Investment Activity Picking Up In Suburbs

CHICAGO—CenterCore Properties, LLC has just acquired Corporetum Office Campus VI, a 168,000-square-foot, class A office complex located at 550-650 Warrenville Rd. in suburban Lisle, from Winthrop Realty Liquidating Trust. It's CenterCore's first office property, and company officials say while costs are prohibitive in the hot Chicago market, suburbs such as Lisle are in a sweet spot.

“It's hard to buy office assets today where the pricing makes sense, but suburban Chicago is growing out of the recession,” Bob Duncan, president of Evanston, IL-based CenterCore, tells GlobeSt.com. And that means properties that remain affordable, such as buildings in the Lisle campus, now have tremendous opportunities to fill vacancies and grow rental income.

Although many suburban submarkets have been hit by large corporate exits, that transition seems to be slowing down, he adds. “What we're seeing now is a market that is recovering.”

CenterCore did not disclose the purchase price, but Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP said it had closed the sale of the property and arranged $9.5 million in acquisition bridge financing.

Corporetum VI, a two-building complex, sits along I-88 just a few minutes from I-355 and 25 minutes away from either Midway International Airport or O'Hare International Airport.

“We already have a strong roster of tenants,” Duncan adds. With approximately 82% of the space leased, major tenants include Fairway Mortgage, Primera Engineers, Circle K, United Healthcare, and ABM Janitorial Services. David Florent and Francis Prock of Colliers International will continue to serve as the leasing agents for the property.

CenterCore also plans to upgrade its amenities, although the buildings already have a state-of-the-art fitness center, conferencing center, outdoor tenant balconies, and an on-site café and deli in a landscaped setting.

And even though towns like Naperville and Lisle and others in the western half of the East-West Corridor were impacted more severally by the recession than the towns in the east, “Oak Brook is getting tight and rents are increasing.” That factor should encourage some “spillover” into places such as Lisle.

“We believe in the suburbs,” Duncan says, especially as a long-term proposition. “We think the millennials, when they get married and have kids, will come back to the suburbs like their parents did.”

CHICAGO—CenterCore Properties, LLC has just acquired Corporetum Office Campus VI, a 168,000-square-foot, class A office complex located at 550-650 Warrenville Rd. in suburban Lisle, from Winthrop Realty Liquidating Trust. It's CenterCore's first office property, and company officials say while costs are prohibitive in the hot Chicago market, suburbs such as Lisle are in a sweet spot.

“It's hard to buy office assets today where the pricing makes sense, but suburban Chicago is growing out of the recession,” Bob Duncan, president of Evanston, IL-based CenterCore, tells GlobeSt.com. And that means properties that remain affordable, such as buildings in the Lisle campus, now have tremendous opportunities to fill vacancies and grow rental income.

Although many suburban submarkets have been hit by large corporate exits, that transition seems to be slowing down, he adds. “What we're seeing now is a market that is recovering.”

CenterCore did not disclose the purchase price, but Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP said it had closed the sale of the property and arranged $9.5 million in acquisition bridge financing.

Corporetum VI, a two-building complex, sits along I-88 just a few minutes from I-355 and 25 minutes away from either Midway International Airport or O'Hare International Airport.

“We already have a strong roster of tenants,” Duncan adds. With approximately 82% of the space leased, major tenants include Fairway Mortgage, Primera Engineers, Circle K, United Healthcare, and ABM Janitorial Services. David Florent and Francis Prock of Colliers International will continue to serve as the leasing agents for the property.

CenterCore also plans to upgrade its amenities, although the buildings already have a state-of-the-art fitness center, conferencing center, outdoor tenant balconies, and an on-site café and deli in a landscaped setting.

And even though towns like Naperville and Lisle and others in the western half of the East-West Corridor were impacted more severally by the recession than the towns in the east, “Oak Brook is getting tight and rents are increasing.” That factor should encourage some “spillover” into places such as Lisle.

“We believe in the suburbs,” Duncan says, especially as a long-term proposition. “We think the millennials, when they get married and have kids, will come back to the suburbs like their parents did.”