From Real Estate Bisnow

The staff at First Industrial has been resilient the last few years, and CEO Bruce Duncan says the Chicago-based industrial REIT has reduced its senior debt by more than $200M since the beginning of 2009, with now just $225M through 2012, down from $728M.

Bruce joined the company in last year to help delever the company's balance sheet, which he and the team are working on by selling off assets and raising equity. The REIT still owns 800 properties nationwide, and owns and manages 6.5M SF in the Chicago area. With the portfolio about 82% leased, getting occupancy up is the next big goal for First Industrial. Bruce says the industrial sector hasn't seen the distress that some other property types have, so the REIT won't be acquiring until they see the perfect opportunity.

Bruce has a broad background, working for companies as diverse as Starwood Hotels, Equity Residential, and JMB. He finds industrial an interesting product type because the transactions are “bite-sized”—it's easier to find lenders as well as users or investors willing to spend $1M to $10M on a warehouse property than $50M plus on a downtown office or a regional mall. Bruce says that while First Industrial still has a ways to go on delevering, the qualified people at the company are getting the job done. After having seen a lot of cutbacks, they're determined to get back on top, he adds.

Memories of Memory Rock

Several real estate companies banded together to support Alzheimer's research last week at Memory Rock at Joe's on Weed. The event, which featured the musical stylings of Golub's Dr. Bombay and a silent auction, raised $23k. We snapped Newmark Knight Frank's Richie Klein, The Alzheimer's Association's Erna Colborn, Golub's Good Guy Lee Golub, Alzheimer's Association's Nancy Rainwater, and Halyard Group's Joanne and Larry Blankenstein enjoying a few drinks. Golub will be busy this week with its Hancock Observatory serving as the first US site for the World Federation of Great Towers Conference. Sorry, Lord of the Rings fans, even though it's literally an association of towers and skyscrapers, neither of your two towers make the cut.

ABCO Electric's Guy Greco, Grubb & Ellis' Steve Monroe and MB Real Estate's Mark Buth joined in the festivities. Steve organized the event for its third year and was happy with the turnout, which included 300 people. Mark is the leasing manager for 220/225 N. Michigan, where the Alzheimer's Association is a tenant. As for MB, it added four new associates while we were on vacation last week.

Stitching for the 21st Century

More than 600 guests were in attendance at the 6th annual Stitch Fashion Show benefiting the Illinois Interior Design Coalition. Furniture, carpet, textile, and related manufacturers partnered with local design firms including teams from VOA, Partners By Design, Perkins Eastman, HOK, IADT and Harrington Design Alumni to create garments out of interior design materials. Each team selected a decade as a theme for their design—above is the 2010-themed design of Izzy, Knoll Textiles, and SmithGroup.