A three-building office complex in Northbrook is set to be sold to a private investor, another sign of the strength of the investment market for well-leased suburban office properties.
The buildings, at 500, 555 and 777 Skokie Blvd., were built more than 22 years ago and once were known as Combined Centre. Totaling nearly 600,000 square feet of space, the complex is owned by a joint venture of Itasca-based real estate firm Hamilton Partners and GE Asset Management Inc., a unit of General Electric Co.
The venture this year hired the Chicago office of real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc. to market the property, which attracted more than 10 potential buyers offering at least $32 million, sources said.
Barrington-based investor Marvin Herb, the former chairman and chief executive of Coca-Cola Bottling of Chicago, has emerged as the buyer, signing a contract for about $35 million, sources said.
Herb, who this year bought the Warrenville headquarters of Navistar International Corp., and representatives of the joint venture could not be reached for comment.
Akzo Nobel to Congress: The North American headquarters of chemical giant Akzo Nobel is set to move from 300 S. Riverside Plaza to the top floors of Congress Center, a 16-story building at 525 W. Van Buren St. The deal for about 75,000 square feet brings the West Loop tower to 90 percent leased.
Congress Center’s large, column-free floors allowed Azko to reduce the size of its offices by about 10 percent, said Gene Ventura, vice president with Chicago-based Development Resources Inc., which developed the building in a joint venture with Oaktree Capital Management LLC.
Chicago-based Pro Ten Realty Group advised Netherlands-based Akzo.
Sweetheart deal: USAA Real Estate Co. has its first tenant for its south suburban Commerce Park industrial development, signing an agreement to build a 908,000-square-foot distribution center for Sweetheart Cup Co.
The Chicago office of Clayco Construction Co. will be the design/build contractor for the single-story, precast concrete structure, which will include state-of-the-art building systems, including high-tech fire alarms.
Maryland-based Sweetheart has signed a long-term lease for the building.
The deal kicks of the first, 90-acre phase of Commerce Park, a 250-acre development located in University Park near Interstate 57 and Manhattan-Monee Road.
The Chicago office of Cushman & Wakefield represented USAA Real Estate, a unit of USAA, a San Antonio-based insurer and financial-services company.
Duke to build: Duke Realty Corp. plans to build a 118,000-square-foot office building in Deerfield on the south side of Lake-Cook Road, between Pfingsten Road and Interstate 294. Sources said the Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust paid about $2.5 million for the 7.3–acre parcel.
The proposed 3-story structure would be visible from the expressway, making the site a strong candidate for a build-to-suit structure for a single tenant, said Steven Holmberg, senior vice president for Duke’s local office group.
Great Lakes pays dividends: Great Lakes REIT plans to start paying dividends monthly, rather than quarterly, in a move intended to cater to individual investors, sources said. The Oak Brook-based owner of suburban office properties has said it expects this year’s dividend to be $1.60 a share.
Separately, Washington-based Ram International Ltd. has plans for a restaurant on a 1.6-acre parcel that is part of the Pointe O’Hare complex in Rosemont, a co-development of Chicago-based Orix Real
Estate Equities Inc.
`Effective rents’ drop: Downtown tenants who signed leases last year for Class A office space paid 6.2 percent less than in 2000, the second straight year that rents have declined, according to a report by New York-based tenant representation firm Julien J. Studley Inc.
Tenants paid $28.61 per square foot in “effective rent” last year, according to the study, which measures the amount that tenants actually pay by taking into account lease concessions given by landlords.
