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Demolition hearing next step for Algonquin project

Trib Local | No qualified bids were made for the Riverside Square development in Algonquin, so a demolition hearing is the next step for the unfinished project once owned by Amcore Bank.

HomeGoods coming to Magnificent Mile

HomeGoods is joining the growing array of discount chains on the Magnificent Mile.

The off-price home furnishings chain, long expected to set up shop on the  boulevard, signed a lease to opened a 25,503-square-foot store on the third level of 600 N. Michigan Ave., according to Oakbrook Terrace-based Mid-America Real Estate Group. The store is slated to open late this summer. Get the full story »

Sears gets boost from Dillard’s move to form REIT

Shares of department-store operators climbed Thursday as investors made bets on which retailers may follow Dillard’s Inc.  in its plan to form a real-estate investment trust.

Dillard’s said in a regulatory filing late Wednesday it believes the formation of a REIT may enhance its ability to access debt or preferred stock and improve its liquidity. The retailer said it plans to transfer interests in certain properties to the REIT and will then lease back the properties. Get the full story »

Steelmaker moving headquarters to Aon Center

A Portland, Ore.-based steelmaker seeking quicker access to its far-flung customers announced this afternoon that it will move its headquarters to the Aon Center in late June.

Evraz Inc. NA, the North American subsidiary of Russian steel behemoth Evraz Group, expects to employ more than 70 workers on the 78th floor, including an as-yet-undetermined number of Portland transplants. Get the full story »

S&P bucks trend, affirms rating on O’Hare project

Breaking with its rating agency peers, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said Friday that the city of Chicago’s ambitious plan to expand O’Hare International Airport is “sound.”

Standard & Poor’s affirmed its current ratings, ranging from “AA” to “A-,”  on about $6 billion of current O’Hare debt and assigned an “A-” rating to about $1.1 billion in bonds the city plans to issue in early February. Get the full story »

Cicero gives thumbs up to Wirtz building proposal

The town of Cicero unanimously voted Tuesday to approve Wirtz Beverage Illinois’ request to build a $70-million, 600,000-square-foot distribution center at a location that used to be a racetrack. Wirtz’ new center will incorporate the company’s other offices and warehouses in Schaumburg, Wood Dale, Bensenville and Elk Grove Village.

The company had said in a statement last week that most of its 1,000 employees would move to the new center. Get the full story »

Urban Partnership Bank makes real estate hire

Urban Partnership Bank, the successor to failed ShoreBank, said Levoi Brown, 33, formerly an asset management director with General Electric Real Estate, has joined the South Side bank as the new director of commercial real estate.

Brown will be responsible for Urban’s commercial and multi-family real estate portfolio in Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. He reports to Urban Chief Executive William Farrow. Get the full story »

$200M data center coming to South Loop

From Crain’s Chicago Business | Red Sea Group, an Israeli real estate firm, has acquired a former Northern Trust check-processing plant in the South Loop with plans to spend about $200 million to convert the eight-story building at 840 S. Canal into one of the city’s biggest data centers. Get the fully story>>

Wirtz plans to build office and warehouse in Cicero

A view of Sportsman's Park in Cicero as it is demolished, Jan. 5, 2009. Wirtz Beverage Illinois has its eye on the now-vacant land there. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Wirtz Beverage Illinois announced Thursday that it plans to build a $70-million, 600,000-square-foot distribution center in Cicero, which would include 100,000 feet of office and conference center space. The new center, if approved, would incorporate Wirtz’s other offices and warehouses in Schaumburg, Wood Dale, Bensenville and Elk Grove Village.

Most of Wirtz’s 1,000 employees would move to the new center as well, the company said in a statement. Get the full story »

New General Growth CEO shuffling executives

General Growth Properties Inc.’s incoming chief executive is beginning to shuffle the mall owner’s executive ranks in advance of his arrival.

Sandeep Mathrani, the Vornado Realty Trust veteran who officially will join General Growth as CEO on Jan. 17, disclosed in an email sent to General Growth employees late Tuesday that long-time executives Robert Michaels and Ron Gern will leave the mall owner. Get the full story »

Luxury hotel planned for former IBM headquarters

From Globe St. | Langham Hotels and Resorts has partnered with Oxford Capital Group LLC to open a luxury hotel in 330 N. Wabash, the Mies van der Rohe-designed riverfront building that previously housed IBM’s Midwest headquarters. The new Langham Chicago Hotel, expected to open in 2012, will occupy floors two through 13 of the 52-story building. Get the full story>>

Motorola Mobility not moving HQ to Chicago

From Crain’s Chicago Business | Motorola Mobility, Motorola’s cell phone unit, reportedly has ruled out moving its headquarters to downtown Chicago. The company, which will split from the emergency-radio business Jan. 4, would keep its headquarters at its existing campus in Libertyville if it chooses to stay in Illinois, says a person familiar with the search. Get the full story>>

British Consulate shopping for new Chicago digs

The British Consulate-General, which has leased two floors of the Wrigley Building for more than a decade, is shopping around for new offices. The consulate’s lease expires next month, and the Consul General Robert Chatterton Dickson said Thursday that they are “looking at options.”

“We definitely have more space than we need; so, the timing of our lease negotiation is good,” he said. Get the full story »

Chicago deal shows Tishman Speyer going back to basics

Tishman Speyer Properties’ purchase of a new Chicago office tower is the latest sign that the firm is going back to the basics as it emerges from one of the most devastating commercial real-estate cycles in decades.

Its purchase of 353 N. Clark St. for $385 million, an estimated $55 million less than it cost to build, also exposes the fault lines as well as the opportunities for investors and owners as the market recovers. Get the full story »

Report: Pritzkers’ Hyatt Center sold for $625M

From Bloomberg | A source with knowledge of the transaction says the Pritzker family has sold Hyatt Center, a 48-story office tower in downtown Chicago, to closely held Irvine Co for $625 million.

Get the full story »