Tom’s Recommended Reading for the Week
Check out the top news in Chicago commercial real estate before heading into the weekend!
- After Hancock buy, Hearn to pay $375 million for Loop office tower – In yet another sign of climbing office building values downtown, Hearn Co. is paying about $375 million for the 57-story Three First National Plaza in the Loop. Chicago-based Hearn will pay about $260 per square foot, or 9 percent more than a Hong Kong-South Korea venture paid less than three years ago for the 1.4 million-square-foot tower at 70 W. Madison St., according to people familiar with the transaction… Crain’s Chicago
- Art Deco tower on Wacker Drive could fetch $48 million – An 85-year-old riverside tower previously redeveloped as an office condominium building is now being offered for sale outright, with the owners hoping to fetch close to $48 million. The owners, a group of South American investors affiliated with Miami-based Cape Horn Group LLC, hired Los Angeles-based CBRE Inc. to sell most of the 41-story art deco tower at 221 N. LaSalle St., also known as the LaSalle-Wacker Building, confirmed Dan Deuter, senior vice president in CBRE’s Chicago office… Crain’s Chicago
- Five Ways to Make Your Office A Happier, More Productive Place – According to Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace Report, which surveyed more than 150,000 full- and part-time workers, only 30 percent of employees are engaged and inspired at work. A happy worker means a more productive worker, so it’s important that managers make serious efforts to make their workplace more enjoyable. So what is it that today’s workforce wants? And how can you give it to them in a way that’s cost-effective and best for your company? Elizabeth Dukes, co-author of Wide Open Workspace and co-founder of iOffice, has five suggestions… Work Design
- Chicago’s land marking push unsettles burgeoning Fulton Market area – Richard Pastorelli’s family has worked in the West Loop market district for 87 years and has a colorful history to show for it. Pastorelli, president of the company his grandfather founded in 1927, said Pastorelli Food Products survived its early years by bartering with the manufacturers that lined Randolph Street, trading truckloads of sugar and soap chips for paper and canned goods. During the Depression, he said, the company sold sugar primarily to Al Capone’s distilleries that occupied the second floors of many buildings along the corridor… Chicago Tribune
- O’Hare Marriott owner plans big office project next door – More than four decades after it was built, the Chicago Marriott O’Hare could add some new neighbors—office tenants. The property’s owner, Host Hotels & Resorts Inc., is asking the city for a zoning amendment that would allow development of 750,000 square feet of new office space and a 3,000-space parking garage, according to plans filed with the city. Host’s plans show three office buildings of up to 18 floors surrounding the parking structure, all of which would be built along the west side of the hotel. The site is on Higgins Road on the north side of the Kennedy Expressway, between River and Cumberland roads… Crain’s Chicago