CHICAGO-Capital tended to stay home in 2001, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, which reports a 25% drop in cross-border volume. However, the total is up 84% from 1999, with the UK and France getting the majority of the action.

OAK BROOK, IL & INDIANAPOLIS-Great Lakes REIT and Simon Property Group are in different sectors, but find themselves with a common problem: tenant defaults and bankruptcies. The problem is more philosophical for chief executive officer David Simon.

INDIANAPOLIS-"There's been a tremendous amount of interest--unsolicited," says Simon Property Group chief executive officer David Simon in $1.55 billion worth of malls his REIT is acquiring in the three-way Rodamco North America, NV portfolio deal.

CHICAGO-An electrical substation on 2.27 acres at 1050 and 1063 N. Branch Ave. will serve increased residential demand created by the multifamily boom in River North, Downtown and West Loop.

AURORA, IL-Tollgate, LLC acquires the building leased by Fermi Lab, Cano Container, and PDI Container for $35 per sf. At 2300 Raddant Rd., the five-acre site is near the I-88/Farnsworth Avenue interchange.

CHICAGO-An often emotional four-hour hearing does not stop the community development commission from unanimously green-lighting a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Goldblatt's building at 4720-40 N. Broadway. Border's Books will be the anchor retail tenant.

CHICAGO-Paying a reported $250 million, or $263 per sf, San Francisco-based Shorenstein Co. adds the 44-story West Loop office tower to a portfolio that includes the John Hancock Center and Prudential Plaza.

CHICAGO-The Commodity Futures Trading Commission moves from nearby 300 S. Riverside Plaza next month after getting a private floor in Tishman Speyer's 25-story West Loop building, which still is close to the city's futures exchanges.