Bill Drinkall represented seller Key Lanes while Mike Dahm represented buyer Morningstar Equity in the sale of a 32,700-square-foot retail buidling in Fort Wayne. Stanley Phillips represented Fort Wayne Associates in its lease of Phil’s Hobby Shop, a 6,218-square-foot retail space also in Fort Wayne. Tyler Binkley represented Phil’s Hobby Shop in this transaction.

John Caffray represented buyer Sassafras Holdings on the purchase of a 9,582-square-foot retail/restaurant building in Bluffton, Ind.

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This annual award recognizes the “best of the best” in commercial real estate brokerage by highlighting the U.S. firms and individual brokers who closed the highest transaction volumes in commercial property sales and leases for the entire year of 2011 in their respective markets.

Lee & Associates, LLC qualified as one of the top commercial brokerage firms in its market based on total lease transactions closed during the year. To be selected for this honor, Lee & Associates was evaluated against other commercial real estate brokerage firms active in its region by CoStar Group, and subsequently ranked among the top firms in the market.

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To prepare for the Chicago NATO Summit — which will on May 20 and 21 bring leaders, and protestors, from around the globe to Chicago — the city has closed roads and enacted restrictions on commuters. Those who ride Metra trains into the city, for instance, can’t bring backpacks, liquids or food on their trains.

People today are telling me that the city feels like a ghost town, at least compared to a normal Friday. Mostly it was on the trains that things felt off; normally packed commuter trains were half-full this morning.

Mark Menzies, group publisher of Real Estate Publishing Group, the parent company of Midwest Real Estate News, said that the city this morning barely felt like Chicago.

“Stores, hotels and office buildings are boarding up doors and windows,” Menzies said. “Willis Tower covered its marble foundation all the way around the building with plastic. They want to protect it from having paint thrown on it.”

The Chicago Boeing office building near the Oglivie train station is surrounded by 10-foot-tall fences. And if that wasn’t deterrent enough, armed guards, too, were visible protecting the building. You can see pedestrians jerking their heads to the sky nearly constantly; that’s because of the U.S. Army helicopters flying over the city. Yesteday, a group of protestors set up their own outdoor living room — couch, rug and chairs — outside of the Citibank building to protest the high number of housing foreclosures sweeping the country.

“It’s the calm before the storm,” Menzies said early this morning. “No one knows what will happen.”

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The space formerly housed a K-Mart.

Paul Hoge and Jim Montgomery of Signature Associates represented the purchaser, Prefix Corporation. Hoge also represented the seller, TD Joslyn Road, LLC.

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Terry Stieve and Dave Branding of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the landlord, Sacramento-based J.B. Management, which owns more than 2 million square feet of industrial space in the greater St. Louis area.

The transaction is the largest new industrial lease in St. Louis County or the city of St. Louis City since 2005, and is representative of the significant downward movement of modern bulk vacancy rates in St. Louis County from 28.9 percent to 24.8 percent.

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GNMA/FHA Section 223(f) financing recently was secured in the amount of $24.4 million for La Serena at the Heights, a 360-unit multi-family community located in Henderson, Nevada. GNMA/FHA Section 223(a)(7) existing insured refinances also were completed in the amounts of $12.6 million for 158-unit 901 Place Apartments in Charlotte, NC; and $3.4 million for the 144-unit Hideaway Apartments and $2.5 million for the 78-unit Hideaway Townhomes, both in Westerville, Ohio.

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Chicago saw its foreclosure rate jump 25.52 percent this April when compared to the same month in 2011. In St. Louis, foreclosure activity rose 28.53 percent. Minneapolis saw a smaller increase in April, 3.44 percent.

There was some good news from the report, though. Detroit saw its foreclosure rate fall 32.22 percent this April when compared to the same month one year earlier.

In Chicago, one in every 321 housing units had a foreclosure filing in April, while in St. Louis one of every 696 houses had a filing. In Minneapolis, that figure stands at one in every 543 housing units. In Detroit, one in every 363 housing units had a foreclosure filing during April.

Across the country, foreclosure activity in April fell 14 percent from the same month in 2011. According to RealtyTrac, one in every 698 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month.

What does the future hold? That’s the big question. According to a press release from RealtyTrac, a growing number of potential foreclosures are being sold as short sales. There’s no guarantee, though, that foreclosures won’t jump again as banks work their way through the defaults clogging their books.

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Located in close proximity to the Corporate Corridor, Arboretum Landmark will offer 310 residential units with distinct living configurations, a variety of high-end amenities, and access to more than 500 parking spaces for residents and guests to utilize.

Arboretum Landmark will feature condo-style amenities, including an outdoor heated swimming pool, patio area, communal gas grills, outdoor fire pit, fitness center, access to the building’s sunroom and will be a pet-friendly environment. Each unit will feature a “chef’s kitchen,” including stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.

The project will break ground in May and is slated for occupancy beginning September 2013. Opus Development Corporation is the developer and Opus Design Build LLC will serve as the general contractor.

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The seller was a local private investor.

Adam Firsel, Next Realty’s director of acquisitions, represented the Next Realty affiliate in the transaction. Firsel joined Next Realty at the beginning of the year.

Immediately following the acquisition, Next Realty began marketing the 17,000-square-foot site for redevelopment to national tenant prospects, including restaurants, small retailers, coffee shops and banks, as either a single or multi-tenant retail facility. The site could be configured to include a drive thru facility. 

The area of Lincolnwood where the parcel is situated is densely populated with more than 271,000 people in a three-mile radius. More than 26,000 vehicles travel Touhy Avenue per day and another 13,000 vehicles travel Crawford every day at this intersection.

According to Firsel, certain segments of the retail industry, including restaurants, coffee shops and banks, always are looking for new sites in densely-populated, well-traveled locations. He noted that this represents the seventh acquisition completed by Next Realty, which is capitalized by Next Realty Fund VII, in the last 18 months.

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Clarion Partners and project manager Colliers International has contracted The Missner Group to complete the tenant improvements and office renovations within the distribution/warehouse facility. The project includes a 1,700-square-foot office build-out, ventilation renovations, a new store front entrance and exterior improvements. The entry construction will feature a precast panel with store-front glass that will serve as the main entrance for the building.

Jess Knigge, vice president of construction, is the project executive, Jack Sbertoli is the project manager and Bill Stransky is the superintendent on behalf of The Missner Group. Melissa Powell of Colliers International is overseeing the construction management. Harris Architects is providing architectural services on the project, which is slated for completion in early summer 2012.

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