Cushman & Wakefield Completes Sale of 312,000-SF Chicago Industrial Building

CHICAGO, Ill., Nov. 4, 2013 – Cushman & Wakefield has completed the sale of 2801 S. Western Ave. on the near south side of Chicago. The seller, Friedman Realty, was represented by Sally Macoicz of Cushman & Wakefield’s Chicago office. The investment buyer was Venture One Real Estate LLC

Friedman Realty is an affiliate of Dearborn Wholesale Grocers, which had occupied the facility prior to downsizing and relocating within the market. The building was sold vacant and is being marketed for lease by Macoicz, along with Cushman & Wakefield’s Larry Goldwasser and Colin Green.

“The building has features that are very unique for the city of Chicago, including 28- to 30-foot clear ceilings, which are much higher than competing buildings,” said Macoicz. “It also offers temperature-controlled space, cooler and freezer, which is also limited for that type of space in the city. There has been a high demand for more functional high-cube warehouse space in the city, but there are very few options available.

“Also very unusual for Chicago is the fact that the site offers rail service and has five additional acres that could be utilized for trailer parking, or even expansion of the building,” she said.

“Overall, this industrial market has improved,” Macoicz said. “The vacancy rate has decreased over the last several quarters. “There is a lack of functional space available in the city, so the timing of the acquisition was very good for this investor.”

The building sits just off the interchange of I-55 and Damen Avenue, providing easy access to the Interstate.

Cushman & Wakefield's industrial brokerage platform provides global resources and local expertise for tenant and landlord representation, disposition and acquisition services, transaction management, and industrial consulting including labor and demographic analysis. In 2012, in the U.S. alone, this group completed more than 7,000 industrial real estate transactions - totaling 261 million square feet - with an aggregate value in excess of $8.43 billion.