CHICAGO-The Downtown office rental market opens 2001 at an all-time low 8.2% vacancy rate. A report by CB Richard Ellis, Inc. says the hottest areas are River North and the West Loop.

OAK BROOK, IL-A partnership including REIT CenterPoint Properties Trust, California Public Employees Retirement System and LaSalle Investment Trust buys seven industrial buildings in the Chicago and Milwaukee markets.

HACKENSACK, NJ-NAI/Hanson brokers the separate deals, which are described as mirroring a larger trend toward heightened downtown commercial real estate activity, both sales and leases in the Garden State.

SEATTLE, WA-The Seattle-based purveyor of storage centers exercised its option to buy Fremont Realty Capital's interest in Shurgard/Fremont Partners I, a joint venture that owned some 15 properties that Shurgard developed into storage centers and leased out.