY THE NUMBERS

CHICAGO—As reported in GlobeSt.com this week, the multitenant distribution warehouse sector is one of the healthiest in commercial real estate. Occupancy and rental rates are at historic highs, according to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield. Furthermore, the sources of capital flowing into MTD have changed as the segment has become more mainstream and more appealing to a broader base of investors. Strong investor demand has pushed up prices and compressed cap rates. MTD pricing rose to $85 per-square-foot in 2017—a 2.4% increase from 2016 and a 13.3% increase from the prior peak of $75 per-square-foot reached in 2007, C&W finds. At year-end 2017, weighted average cap rates were 6.0%, 250 bps below the peak of 8.2% recorded in 2010. In 2017, MTD achieved a 5.4% income return and a 7.9% appreciation return for a total return of 13.3%, well ahead of the overall commercial real estate return of 7%.

NEWS & NOTABLES

CINCINNATI—Newmark Knight Frank has been appointed as the exclusive real estate broker for the redevelopment of the former Procter & Gamble Sharon Woods Innovation Center in Blue Ash, OH, a Cincinnati suburb. The 132-acre campus was acquired by RER Ventures LLC, the Coral Gables, FL-based investment vehicle for RER Financial Group, and Vandercar LLC, which specializes in developing properties often overlooked by other developers. Vandercar also owns the Summit Park development two miles to the south on the former Blue Ash Airport site. Doug Altemuehle, NKF executive managing director and Darin Armbruster, managing director, lead the new brokerage team. “The Blue Ash campus is the largest corporate campus site in Greater Cincinnati and allows for a mega-scale development opportunity unlike anything else in the market,” says Steve Dragon, executive vice president of Vandercar. “The site could support more than 8,000 employees and has the capacity to increase Blue Ash’s class A office market by nearly 50%.”

CHICAGO—O’Keefe Lyons & Hynes, LLC and McCracken, Walsh, Carlisle & de LaVan have merged, bringing together two prominent property tax law firms in Chicago under the name O’Keefe Lyons & Hynes, LLC. O’Keefe Lyons was established in 1937 and McCracken Walsh in 1958. Its current principal, Whitney Carlisle, has more than 22 years of experience representing Chicago area businesses in property taxation issues. He previously spent 11 years in the taxation division of the Cook County State’s Attorney. The merged firm will consist of 11 attorneys and a staff of 24. The attorneys at the O’Keefe firm include three former Cook County assistant state’s attorneys and a former chief legal counsel to the county assessor. Attorneys of the firm have served in the offices of the IL Attorney General, US Department of Justice and the White House staff of President William Clinton. “Joining with the O’Keefe firm creates great opportunities for our business, our staff and, most importantly, our clients,” Carlisle says.

CHICAGO—Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC, a firm dedicated to the education, healthcare and storage sectors, has named Erin Nahumyk its chief accounting officer. In this new role, she will handle all aspects of the firm’s accounting, tax, and treasury management functions. “Erin brings significant real estate, financial and accounting experience, proven leadership skills and a collaborative approach that will greatly bolster Harrison Street’s infrastructure, operations and client services,” says Stephen Gordon, senior managing director and general counsel. Nahumyk joins Harrison Street from JLL, where she served as executive vice president and chief accounting officer overseeing all aspects of accounting for the Americas, including consolidation and reporting, technical accounting research and support, mergers and acquisition support and business support unit controllership. Previously, she worked at Ernst & Young.

DEALTRACKER

CHICAGO—CBRE Capital Markets has arranged a $32.9 million loan on behalf of Phoenix Development Partners for the acquisition and renovation of the 301-room Hyatt Regency Deerfield in Deerfield, IL. The property, located at I-94 and I-294, serves north suburban Chicago, home to a high concentration of major corporations, including eight Fortune 500 companies. Bill Howe of CBRE’s Chicago office and Jonathan Rice of CBRE’s Atlanta office secured the floating rate financing with a debt fund lender. “We found numerous lenders interested in providing the financing for Phoenix, a reflection of the strength of the location, brand and Phoenix’s redevelopment strategy for the property,” says Howe.

BUILDING BLOCKS

CHICAGO—Skender, serving as general contractor, recently launched interior construction of a new, 207,000-square-foot office for C.H. Robinson, a Fortune 500 third-party logistics and supply chain management provider. The office, scheduled for completion in July 2018, is located within the first Sterling Bay riverfront property in its Lincoln Yards development in Lincoln Park, a contender for the Amazon HQ2 bid. The firm will relocate from its current offices at 1840 N. Marcey St. to accommodate its growing Chicago workforce. The new space will include open office workstation areas, private offices, conference rooms of varying size, two reception areas, a warming pantry and large café, a 5,000-square-foot roof terrace and an open atrium. Skender delivers interior spaces to companies of all sizes—from startups to global brands. It has built millions of square feet of award-winning interior workspace environments for clients that include 1871, Facebook, Google, Whole Foods, Wilson Sporting Goods and others.