Four Points by Sheraton, a growing midpriced hotel brand, is close to a deal to manage a new River North location.
The unit of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. would operate a new hotel at 630 N. Rush St. that is expected to open in June. The 225- to 250-room property is owned by Milwaukee lodging and movie theater company Marcus Corp.
A Marcus executive could not be reached for comment.
Four Points is better known for airport locations, such as its existing local properties near Midway and O’Hare International Airports. But last year, it signed two deals in New York.
Crate plans leaseback: Crate & Barrel Inc. is beginning to market its Northbrook headquarters for a sale/leaseback.
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The housewares retailer has hired Chicago-based U.S. Equities Realty LLC and New York-based Sonnenblick-Goldman Co. to market the 159,500-square-foot building, 1250 Techny Rd., sources said. Crate would sign a 15-year lease with an initial rent of $15.05 a square foot, not including taxes and operating expenses.
A Crate spokeswoman could not be reached. The company is owned by German mail-order giant Otto Versand, whose holdings include troubled retailer Spiegel Inc.
Block 37 design: Mills Corp. has hired Gensler Architecture Design & Planning to design the interior of the four-story base of the proposed Block 37 project, said Steven Jacobsen, executive vice president with the Virginia developer.
Also being added to the team is New York boutique Rockwell Architecture, Planning and Design Group, he said.
The assignment includes 400,000 square feet of retail space, as well as substantial engineering work to accommodate the below-ground rapid transit station. It is expected to be worth about $10 million in fees, sources said.
Chicago-based Perkins & Will Inc., which had been expected to handle the interior, stays on as designer of the exterior. Gensler, founded in San Francisco in 1966, opened its Chicago office 10 years ago.
Sanfilippo closes deal: John B. Sanfilippo & Son Inc. has closed on its purchase of a 1.1 million-square-foot office/industrial facility in Elgin from Panasonic Corp. of North America, said Greg Wright, a senior vice president with real estate firm Paine Wetzel Associates Inc., which represented the electronics manufacturer.
The nut company, advised by real estate firm Grubb & Ellis Co., plans to move from Elk Grove Village.
The price for the 95-acre site was $48 million, records show. As a part of the sale, Panasonic signed a three-year lease for 160,000 square feet of office space, with a base rent of $12.60 a foot, not including a $540,000 annual rebate. Panasonic is also leasing back 653,300 square feet of industrial space for eight months.
Spencer to move: The Spencer Foundation has leased 13,100 square feet at 625 N. Michigan Ave., said the real estate arm of investment firm Berwind Corp., which co-owns the building with developer Golub & Co.
Spencer, which has assets of $398.4 million and was advised by U.S. Equities, is moving from the John Hancock Center.
Big leases increase: The number of new, large leases downtown rose in the first quarter, with 17 transactions totaling nearly 736,000 square feet of space, compared with six deals totaling 322,000 square feet in the previous quarter, according to a report by MB Real Estate Services LLC.
Even so, overall demand for downtown space declined sharply in the quarter, Chicago-based MB said. Demand for suburban office space rose during the quarter, despite a scarcity of large deals.
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Largest tenant deals
Four of the five largest leases during the first quarter were downtown, even though overall demand for space is stronger in the suburbs. Subleases and lease renewals are not included.
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TENANT SQUARE FEET BUILDING
PepsiAmericas Inc. 102,000 Schaumburg
Corporate Center
Towers Perrin 80,000 71 S. Wacker Drive
PrivateBank and Trust Co. 77,000 70 W. Madison St.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. 75,300 325 N LaSalle St.
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Grosvenor Capital
Management LP 73,000 900 N. Michigan Ave.
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Source: MB Real Estate Services LLC