In brief: Seattle's Best Coffee | Promenade | Goodwill
Seattle’s Best Coffee to open in the Loop
Seattle’s Best Coffee LLC plans to open a coffee shop in Chicago at 55 E. Monroe St in October. Franchisee Amit Patel signed a 20-year lease for a 1,931-square-foot space in the south end of the office building along Adams Street. The rent is $25 per square foot, says Dave Solaya, operations manager for Chicago-based GlenStar Properties LLC, which owns 55 E. Monroe. This will be the first Seattle's Best in Chicago since the rebranding push announced earlier this year by Starbucks Corp., which acquired Seattle's Best in 2003. Starbucks is pushing to have 30,000 distribution points for Seattle's Best in a year compared with 3,000 now, through expanded franchising efforts and partnerships with Burger King and AMC Theater. A spokeswoman for Seattle’s Best, says the Monroe Street location will offer a full line of beverages along with pastries and sandwiches. Fahim Lakhani, vice-president of retail leasing at Chicago-based First Western Properties Inc., represented the franchisee while GlenStar was represented by Kim McGuire of CB Richard Ellis Inc.
Insurer leases office space at Bolingbrook’s Promenade
Progressive Group of Insurance Cos. leased just over 14,000 square feet of office space at the Promenade, an outdoor shopping center in southwest suburban Bolingbrook. Progressive signed a five-year lease and plans to move this fall, says Ellen Steinbrecher of Lee & Associates, who represented the company. Progressive is consolidating Tinley Park and Naperville offices into the space, she says. Progressive is the second tenant in the 50,000-square-foot office space at the shopping center, says Jim Adler, an executive vice-president at Oakbrook Terrace-based NAI Hiffman who represents the owner, Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises. A letter of intent has been signed for another 14,000 square feet of the office space, Mr. Adler says, declining to name the prospective tenant. Financial terms of Progressive’s lease were not disclosed. The Promenade is near the intersection of Boughton Road and Janes Avenue in Bolingbrook.
There is no rent growth here, or anywhere
Chicago-area office rents fell 1.35% a year on average between 1981 and 2009 after adjusting for inflation, according to a report issued Monday by the Econometric Advisors unit of CB Richard Ellis Inc. Average annual rent growth in the top 10 office markets nationwide was virtually zero after adjusting for inflation, “as shocking as it may sound to some investors,” according to the report written by Serguei Chervachidze, capital markets economist with the unit. New York showed the least decline during the period, falling on average 0.22% a year, while Dallas was the worst market, with an average annual rent decline of 1.65%, the report says. Markets such as New York and Boston, which fell 0.25% a year, are more volatile than other areas, providing investors an opportunity to time the market, a risky strategy. Investment decisions should weigh other factors, such as asset value trends, operating costs and local economics, the study suggests. “Investors should stay away from simplistic measures like rent growth, which do not reflect economic reality and are highly misleading,” the report says.
Two bank ground leases sold in Hoffman Estates
Long-term ground leases for two bank branches in a Hoffman Estates shopping center were sold recently for a combined price of $5.2 million. A Citibank branch ground lease at 2550 N. Sutton Road was acquired for $2.8 million by local investment firm Slevin Capital Investments Inc. of South Barrington. Fifth Third Bank, meanwhile, bought the ground lease for its branch at 4653 W. Higgins Road for $2.4 million. Both branches are in the Target-anchored Poplar Creek Crossing shopping center in the northwest suburb, and the ground leases were sold with more than 16 years remaining on 20-year original terms. A Marcus & Millichap team led by Greg Moyer represented the center’s owner, Goldman Sachs’ Archon Group L.P., as well as the two buyers.
Goodwill to open store in Arlington Heights
Goodwill Industries of Metropolitan Chicago Inc. plans to open a store next year at the Surrey Ridge Shopping Center in northwest suburban Arlington Heights. Goodwill leased 16,540 square feet at the Lowe’s-anchored shopping center on the northeast corner of Golf and Algonquin roads. The Goodwill Industries of Metropolitan Chicago and South Eastern Wisconsin, which function as one entity based in Milwaukee, last year derived almost $66.4 million in revenue from its retail stores, about 29% of the agency’s total revenue. Carol Borg, a vice-president with CB Richard Ellis Inc., represented Goodwill. Kitsy Ritter, a senior leasing representative at Oakbrook Terrace-based Mid-America Real Estate Corp., represented the landlord, St. Andrews Properties Inc. After Goodwill moves in, 5,600 square feet will be available at Surrey Ridge, according to Neal Hirsch, president of Chicago-based St. Andrews. Goodwill has 17 stores in the Chicago area.
