Ramco-Gershenson Buys Fox River at Discount

WAUKESHA, WI-Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, based in Farmington Hills, MI, recently purchased the 135,000-square-foot Shoppes at Fox River for $23.8 million. The Chicago office of the former Opus North Corp. opened the retail center in September 2009.

Target and Pick ‘n Save are anchors of the property, though Target is now a shadow anchor. Other tenants of the 93% leased site include Petco, Dollar Tree, Famous Footwear and Buffalo Wild Wings.

The site was originally supposed to be a $62 million, 500,000-square-foot project, but that project didn’t materialize during the economic downturn. As part of the recent transaction, the buyer entered into an agreement to lend the seller $3 million, secured by an 18-acre parcel of land. Ramco-Gershenson has secured certain rights to the land.

Dennis Gershenson, president and CEO, said the purchase was part of a strategy to acquire high quality centers with dominant anchors. He did not comment on the price paid by the firm for the center, or future plans for development.

ONALASKA, WI-Mid-America was the exclusive representative for a Wisconsin developer in the sale of an 86,432-square-foot Kohl’s building here, a north suburb of La Crosse. The property was sold to an out-of-state private investment fund for $7.2 million. Mark Goldberg and Tom Fritz transacted the deal on behalf of the seller. The buyer was self represented.

WAUKEGAN, IL-Whit R. Heitman, Samuel C. Badger Jr. and Brad Weiner with Paine/Wetzel - ONCOR International have completed the long term lease of a 131,000-square-foot industrial building located at 3751 Sunset to Woodland Foods. The company is consolidating a number of remote locations as well as expanding the total size of their operations. Jack Rosenberg, Fred Regnery and Ned Frank with Colliers International worked on behalf of the landlord, ING.

WHEELING, IL-Ellen Steinbrecher and CJ Kuehl, both principals with Lee & Associates of Illinois LLC, represented National Louis University in their renewal of 6,718 square feet of office space at 6310 Capitol Dr. Jason Streepy with Grubb & Ellis represented building ownership, Sun Capital LLC, in the transaction.

DETROIT-Motown Construction Partners, LLC recently said that project financing has been secured and work is scheduled to begin immediately on the dramatic transformation of the 34-story Broderick Tower, a historic landmark structure centrally located at Grand Circus Park and Woodward Avenue. With Bank of America, Invest Detroit, Chase Bank N.A., the Michigan Historic Preservation Network and a host of supporting professional firms, Motown has secured the necessary financing to move forward on this long anticipated $50 million redevelopment project of the building, constructed in 1928. Upon completion of renovations in September 2012, Broderick Tower will house a restaurant and lounge, Invest Detroit’s Incubator, and 127 apartments on floors five through 34. JC Beal Construction Inc., which assisted the members of the ownership group in assembling the project, will act as the construction manager for the renovation and implement the interior design and exterior restoration specified by the project architect, Kraemer Design Group of Detroit. The tower is owned by a group of individuals and entities, including the Higgins Family Trust.

ANN ARBOR, MI-Hendricks & Partners is pleased to announce the sale of Woodland Mews, at 275 Fieldcrest St. The 233-unit REO apartment community was sold for $11.6 million.

Bank of America sold the property to Woodland Mews Partners LLC, assignee of Hartman & Tyner Inc. and Bleznak Real Estate Investment Group - locally based investors. Mark Rohr and Eric Taylor handled the transaction on behalf of the seller.

TROY, MI-Friedman Real Estate Group Inc. recently negotiated the lease of 9,583 square feet of office space at Troy Officentre, 300 East Big Beaver Rd. The landlord, Osprey-Troy Officentre LLC, leased the space to Control Point Corp., a full service engineering firm. Glenn DesRosiers represented the landlord in this transaction.

HILLIARD, OH-Cornerstone Real Estate Funds, and its strategic alliance partner and sub-advisor Servant Healthcare Investments, announced that the Cornerstone Healthcare Plus REIT has acquired Carriage Court of Hilliard – a 70,000-square-foot assisted living and memory care facility here. The $17.5 million property has a total of 102 units of which 64 are dedicated to assisted living and 38 are focused on memory care. Cornerstone expanded into three new states (Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania) in the month of December alone.

REYNOLDSBURG, OH-Centro Properties Group announced a 15,426 square foot Family Dollar recently opened at Brice Park, located off Interstate 70. Centro is the owner  and was represented by Avi Abroms.

COLUMBUS, OH-The Dallas office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. has been retained to market for sale Centerpoint I, a 1.1-million-square-foot distribution center here on behalf of the seller, Troy, MI-based Kirco Realty & Development Ltd. The property is being offered without an asking price, free and clear of debt. The building is at 5235 Westpoint Dr. within the CenterPoint Business Park in Obetz, a southeastern suburb of Columbus. The HFF team representing the seller includes Randy Baird, Jud Clements and Robby Rieke.

ORANGE CITY, IA-WelshInvest LLC, a subsidiary of Twin Cities, MN-based Welsh Property Trust LLC, recently sold a 487,121-square-foot property here. Gladstone Commercial purchased the office warehouse facility from WelshInvest for $12.3 million. The property, at 1520 Albany Pl., is 100% leased by Staples Inc. through 2026.