McCaffery Hosts Opening of $80M Flair Tower

CHICAGO-McCaffery Interests is going to host its official grand opening of the 26-story Flair Tower, at 222 W. Erie St., on June 3. The new building, with 198 apartment units, is more than 30% leased, says project manager Pamela Austin.

The site was set to become a condo tower by Newport Builders Inc. However, McCaffery formed a joint venture with RREEF and developer Seymour Taxman to build this $80 million apartment tower. The debt financing was provided by Charter One.

Austin tells GlobeSt.com that demand is high, and that they are hiring more sales staff to handle interest. She says the studio apartments sold quickly, and the one-bedroom units are also popular. The sixth-floor units, nearest to the floor’s outdoor patio amenities, went quickly as well, and at least two of the 10 penthouses on floors 25 and 25 have been sold, she says.

McCaffery has two other apartment buildings in Chicago. The $54 million Morgan at Loyola Station in Rogers Park, open for a year now, is 80% leased, Austin says. The other asset is the 175-unit Bernardin apartment tower at 747 N. Wabash, a five-year-old building “that’s been 95% to 98% leased forever,” Austin says.

FORT WAYNE, IN-Aimco has put up Canterbury Green Apartments, a complex with almost 2,000 units, up for sale. The community offers resort-style living including an 18-hole golf course, large clubhouse, multiple sundecks and 4 swimming pools and a myriad of other amenities. HFF is handling the sale. The complex includes 1,988 apartment homes which average 1,000 square feet

CHICAGO-Summit Design + Build, LLC has been selected as design/build general contractor for Benchmark, a new sports bar, at 1510 N. Wells in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. The restaurant/bar will be situated on a site that includes an existing single-story office building, which most recently housed Baird & Warner Inc., and an adjacent parking lot. Four Corners Tavern Group Inc., the owners of the six popular Chicago establishments including Kirkwood Bar & Grill, WestEnd Bar & Grill and Schoolyard Tavern & Grill, is the owner/developer of the project. According to Miller, the project requires the complete gut and renovation of the existing office building and new two-story plus basement addition to accommodate a total building size of 10,500 square feet. The new restaurant/bar will include high-end, modern finishes and a custom 70 ft. long by 20 ft. wide RollaCover retractable roof, the first of its kind in Chicago.

DES PLAINES, IL-Total Sweeteners Inc., a manufacturer of a wide variety of food ingredients, has renewed and expanded its office headquarters lease at the Higgins Centre. The company has leased 12,549 square feet in the building for approximately 16 years and will now be increasing their space by roughly 60% to 19,938 square feet. Douglas E. Shehan, senior director for Cushman & Wakefield of Illinois, completed the transaction on behalf of the building’s owner, a large institutional investor from Australia, Real Estate Capital Partners. The six-story, 137,000-square-foot building is at 1700 E. Higgins Rd., just west of the Northwest Tollway and about two blocks east of Mannheim Road. The company was represented by David Ven Horst of Tenant Advisors Inc.

CHICAGO-All natural pet food store Kriser's recently signed a lease for 2,600 square feet at Milwaukee and Concord, according to Richard Spinell of Oakbrook Terrace-based Mid-America Asset Management Inc., which is the exclusive leasing representative for the 13,105 square-foot convenience based center. The center is in the heart of Chicago's Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood, with additional tenants including Spin Cycle, UPS Store, and Ultimate Exposure. Mid-America Senior Leasing Representative Kitsy Ritter represented the landlord in the transaction, with Sean Steuart of SRS representing the tenant.

CHICAGO-Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada has retained Bradford Allen Realty Services as the exclusive leasing agent for their new office acquisition at 29 North Wacker Dr. Sun Life recently closed on the purchase of the 129,262-square-foot office building from Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. Under Sun Life’s ownership, the building will undergo an extensive rehabilitation of the mechanical systems and upgrades to the common areas. The 39-year-old building was designed by architects A. Epstein and Sons with unobstructed sight lines up and down Wacker Drive and 13,000 square foot floor plates tailored to small to midsize office tenants.

BRIDGEVIEW, IL-Champion Realty Advisors LLC has completed an industrial lease for TGI Systems Corp. for 20,100 square feet at Moore Industrial Park, at 7431-33 W. 90th Ave. The tenant will be moving to this new facility from their prior location in Bridgeview. The new space more than doubles their current warehouse capacity, enhancing their ability to serve their customer worldwide. Michael Bader with Champion represented the tenant, while the landlord, AF Moore & Associates, was represented in-house by Jeff Koenig.

NORTHBROOK, IL-The Missner Group has been selected as the general contractor for the renovation of the Mercedes Benz-Autohaus on Edens at 1600 Frontage Rd. The existing Autohaus on Edens building will undergo a complete corporate identity renovation featuring a new client lounge, showroom, sales area and interior offices. Exterior renovations will include the addition of a new vestibule, sun screens and updated finishes. New sight lighting, a detention basin, and a new parking area to accommodate 101 additional vehicles, will also be incorporated in the project.

CHICAGO-Kunz Glove Co. has purchased a 20,600 square foot building at 1532 W. Fulton. The leather glove manufacturer selected the building due to its strategic and high-traffic location at the Ashland Avenue and Fulton intersection. Kunz is relocating from 339 N. Oakley Blvd., also in Chicago. Michael D. Nelson, Mark A. Nelson and Gerald F. Sullivan with Paine/Wetzel * ONCOR International represented the seller, Active Graphics, while the buyer was self-represented.

