In brief: Apartment sale | American Apparel | 300 S. Wacker

By Staff, Nov. 02, 2009

Colo. firm buys apartments from lender

An investment firm based near Denver paid $22 million for a Waukegan apartment complex after a loan default by an affiliate of Red Seal Development Corp., which constructed the property in 2001. Franktown, Colo.-based Monarch Investment & Management Group bought the 363-unit Northgate Apartments, says Scott Harris, a senior vice-president in Oak Brook with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, who brokered the sale. The seller was an affiliate of West Springfield, Mass.-based Aspen Square Management, which bought the note, originally issued for $30.8 million in 2000, early this year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which took over the loan, according to property records. Apsen took title to the property without foreclosing and then put it on the market, Mr. Harris says. Aspen financed the sale to Monarch by issuing a $17.6-million mortgage that matures in October 2012, property records show. An executive with Northbrook-based Red Seal Development declines to comment.

American Apparel opens 7th Chicago-area store

American Apparel, a Los Angeles-based retailer and manufacturer of T-shirts, sweatshirts and underwear, has opened its seventh local store, in the Oakbrook Center mall in west suburban Oak Brook. The 2,200-square-foot store is one of the largest for the company, best known for its racy marketing. “Oak Brook is an interesting city because although technically a suburb of Chicago, it has a large population of fashionable young people who live nearby,” Dan Abenhaim, an American Apparel operations manager, says in a press release. American Apparel has four stores in Chicago, one in Evanston and one in Schaumburg.

Jones Lang LaSalle tapped for 300 S. Wacker

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. has been hired by Harbor Group International LLC as the leasing agent for the 512,000-square-foot office tower at 300 S. Wacker Drive. The 35-story tower built in 1970 is about 90% occupied and has 43,000 square feet available for lease, Jones Lang says in a statement. Melissa Rubenstein and Brian Atkinson, who were hired by Jones Lang in August, will lead leasing efforts. CB Richard Ellis Inc. previously had the assignment for Harbor Group, a Norfolk, Va.-based firm that bought the building in September 2006 for $91.5 million as its first Chicago office building. Harbor Group also owns 2 N. LaSalle St. and 111 W. Washington St., also known as Burnham Center.

Tyco unit expanding Harvey facility

Two manufacturing units of conglomerate Tyco International Ltd. are adding 514,000 square feet to its facility in Harvey, doubling the size to about 1 million square feet. The additional space is being built for Allied Tube & Conduit Corp. and Tyco Electrical & Metal Products, which share the building, 16100 S. Lathrop Ave. in the south suburb. The $30-million project is expected be finished early next year, according to a release from Allied and Tyco Electrical.