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ST. CHARLES, IL-Appetites for retail properties, either small centers already built or raw land ready for redevelopment, were satisfied in two recent Fox Valley-area sales. The 20,700-sf East Gate Commons here changed hands for $8 million while a 51-acre site across New York Street from Fox Valley Mall has sold for nearly $5.9 million, about 10% more than its listing price.

Built in 2003, the fully leased East Gate Commons at Kautz and North avenues was acquired by a Chicago investor from a San Francisco-based seller. While tenants include Chipotlé, Mattress Giant and Kentucky Fried Chicken/Pizza Hut, Baum Realty Group executive vice president Chad Firsel notes one other attribute. "The buyer was able to take advantage of below-market rate assumable financing on the property," says Firsel, who represented the seller.

In Aurora, Wiseman-Hughes Enterprises Inc. plans to build a mixed-use development that will include retail space along the 1,856 feet of New York Street frontage. "This represents prime development land in one of the Chicago area's hottest outer suburbs," says Inland Real Estate Sales senior vice president Richard Kehoe, who represented the seller, a private investor, along with Don Johansson. Dolan & Murphy Commercial Real Estate represented Wiseman-Hughes Enterprises. "The transaction is good for the Fox Valley Mall, good for the economy of Aurora, and a success for both the seller and buyer."