mypetrobot
November 19th, 2004, 04:37 PM
Owners solicit ideas for downtown river site
November 17, 2004
BY DAVID ROEDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement
With the Chicago River increasingly a draw for developers, a Florida-based investment firm has begun evaluating what to do with choice waterfront property downtown.
Sunbelt Management Co., which manages the real-estate investments of Germany's billionaire Mann family, is talking with leading architects about the 35,000-square-foot site near the NBC Tower. Currently a parking lot, the site is on the north bank of the river, just west of Columbus Drive. The University of Chicago's Gleacher Center is next door to the west.
A source said Chicago's Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP is among the firms being considered for the work. Skidmore designed the NBC Tower, which Sunbelt bought in 1996.
What the new building will be remains under discussion, but the location figures to have residential appeal. It's also in the midst of Chicago's top convention-quality hotels.
"We think we own one of the best sites in Chicago,'' said Sunbelt President Richard Reeves. "We are studying it and developing a feasible apartment, hotel, or condo scheme.'' He said office use has been ruled out, an easy decision given the state of the market.
Reeves declined to get into details. One issue, as always, is the property's zoning, which currently puts a height limit of 350 feet on anything built at the site. But Sunbelt is mindful that Donald Trump's 1,125-foot monument is going up two blocks west, so it'll be tempting to ask the city for more height in exchange for concessions such as plazas and riverwalks.
The Mann family, whose patriarch is industrialist and department-store titan Hugo Mann, has done well with its targeted investments in Chicago. In 2001, it sold for $40 million property at the northwest corner of Madison and Clinton where ABN Amro built its back-office operations. The sale was for $12 million more than Sunbelt spent to buy the site just two years earlier.
Reeves said he'll hire only a top architect for the new building. "Chicago has a great architectural heritage, but some of that heritage has dissipated,'' he said. Why? Too many "painted concrete boxes,'' he said.
STEELTOWN BOUND: Walsh Group Ltd., the construction and real-estate investment firm controlled by Matthew and Daniel Walsh, plans to take over a 66-acre site on the Southeast Side as a headquarters for its heavy-equipment operations. The company has requested a rezoning of the property at 2659 E. 112th St., which used to be a slag dump for Acme Steel Corp. and Harsco Corp. on the bank of the Calumet River.
Walsh Vice President Gregory Ciambrone said the company plans to build a 63,000-square-foot building, with about a third of the space used for offices and the rest for equipment storage. He said the move keeps within city limits some 75 to 100 jobs and could generate 50 new jobs over the next couple of years, but no city subsidy is involved. "It's a great opportunity for us to assist in the redevelopment of the Southeast Side,'' Ciambrone said.
The corporate headquarters stays at 929 W. Adams. Walsh had considered moving the heavy-equipment division from two Chicago sites to Hammond.
BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A LATTE: I read in my Sun-Times last week the heart-wrenching tale of Armitage Avenue business owners afraid that an influx of banks will price them out of the neighborhood. How horrible that banks should do this, chasing after the money rightfully belonging to the chic boutiques and the omnpresent Starbucks. I didn't know rich neighborhoods can have it so bad. I live where banks co-exist with florists and bakeries, and there is even street parking.
On the other hand, the coffee chains have yet to invade. Maybe they're the ones that raise the commercial rents. No, it's easier to blame banks.
MONDO CONDO: The Illinois Association of Realtors said condo sales in the Chicago area for the third quarter were up 4.3 percent from the same period last year, to 15,182 units. It said the median price rose 5.4 percent to $196,300. The figures are for an eight-county region.
OOPS! Last week's item about construction at 550 W. Adams should have credited the job to Power Construction.
DOING THE DEALS: Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust Inc. spent $44.26 million to buy from a partnership the Gurnee Town Centre at 7105 Grand Ave., Gurnee. The 179,000-square-foot plaza is anchored by Old Navy and Cost Plus. ... Paine/Wetzel Oncor International brokered leases of 172,000 square feet to Revere Mills at 3000 River Rd., Des Plaines, and 140,000 square feet to Arnold Logistics LLC at 5100 W. 70th Pl., Bedford Park.
