Tom’s Recommended Reading for the Week

Check out the top news in Chicago commercial real estate before heading into the weekend!

1. Adventus buys Chicago-area office property near O’Hare – A Canadian real estate investment trust with a voracious appetite for office properties in the Chicago suburbs has zeroed in its largest deal yet, agreeing to pay just over $95 million for a complex near O’Hare International Airport. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Adventus Realty Trust has a preliminary deal to buy the three-building Columbia Centre complex in Rosemont for a little more than $95 million, or $154 per square foot, according to people familiar with the deal… Crain’s Chicago
   
2. Morgan/Harbour Construction completes HQ’s for Hub Group – Morgan / Harbour Construction has completed the new ground-up 130,000 square foot, four-story office build-to-suit for the Hub Group (NASDAQ: HUBG) at 2000 Clearwater Drive in Oak Brook, Illinois. The build-to-suit office project represents the first new office building in Oak Brook since 2000. A leading asset-light freight transportation management company providing comprehensive intermodal, truck brokerage and logistics services, Hub Group relocated its headquarters and nearly 500 employees from its previous locations in Illinois... RE Journals 
   
3. Property taxes up at biggest buildings in Cook County – Prices of the area’s biggest commercial properties keep rising, and so do their taxes. Property taxes rose at nine out of the 10 commercial properties in Cook County with the highest bills in 2013, according to the Cook County Treasurer’s Office. That’s similar to the 2012 tax year, when tax bills also mostly rose for the area’s biggest landlords. Yet unlike 2012, when five of the most valuable commercial properties here were hit with double-digit tax increases, increases in the past year were more modest, perhaps reflecting a cooling real estate market that was red-hot throughout 2012 and into 2013… Crain’s Chicago
   
4. Virtual Marketing Helps Brokers Showcase Properties – There has been a lot of buzz about the use of drones to capture aerial photos and a bird’s eye view of properties. Yet drones are just one of the high-tech tools that brokers use these days to market real estate assets for sale or lease. Although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken steps to crack down on drones, the use of such unmanned aerial vehicles to shoot photos has become increasingly popular among both commercial brokers and residential realtors… NREI 
   
5. Before IPO, Enova picks future Chicago HQ – As it gets ready to be spun off into its own publicly traded company, online payday lender Enova International Inc. found a new Chicago headquarters. Enova signed a 12-year lease for 160,240 square feet in the 23-story office tower at 175 W. Jackson Blvd., where it will move early next year, the company confirmed… Crain’s Chicago