CHICAGO-Private investors and condominium converters continue driving down capitalization rates involving large multifamily rental properties in the Downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. Their appetite for product could push sales past the $300 million mark this year, says Appraisal Research Counselors VP John Jaeger.

CHICAGO-The law firm representing the mortgage banking industry signs a 49,760-sf lease for space at 1 N. Dearborn St., moving from 18 S. Michigan Ave.

CHICAGO-The two-acre site between Presidential Towers and the Kennedy Expressway will sell for more than $4 million above its appraised value. The developers may kick in another $4 million if the city approves a one-million-sf mixed-use project.

CHICAGO-A 73-unit rental building at 4520 N. Clarendon Ave. in the relatively tight Uptown submarket is refinanced by PW Funding Inc. at a 4.85% interest rate, while Paragon Real Estate Equity and Investment Trust pays a 5.87% rate in its refinancing of Richton Trail Apartments in far south suburban Richton Park.

CHICAGO-The Association of Industrial Real Estate Brokers is now known as AIRE, and other changes are underway to make the 420-member group more contemporary, as well as better understood.

CHICAGO-Food Halls of South Branch will provide 150,000 sf that will include refrigerator and cooler space, as well as 100,000 sf of office space at Jefferson Street near Cermak Road.

CHICAGO-Equity Office Properties Trust has seen tenant improvement and leasing costs jump 40% during the first nine months of 2003 compared to the same period in 2002, a trend that has to stop, president and CEO Richard Kincaid says.

CHICAGO-The 159-unit Park Willow Apartments in Clarendon Hills is on the market for $17 million, or a 6.1% capitalization rate; while the 220-unit Pebblewood Court Apartments in Hanover Park is for sale at $15.8 million, or a 6.6% capitalization rate.