November 17, 2004
BY DAVID ROEDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement
With the Chicago River increasingly a draw for developers, a Florida-based investment firm has begun evaluating what to do with choice waterfront property downtown.
Sunbelt Management Co., which manages the real-estate investments of Germany's billionaire Mann family, is talking with leading architects about the 35,000-square-foot site near the NBC Tower. Currently a parking lot, the site is on the north bank of the river, just west of Columbus Drive. The University of Chicago's Gleacher Center is next door to the west.
A source said Chicago's Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP is among the firms being considered for the work. Skidmore designed the NBC Tower, which Sunbelt bought in 1996.
What the new building will be remains under discussion, but the location figures to have residential appeal. It's also in the midst of Chicago's top convention-quality hotels.
"We think we own one of the best sites in Chicago,'' said Sunbelt President Richard Reeves. "We are studying it and developing a feasible apartment, hotel, or condo scheme.'' He said office use has been ruled out, an easy decision given the state of the market.
Reeves declined to get into details. One issue, as always, is the property's zoning, which currently puts a height limit of 350 feet on anything built at the site. But Sunbelt is mindful that Donald Trump's 1,125-foot monument is going up two blocks west, so it'll be tempting to ask the city for more height in exchange for concessions such as plazas and riverwalks.
The Mann family, whose patriarch is industrialist and department-store titan Hugo Mann, has done well with its targeted investments in Chicago. In 2001, it sold for $40 million property at the northwest corner of Madison and Clinton where ABN Amro built its back-office operations. The sale was for $12 million more than Sunbelt spent to buy the site just two years earlier.
Reeves said he'll hire only a top architect for the new building. "Chicago has a great architectural heritage, but some of that heritage has dissipated,'' he said. Why? Too many "painted concrete boxes,'' he said.
STEELTOWN BOUND: Walsh Group Ltd., the construction and real-estate investment firm controlled by Matthew and Daniel Walsh, plans to take over a 66-acre site on the Southeast Side as a headquarters for its heavy-equipment operations. The company has requested a rezoning of the property at 2659 E. 112th St., which used to be a slag dump for Acme Steel Corp. and Harsco Corp. on the bank of the Calumet River.
Walsh Vice President Gregory Ciambrone said the company plans to build a 63,000-square-foot building, with about a third of the space used for offices and the rest for equipment storage. He said the move keeps within city limits some 75 to 100 jobs and could generate 50 new jobs over the next couple of years, but no city subsidy is involved. "It's a great opportunity for us to assist in the redevelopment of the Southeast Side,'' Ciambrone said.
The corporate headquarters stays at 929 W. Adams. Walsh had considered moving the heavy-equipment division from two Chicago sites to Hammond.
BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A LATTE: I read in my Sun-Times last week the heart-wrenching tale of Armitage Avenue business owners afraid that an influx of banks will price them out of the neighborhood. How horrible that banks should do this, chasing after the money rightfully belonging to the chic boutiques and the omnpresent Starbucks. I didn't know rich neighborhoods can have it so bad. I live where banks co-exist with florists and bakeries, and there is even street parking.
On the other hand, the coffee chains have yet to invade. Maybe they're the ones that raise the commercial rents. No, it's easier to blame banks.
MONDO CONDO: The Illinois Association of Realtors said condo sales in the Chicago area for the third quarter were up 4.3 percent from the same period last year, to 15,182 units. It said the median price rose 5.4 percent to $196,300. The figures are for an eight-county region.
OOPS! Last week's item about construction at 550 W. Adams should have credited the job to Power Construction.
DOING THE DEALS: Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust Inc. spent $44.26 million to buy from a partnership the Gurnee Town Centre at 7105 Grand Ave., Gurnee. The 179,000-square-foot plaza is anchored by Old Navy and Cost Plus. ... Paine/Wetzel Oncor International brokered leases of 172,000 square feet to Revere Mills at 3000 River Rd., Des Plaines, and 140,000 square feet to Arnold Logistics LLC at 5100 W. 70th Pl., Bedford Park.