DES PLAINES, IL-Jones Lang LaSalle has completed a lease for 80,730 square feet of industrial space for Midland Paper Co. at 363 N. Third Ave. Kurt Sarbaugh, Robin Stolberg, and Kris Bjorson with Jones Lang LaSalle represented Midland while Jonathan Kohn and Tom Rodeno of Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler represented the landlord, ProLogis. Midland selected the facility based on its proximity to its headquarters in Wheeling, IL. Built in 1966, the industrial facility, also known as the Des Plaines Distribution Center, is a 249,925-square-foot industrial facility.

CHICAGO-Essex Realty Group Inc. arranged the sale of a 22-unit, walk-up style apartment building. 5011 W. Maypole, in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, which consists of 19 one bedroom and 3 two bedroom units. Jim Darrow of Essex represented the seller and David Goss and Jon Morgan, also of Essex, represented the buyer. The price was approximately $520,000.

WHEATON, IL-In a further expansion of its locations in the Chicago metropolitan area, Motor Werks has completed a lease for the former Suburban Buick dealership. Podolsky Northstar CORFAC International represented the owner of the property, WGE Properties LLC in the complicated transaction that followed a consent foreclosure. Motor Werks completed the lease for the 35,118-square-foot care dealership located at 1100 Roosevelt Rd. The property, on a 3-acre site, is situated west of Main Street and east of President Street in the heart of Wheaton. In 2008 Suburban Buick closed, but the owners of the dealership retained title to the parcel and car dealership facility. The property subsequently went into foreclosure. Podolsky Northstar was retained by the owner to find a replacement user in hopes of an agreed debt relief structure. In the process, following the consent foreclosure, WGE Properties, the holding company for the Community Bank of Wheaton/Glen Ellyn, accepted Motor Werks as a tenant for the property. With the opportunity to lease the property to Motor Werks, the former owners were substantially released from their obligation on the loan. Randy Podolsky, managing principal, and Adam Tarantur, assistant VP, represented ownership, Motor Werks was represented by Joe Priola of National Realty Advisors. Huck Bouma of Wheaton was counsel for Community Bank.

EDINA, MN-Patrick Minea, SVP and Managing Director of NorthMarq Capital’s Minneapolis Regional office, arranged first mortgage financing of $13 million for Centennial Lakes IV. The property is a 215,790-square-foot class A suburban office building in a premier Minneapolis suburb and is part of a 100-acre, mixed-use development that includes a 25-acre park with a lake system that extends into the center of the office park. Financing was based on a 10-year term with a 25-year amortization schedule and was arranged for the borrower by NorthMarq through its correspondent relationship with Minnesota Life Insurance Co.

INDIANAPOLIS-Locally-based Resource Commercial Real Estate will be joining Colliers International. “Colliers International is moving forward in our campaign to become the market leader in the United States, and the Resource Commercial Real Estate move to our platform marks another step towards achieving that goal,” said Dylan Taylor, CEO of Colliers International in the US. Resource adopted the Colliers International name and branding on May 11. There will be no leadership or personnel changes at the firm.

INDIANAPOLIS-The Real Estate Investment Securities Association (REISA) selected Daniel Oschin to serve as the president-elect. Oschin will serve through December 2011 and begin a one-year term as president in January 2012. Currently, Oschin is the managing director of the Meridian Group of Cos. where he is responsible for designing, developing and distributing all Meridian sponsored private and public offerings and for diversifying the company’s capital sources. Richard Chess of Chess Law Firm currently serves as the REISA President. His term will end December 2011.

ANSON, IN-Duke Realty Corp. announces that Asi Ltd., a company involved in the design and manufacture of ornamental metals and building enclosures, has expanded its space at AllPoints at Anson. A Duke Realty tenant for more than 20 years and the first company to lease industrial space at AllPoints at Anson, Asi will occupy another 60,000 square feet in Building 14, bringing the 280,000-square-foot building to 100% occupancy. Asi has been a customer of Duke Realty since 1989, with its original lease of 3,600 square feet in Park 100. The company’s recent construction/supply contract with Barclay Center, the home of the New Jersey Nets, as well as other new business, such as its work on the nearly complete 34-story JW Marriott Hotel in Indianapolis, prompted the need for expanded space.

AKRON, OH-Locallly-based FirstMerit Corp. announced today it has acquired, through its subsidiary FirstMerit Bank, N.A., the banking operations of Chicago-based Midwest Bank and Trust Company, the subsidiary bank of Midwest Banc Holdings, Inc. through a purchase and assumption agreement with the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corp. Midwest Bank and Trust has 26 branches located throughout the Chicago area. All 26 Midwest Bank and Trust branches have reopened as FirstMerit locations.

CINCINNITI-Centro Properties Group announced a 2,180 square foot GameStop recently opened at Western Hills Plaza, located southwest of the Interstate 75 and Interstate 74 junction, on the northeast corner of Glenway Avenue and Werk Road. Centro Properties Group is the owner of Western Hills Plaza and was represented by Elizabeth Houser.

CLAYTON, MO-Behr, McCarter & Potter P.C. expanded to 9,602 square feet of office space at 7777 Bonhomme Ave. from NNN VF 7777 Bonhomme Avenue LLC. Rebekah Bahn and Meg Mannion with Grubb & Ellis|Gundaker Commercial represented the landlord in the transaction. Thomas E. Murray represented the tenant.