Chicago Real Estate News from Bisnow

Institutional investors, it seems, are finally giving Chicago its due. Credit Suisse's rumored acquisition of 250 S Wacker Dr has closed for $90M, and as we reported in our national edition on Friday, Shorenstein has purchased 350 W Mart Center for $228M.

Lacy Ltd.'s Debra Lacy (whom we snapped with her husband and partner Ben in their DC office) tells us the same Credit Suisse fund that bought DC's 1099 New York Ave and Boston's Independence Wharf in '09 bought 250 S Wacker from AEW Capital Management. Her firm advised the buyer, and CBRE repped the seller. Lacy advises foreign investors, which favor the coasts, especially the East Coast; though the firm has been watching Chicago for a cool decade. Despite its standing as a primary market and a 24-hour city, there aren't many barriers to entry, and so there's a lot of building and then a lot of tenant musical chairs. So her firm's entry into Chicago, she says, was always going to have to be pegged to the right building at the right location in the right submarket.

And so, once 250 S Wacker became available just before Thanksgiving, Lacy fast-tracked the deal, while others perhaps were debating fruit vs. sausage stuffing and focusing on closing in-process deals before the end of Q4. It didn't hurt that the Credit Suisse fund still had some allocations to place before year's end.

The building is MillerCoors' HQ, with a reception area that doubles as the company's best recruiting tool.

MULTIFAMILY GLEE

Marquette's Jim Cunningham tells us Chicago multifamily returns are simply "euphoric" right now. Sure, some areas like the Northwest quadrant have a bit of softness, but he expects rents to go up another 4% to 8% in 2012. Investors' passion for multifamily is changing the picture, though. Downtown prices hit $500k/unit sometimes last year, and that's when returns start to get questionable and you start to walk away from deals, he adds.

Marquette and Davis Cos bought The Apartments at Woodfield Crossing in Rolling Meadows out of foreclosure a year ago. After a $9M repositioning, rents have bumped up 15% to 20%.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Jim Cunningham joined Marquette in the past few months from Columbus' Casto. We share an Ohio background with him and found ourselves wondering where the term Chicagoland comes from. We decided it must have been the work of a broker or developer. Tell us your stories about Chicago's nomenclature. What do you know about where Chicagoland came from? What about other neighborhood, town, or building names? We'd love to hear your stories and thoughts and we've included our email addresses below for your convenience.