CHICAGO-Jonathan Zimmerman, a former leasing director at locally based Prudential Rubloff, has formed his own firm called Willard Jones Real Estate LLC. He has brought his leasing stable to his new company, about 1.2 million square feet of class C office space in the Central Business District.

His representation includes 100 W. Monroe, 29 S. LaSalle, 39 S. LaSalle, 205 W. Randolph, 309 W. Washington, 166 W. Washington, 180 W. Washington, 123 W. Madison, 819 S. Wabash, 1300 S. Wabash, 223 W. Erie, 160 E. Grand, 324 N. Michigan, 555 W. Jackson and 910 W. Jackson. The properties range from about 40% occupied to full, Zimmerman tells GlobeSt.com, averaging around 80% leased.

He says the company was named to honor a farmer who had owned the land which comprises the present-day CBD. The firm will concentrate on trying to attract the small and mid-sized tenants, Zimmerman says. “The C market downtown isn’t doing too bad, which is different in this downturn,” he says. “Usually in a bad market, C tenants are trying to leave to trade up. This time around it’s the opposite, a lot of A and B tenants are looking to cut back.”

The sales market for Class C buildings has also been quiet, he says. “The Southfield, MI-based Farbman Group has been the most active, they were the ones who recently bought 205 W. Randolph,” Zimmerman said. “Outside of that, it’s been pretty quiet.” Farbman bought the 205 W. Randolph building, also known as the Randolph-Wells building, in July for $13 million.

CHICAGO-Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services recently brokered the sale of a 16,047-square-foot Walgreens drugstore in Chicago. The sales price of $13 million represents $810 per square foot. Sean Sharko and Austin Weisenbeck represented the seller, Clark Street Development LLC, an affiliate of Mega Realty. Sharko and Weisenbeck also represented the buyer, an overseas-based private capital investor. Loukas Kozonis provided general counsel services for Clark Street. “Walgreens signed an absolute-net, 75-year lease with zero landlord responsibilities,” said Weisenbeck in a statement. “The building was renovated from the ground up.” The property is located on Chicago’s North Side in the Andersonville neighborhood at 5440 N. Clark St.

CHARLESTON, IL-Solix Inc., a business process outsourcing company serving government and commercial clients, has renewed its call center lease for 23,000 square feet at 700 W. Lincoln Ave. here. Solix was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Peter Hamburger, Harlan Hollander, Walter Schoenberg, Robert Rudin, Jan Randall and Nate Brzozowski, and locally by Art Thoma with Coldwell Banker Commercial Devonshire Realty. Owner Latel LLC, an affiliate of Agracel Inc., was represented in-house.

CHICAGO-ARC, a Silicon Valley-based provider of document management technology and services to the architectural, engineering and construction industries, is moving its local office to 640 N. LaSalle St. Melissa Rubenstein and Brian Atkinson with Jones Lang LaSalle completed the lease transaction on behalf of the building’s owner, MAC Management Co. Inc., bringing the overall occupancy rate at the building to more than 95%. ARC will lease 9,025 square feet. The seven-story building sits on one full city block between LaSalle, Ontario, Wells and Erie streets. Jon Milonas and Brad Serot of CBRE represented ARC in the transaction. The company’s former Chicago office was at 200 N. Michigan Ave.

ST. CHARLES, IL-Venture One Real Estate LLC, through its acquisition fund, VK Industrial I LP, has closed on a 146,959-square-foot building at 3940 Stern Rd. here. Venture One purchased the building in a sale-leaseback transaction with Colony Inc. who signed a lease for the entire facility. Colony designs, manufactures and delivers fixtures and point-of-sale products for many retail chains in the United States. The seller was represented by Nick Eboli, John Sharpe and Mike Androwich with Lee & Associates of Illinois. VK was represented by Shaun Burke with H and B Realty.

LOUISVILLE, KY-Brixmor Property Group announced a 2,940 square foot consignment store, What I Found In the Attic, recently opened at Plainview Village here. Brixmor is the owner of the center and was represented by Robin Stanley.

ELIZABETHTOWN, KY-Love Funding has closed on an $8.1 million construction-to-permanent loan for Tunnel Hill Apartments, a 100-unit market-rate apartment under development here. Tammy Tate, a VP, arranged the loan through the Federal Housing Administration’s 221(d) loan insurance program. By utilizing FHA financing, Tate enabled the property’s owner to lock in a low fixed interest rate for the duration of the construction period and 40-year permanent loan term. The project, which is being developed on a 9.5 acre site on Tunnel Hill Road, will consist of 12 two-story buildings containing eight units each, and one two-story building containing four units.

