In brief: Loop lease | Lincoln Park | Investment partners
Electric contractor moving next door on Monroe
Commercial contractor Rex Electric & Technologies LLC leased 18,000 square feet at 200 W. Monroe St. for its headquarters, where the company is to move from nearby 230 W. Monroe. Rex, which currently has 13,000 square feet at 230 W. Monroe, signed a direct lease and plans to move April 1. "Rex is elated with the terms we negotiated compared to what we saw elsewhere in the marketplace," Vice-president J. Corbett Marx of Transwestern, who represented Rex with Senior Associate Dominic Sergi Jr., says in an e-mail. They decline to disclose terms. An affiliate of the General Electric Pension Trust owns both buildings. The lease is "a win for all parties," a spokesman for the landlord says in an e-mail. MB Real Estate represented the building.
Baby retailer leases Lincoln Park space
Galt Toys & Galt Baby leased about 5,000 square feet at 1915 N. Clybourn Ave. for its third location, which it plans to open soon. The retailer signed a 10-year lease for the ground-level space, according to Chad D. Tepley of Garrett Realty & Development Inc., who represented the building owners, an investor group that includes Garrett President John Figlioli and Michael "Mickey" Brown, a partner at Chicago real estate law firm Brown Udell Pomerantz & Delrahim Ltd. The four buildings at 1901-1915 N. Clybourn total about 80,000 square feet of retail and upper-level office space and are 94% leased, according to Mr. Tepley, who declines to disclose financial terms of the lease. Galt, whose other locations are at 900 N. Michigan Ave. and at Northbrook Court in north suburban Northbrook, was represented by Mable Gin of Maven Services Group LLC.
Northbrook firm lands partner to buy U.S. retail
An upstart Northbrook investment firm affiliated with Israeli shopping center operator Elbit Imaging Ltd. announced Tuesday it has entered into a partnership that's to invest $200 million in U.S. shopping centers with a firm best-known for real estate investments in Russia. Elbit Plaza USA L.P., headed by former General Growth Properties Inc. executive Alexander Berman, says it has an agreement with an affiliate of New York-based NCH Capital Inc. called Eastgate Property LLC to equally co-invest in the venture. Elbit says the agreement marks "a major step forward" toward the company's goal of buying $1 billion worth of U.S. retail properties. Related story: General Growth vet leads new retail investment venture
Senior housing building gets FHA loan
Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC has arranged a 40-year, $9.55-million FHA mortgage on Victory Centre of Galewood, a $21-million, 102-unit affordale senior housing building at 2370 N. Newcastle Ave. completed last year by Des Plaines-based developer Pathways Senior Living. The new loan charges a 4.47% interest rate not including required mortgage insurance, which adds 0.45%, says Len Deering, a Chicago-based senior vice-president with Berkadia. The new loan replaces a construction loan in the same amount issued by Cole Taylor Bank in 2008. Under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program, the loan will ultimately be converted into securities and sold to investors.
