CHICAGO - Two Chicagoland and national giants have teamed up for the disposition of a $100 million suburban Chicago office/flex portfolio. Represented by the Investment Services Group of Transwestern Commercial Services, The Alter Group of Lincolnwood, Ill., sold the 1.1 million sq. ft. portfolio to Newport Beach, Calif.-based Koll Bren Schreiber Realty Advisors Inc.
James I. Clark III, president; Gary P. Nussbaum, senior vice president; and Jeffrey Baasch, vice president, of Transwestern's Investment Services Group, represented The Alter Group.
The portfolio includes three office parks: Woodlake Corporate Park and 12 of the properties in Oak Creek Center, both located in Lombard, Ill.; and Darien Business Center, Darien Ill. Also included are two properties in Schaumburg, Ill., and one each in Downers Grove and Carol Stream, Ill. The properties, which are primarily single-story office buildings, are 95% leased.
Transwestern and Alter considered approximately 40 prospective buyers before selling the portfolio to Koll Bren Schreiber. The portfolio's flexibility makes it especially attractive to emerging high-tech tenants, which translates to higher rents on more short-term leases, Transwestern's Clark says.
"It was an opportunity to buy a critical mass of office and industrial properties in the Chicago suburbs," says Clark. "The appeal of the parks was the leasing and management synergy that they offered. That really created more value for someone who bought the parks as a pool instead of splitting them up."
The Alter Group originally acquired the properties as undeveloped land, and the company felt that the developments' return on investment had met expectations, according to Michael Alter, president of The Alter Group. Though the company's national development program was not dependent on the sale, the proceeds will be plowed into Alter developments across the United States.
"We are going to continue to grow and expand our development efforts across the country," says Alter.
This year, the company also plans to dispose of additional properties worth about $100 million.