McFARLAND, WI-Mid-America Real Estate Corp.’s Net Lease Investment Group recently completed the sale of a triple net lease for a 14,550 square-foot freestanding Walgreens building in this a suburb of Madison. The building was purchased by SAS LLC, a local group of investors, for $4 million. The seller was local developer Larson Beach LLC. Terms included an assumable loan, which expires in November 2017. The absolute NNN lease has 21 years remaining on the initial term. Tom Fritz, Mark Goldberg and Dan Cohen comprised the Mid team representing the seller.

GERMANTOWN, WI-Hartford, WI-based full-service tradeshow contractor Wisconsin Expo Inc. recently purchased a 55,000-square-foot, high-bay warehouse facility here from Harris Bank. James Young and David Barry with Cassidy Turley Barry brokered the transaction. The buyer will expand its operations and relocate to the property from its 15,000-square-foot Hartford location, which CT Barry is marketing for sale.

SCOTTVILLE, MI-Signature Associates has negotiated the sale of a 24,480-square-foot retail building at 467 US 10 Highway here. Bryan Bench represented the seller, LN Real Estate, and the buyer, Edward Spyker Properties LLC. The buyer intends to lease the building to Paddle Sports Warehouse, a web-based catalog, retail and distribution company for the water sports industry.

SOUTHFIELD, MI-Mid-America Real Estate-Michigan Inc. has arranged a 2,700-square-foot lease in Harvard Row at 11 Mile and Lahser roads here. James Hill and William LaKritz represented the landlord, Nationwide, in this transaction. The new tenant is Joseph’s Deli. Marko Doljevic, the tenant, formerly owned Main Street Deli in Rochester, MI.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI-Cherry Republic has received approval from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority for a multi-use brownfield redevelopment project that will support the construction of a retail outlet and food production facility and new residential spaces here. The Grand Traverse Brownfield Redevelopment Authority will use local and school tax capture valued at $2.3 million to demolish two buildings and construct a five-story mixed-use development in the city. The Cherry Republic Center Project will include administrative offices, a primary retail outlet and food production facility for Cherry Republic products. The plan may also include up to 13 residential units with underground parking. The project is expected to create up to 30 permanent full-time jobs, with a total capital investment of approximately $13 million.

KANSAS CITY, MO-Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development Inc., in cooperation with the R.H. Johnson Co., has announced that pet specialty retailer PETCO will open a new store at 600 NE Vivion Rd. in the North Oak Village shopping center today. While there are nearly 1,100 PETCO stores across the U.S., this location is the first built using a new prototype store design and it is the first building owned by PETCO corporate. This 13,500-square-foot location optimizes space and replaces the retailer’s oversized 40,000 square foot operation at 2600 Burlington in North Kansas City, MO.

OMAHA, NE-Dunkin' Donuts has signed a multi-unit store development agreement with existing franchisee Savoureux Corp. for 12 new restaurants in North Omaha, Nebraska and Sioux City, IA with the first restaurant planned to open in 2013. Savoureux is led by NFL greats Kris Brown and Zach Wiegert, who have teamed up with Jeff Woodbury, a principal of Woodbury Corp., and David Scott, CEO of Tetrad Corps., an Omaha-based real estate and investment firm.

BISMARCK, ND-Patrick Minea, SVP and managing director with NorthMarq Capital has arranged first mortgage financing in the amount of $9.4 million for Sunset Ridge Apartments, a 179-unit multifamily property here. Financing was based on a 10-year term and a 30-year amortization schedule and was arranged for the borrower by NorthMarq through its seller-servicer relationship with Freddie Mac.

SISSETON, SD-The Boulder Group, a net-leased investment brokerage firm, has completed the sale of a single tenant net leased Pamida property at 1712 Hwy. 10 here for $2 million. Pamida is the sole occupant of the 32,000-square-foot retail building that was developed in 2008. Sisseton is a city on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in Roberts County. Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman represented both parties in the transaction; the seller was a Midwest based developer and the buyer was a private buyer based in California. Pamida has 12 years of lease term remaining on an original 15-year triple net lease.