Ferguson and principal Stanley Nitzberg, with Oakbrook Terrace, IL-based Mid-America's investment sales group, represented the sellers in the sales transaction. "This sale is consistent with JFA's corporate strategy of occasionally selling properties that are not part of our core business strategy," Joseph Freed and Associates president Larry Freed says in a released statement. Afiaa was interested in the retail center because of its long-term tenants, location and construction quality. "It was really the area that is interesting. We believe there will be more growth there, for residential," says Chris Duisberg, managing director for the US for Afiaa. Additionally, "it is a great retail corridor," he says.

The property is fully leased, Duisberg tells GlobeSt.com. The plaza contains about 49,500 rentable sf and a 264-space parking garage. XSport Fitness, a fitness center, is the center's anchor. The other tenants are Panera Bread and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Duisberg says. The building was designed by Chicago architect Alfred Altschuler and was constructed as a factory in 1928.

Afiaa does not have renovations planned for the center as a renovation was completed prior to the property being sold, Duisberg says. The property was fully renovated in 2007. The facade of the building was preserved during the renovation and includes locally manufactured tecco tiles. The plaza sits on almost a full acre on the northwest corner of Elston Avenue and Logan Boulevard and is in the Elston Corridor. "The market caters to the affluent and dense residential Chicago communities of Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Bucktown and Wicker Park," Ferguson says.