OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL—Western & Southern Life Insurance Co. has just signed a new lease for 6,354 square feet at One Oakbrook Terrace, a 161,373-square-foot property at the corner of Butterfield Rd. and 22nd St. in Oakbrook Terrace. The financial services firm offers whole life, critical illness insurance, universal and term life, and annuity products. Patrick Elwood of CBRE represented the tenant; Brian Edgerton and Michael Van Zandt, with NAI Hiffman's office services group, represented ownership.

Additional leasing activity at the property included NAI Hiffman's 3,500-square-foot expansion and Lockwood Andrews & Newman's expansion for 3,913 square feet. That brings the occupancy level to 94%. Derrell Curry and Marc Brash of Savills Studley represented Lockwood in that transaction.

CHICAGO—Newmark Grubb Knight Frank recently hosted its sixth annual National Industrial Strength Connections Summit. The three-day event was held September 21^st- September 23^rd at the JW Marriott Chicago hotel and brought together nearly 350 NGKF brokers, consultants, advisors, affiliates and executives, plus dozens of speakers and industry sponsors from across the globe. The event came during a robust market for the Industrial sector nationally, which gave rise to the conference theme of “What's Next.”

The event covered an array of practical and forward-looking topics, including the future of industrial real estate, a 2017 economic forecast, an e-commerce case study, capital markets, commercial real estate technology trends, as well as industrial services best-practices, team building and platform-wide cross-selling opportunities. Keynote speakers included NGKF's chief executive officer Barry Gosin, Prologis' chief operating officer of the Americas, Larry Harmsen and MIT Center for Real Estate's head of industry and alumni relations, Steve Weikal.

“The high demand for industrial space continues in full force and I expect it to stay that way for the next few years with e-commerce still in its early stages,” said Geoffrey Kasselman, executive managing director and head of NGKF's national industrial group, who has run the event for the past three years.

DOWNERS GROVE, IL—Adelphia Properties has arranged the sale of a newly constructed, two-tenant retail building located at 1201 Ogden Ave. in Downers Grove, IL. The property, a 5,305 square-foot retail building, sold for $4.1 million and is occupied by BMO Harris Bank and Chipotle Mexican Grill. As reported in GlobeSt.com, demand for such properties, especially ones occupied by banks, have been in high demand. Adelphia Properties' Simeon Spirrison and George Spirrison represented the buyer in the transaction.

CHICAGO—Mesa West Capital recently originated two loans worth a total of more than $67 million so developers could reposition or acquire local properties. The first, a $37.5 million first mortgage loan that Tucker Development and its capital partner Acadia Realty Trust will use to reposition 10 vacant historic buildings in Chicago's burgeoning Fulton Market district. Highland Park, IL-based Tucker acquired the roughly 91,000-square-foot portfolio in January 2016 and will use the loan to preserve and rehabilitate the mix of two- and four-story brick buildings, some of which date back to 1890.

In a separate financing, Mesa West provided a joint venture led by locally based Golub & Co. with $30.2 million in short-term financing for the acquisition of a 20-story multifamily project in Chicago's Edgewater district. The floating-rate non-recourse loan is secured by Lake Shore Tower, located at 5600 N. Sheridan Rd. Golub will use a portion of the loan for a capital improvement program.

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL—Western & Southern Life Insurance Co. has just signed a new lease for 6,354 square feet at One Oakbrook Terrace, a 161,373-square-foot property at the corner of Butterfield Rd. and 22nd St. in Oakbrook Terrace. The financial services firm offers whole life, critical illness insurance, universal and term life, and annuity products. Patrick Elwood of CBRE represented the tenant; Brian Edgerton and Michael Van Zandt, with NAI Hiffman's office services group, represented ownership.

Additional leasing activity at the property included NAI Hiffman's 3,500-square-foot expansion and Lockwood Andrews & Newman's expansion for 3,913 square feet. That brings the occupancy level to 94%. Derrell Curry and Marc Brash of Savills Studley represented Lockwood in that transaction.

CHICAGO—Newmark Grubb Knight Frank recently hosted its sixth annual National Industrial Strength Connections Summit. The three-day event was held September 21^st- September 23^rd at the JW Marriott Chicago hotel and brought together nearly 350 NGKF brokers, consultants, advisors, affiliates and executives, plus dozens of speakers and industry sponsors from across the globe. The event came during a robust market for the Industrial sector nationally, which gave rise to the conference theme of “What's Next.”

The event covered an array of practical and forward-looking topics, including the future of industrial real estate, a 2017 economic forecast, an e-commerce case study, capital markets, commercial real estate technology trends, as well as industrial services best-practices, team building and platform-wide cross-selling opportunities. Keynote speakers included NGKF's chief executive officer Barry Gosin, Prologis' chief operating officer of the Americas, Larry Harmsen and MIT Center for Real Estate's head of industry and alumni relations, Steve Weikal.

“The high demand for industrial space continues in full force and I expect it to stay that way for the next few years with e-commerce still in its early stages,” said Geoffrey Kasselman, executive managing director and head of NGKF's national industrial group, who has run the event for the past three years.