HSA Commercial Acquires O'Hare Business Center East

FRANKLIN PARK, IL-HSA Commercial Real Estate, through an affiliated development partnership, has acquired O’Hare Business Center East in the northwest suburban town of Franklin Park, just south of O’Hare International Airport. Currently, the property consists of a 500,000-sf industrial facility with about 20,000 sf of office space as well. Immediately after the purchase closed, HSA broke ground for a new 325,000-sf warehouse on 13.5 acres of the 38-acre O’Hare Business Center East.

“[Industrial sites] are very rare in the O’Hare market, and sell at a premium if they are available,” says Jack Shaffer, chairman of HSA Commercial. “The O’Hare industrial market vacancy is currently below 5% and has been below 6% for the last three years. The demand for high-cube space is exceeding the supply.”

The acquisition is valued in excess of $40 million, including a tax-increment financing bond granted by the Village of Franklin Park in the amount of $8.2 million. “The TIF will offer help with the high cost of providing a new access road to River Road, as well as the refurbishment of existing buildings in the park,” notes Mayor Daniel Pritchett of Franklin Park.

Originally owned by Duo-Fast, a maker of fastening equipment that has since left Franklin Park, the existing industrial building was built in stages between 1961 and 1978. It is currently subdivided and fully leased, with major tenants including HAR Technologies, Arcor Inc., Dulin Metals Co. and Gabby’s Bagels Inc.

Mansur & Co. was the seller. “The company decided to take advantage of storng market conditions and increasing developer demand for sites near O’Hare,” says Austin C. Mansur, VP of Mansur & Co. A Chicago-based firm that invests in and develops real estate, Mansur has acquired or built about 12.5 million sf of commercial space nationally. HSA, also Chicago-based, has developed or acquired more than 29 million sf of commercial property.