Frustrated by a lack of progress on a proposed mixed-use redevelopment of Chicago’s Union Station, cash-strapped Amtrak is beginning the search for a new developer, putting a formal end to a deal with Prime Group Realty Trust that fizzled shortly after it was announced more than two years ago.
The historic station, built in 1925, occupies the block bounded by Jackson Boulevard and Canal, Clinton and Adams Streets.
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The national passenger railroad has hired a new adviser, WWII LLC, a consulting firm whose principals include Robert Wilmouth, the former president and chief executive of the National Futures Association, and Karen Wuertz, who is an association senior vice president. Wilmouth was a key adviser to ABN Amro when it chose 550 W. Madison St. as the site for a 1.1 million-square-foot building that opened last year.
Next month, WWII is expected to submit a report on developers’ interest in the project, an Amtrak spokesman said.
“We need to maximize our real estate return to focus on our core business,” he said.
Shortly after Prime Group’s selection in February 2002, Chairman Michael Reschke and Chief Executive Richard Curto resigned amid a tumultuous time at the Chicago real estate investment trust, and the project lost steam.
The overly ambitious proposal, which included renovation and new construction, featured 480,000 square feet of office space, a 300-room hotel and 150 condominiums.
I-CAR finds home in Prairie: Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair has acquired a 5-acre site in the Prairie Stone business park in Hoffman Estates, where it will develop a $6 million facility, said James Reddy, president and CEO of Lake Michigan Financial Inc., which advised the non-profit training organization known as I-CAR.
The single-story, 25,000-square-foot structure could be expanded to 40,000 square feet. I-CAR, which will move from Rolling Meadows, paid about $5 a square foot for the land, including site preparation, sources said.
On an adjacent 1.5-acre site, Prairie Stone is planning a 17,000-square-foot office condominium building, said Charles Portis, a vice president with J.F. McKinney & Associates Ltd., which markets Prairie Stone.
Navistar unit moving: Navistar Financial Corp. is staying in Schaumburg but moving to the Woodfield Corporate Center from the Meadows Corporate Center.
It has signed a lease for nearly 60,000 square feet, confirmed David Matthews, a principal in the Chicago office of Staubach Co., which represented the financing unit of the Warrenville-based truckmaker.
Hershey on Michigan Avenue: Hershey Foods Corp. is expected to announce on Thursday plans to open a namesake chocolate store at 820 N. Michigan Ave., across from the Water Tower.
The 4,000-square-foot store is in Lewis Towers, the academic and administrative building of Loyola University, which was represented by Oakbrook Terrace-based Mid-America Real Estate Corp. Hershey signed a letter of intent to lease the space in June.
CBK adds another broker: Tenant representative Michael Burns has jumped to Rosemont-based Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc. from the local office of Julien J. Studley Inc.
The Boston native, 34, is the sixth suburban office broker to join CBK this year, including Mark Katz, 31, who recently moved from Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., said David Kahnweiler, president of the Rosemont-based firm that bears his name.