NEWS & NOTABLES

LOUISVILLE—The Ford Motor Co. has decided to invest $900 million in its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville for plant upgrades to build the all-new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. The vehicles will begin arriving in dealerships this fall. The company will export both full-size SUVs to more than 55 markets globally – including China. The investment secures 1,000 jobs for hourly workers at the Louisville plant. This is in addition to the $1.3 billion investment and 2,000 jobs created at that plant in late 2015 to build the all-new Ford Super Duty. Kentucky Truck employs nearly 7,600 full-time hourly workers. As reported in GlobeSt.com, similar investments in the Kansas City area gave a strong boost to industrial demand.

DETROIT—City Club Apartments, an owner, developer and manager of urban mid-rise and high-rise apartments and penthouses, recently hired human resources and hospitality industry veteran Don Gillette, who will serve as senior vice president of people and culture. The move is part of a series of hires for the Farmington Hills, MI-based firm, which co-founder, co-chairman and chief executive officer Jonathan Holtzman started last year. Prior to joining City Club, Gillette served five years with MGM Resorts International as its corporate vice president of global human resources in Las Vegas. In that position, he oversaw human resources strategic planning for joint ventures and properties within Asia Pacific and the Middle East. “As we scale this international brand, we remain committed to hiring the very best talent in North America to serve our customers,” says Holtzman. “We started the year with 25 people and plan to have more than 275 by the end of the year.”

DEALTRACKER

SOUTH BEND, IN—United Capital Corp. has just bought the 291-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel South Bend located at 123 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. in South Bend, IN, for an undisclosed price. CBRE Hotels' Nate Sahn, senior vice president, in Chicago and Drew Noecker, vice president, in Houston represented the seller, Jenna Hotel Investments, LLC in this transaction. The full-service hotel changed brands from a Marriott to a DoubleTree and underwent a comprehensive renovation that was completed in 2013. The hotel is also connected to the Century Center Convention Complex, which houses approximately 125,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor convention space.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA—Mid-America Real Estate Corp.'s investment sales team recently brokered the sale of Northland Square in Cedar Rapids, IA. The 187,068-square-foot shopping center was purchased by a private investment firm. Northland Square is located at the southeast quadrant of Collins Rd. and C Ave. Kohls and TJ Maxx anchor the center, along with a tenant lineup that includes Barnes & Noble, Office Max, Old Navy, Famous Footwear and Hallmark. Mid-America principals Joe Girardi and Ben Wineman, a licensed broker in the state of IA, were the exclusive brokers in the transaction on behalf of the seller, a public REIT.

BY THE NUMBERS

SPRINGFIELD, IL—Statewide home sales picked up in May and properties sold quickly even as median prices tracked higher than a year ago, according to Illinois REALTORS®. Statewide home sales in May 2017 totaled 17,077 homes sold, up 3.8% from 16,450 in May 2016. The statewide median price in May was $209,000, up 8.3% from May 2016, when the median price was $193,000. “Buyers are running headlong into a tight market, with nearly 10,000 fewer homes on the market statewide than there were in May 2016,” says Illinois REALTORS® president Doug Carpenter, managing broker of Coldwell Banker, The Real Estate Group in Orland Hills. ”Rising prices show sellers are being rewarded for listing in a market that in many areas has been marked by multiple offer situations.” The time it took to sell a home in May averaged 52 days, down from 59 days a year ago.

CHICAGO—The city's downtown continues to generate new jobs and boost demand for apartments in or near the CBD. But the developers are not ignoring the suburbs. According to a new market report from Marcus & Millichap, of the more than 9,000 new Chicagoland units completed in the past year, 3,650 were in the suburbs. That was the greatest increase in suburban supply since 2004. As a result, the suburban vacancy rate ticked up to 4.2%, an increase of 20 bps. But the robust demand also pushed up the average rent to $1,172, a 4.9% increase in just one year.

NEWS & NOTABLES

LOUISVILLE—The Ford Motor Co. has decided to invest $900 million in its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville for plant upgrades to build the all-new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. The vehicles will begin arriving in dealerships this fall. The company will export both full-size SUVs to more than 55 markets globally – including China. The investment secures 1,000 jobs for hourly workers at the Louisville plant. This is in addition to the $1.3 billion investment and 2,000 jobs created at that plant in late 2015 to build the all-new Ford Super Duty. Kentucky Truck employs nearly 7,600 full-time hourly workers. As reported in GlobeSt.com, similar investments in the Kansas City area gave a strong boost to industrial demand.

DETROIT—City Club Apartments, an owner, developer and manager of urban mid-rise and high-rise apartments and penthouses, recently hired human resources and hospitality industry veteran Don Gillette, who will serve as senior vice president of people and culture. The move is part of a series of hires for the Farmington Hills, MI-based firm, which co-founder, co-chairman and chief executive officer Jonathan Holtzman started last year. Prior to joining City Club, Gillette served five years with MGM Resorts International as its corporate vice president of global human resources in Las Vegas. In that position, he oversaw human resources strategic planning for joint ventures and properties within Asia Pacific and the Middle East. “As we scale this international brand, we remain committed to hiring the very best talent in North America to serve our customers,” says Holtzman. “We started the year with 25 people and plan to have more than 275 by the end of the year.”

DEALTRACKER

SOUTH BEND, IN—United Capital Corp. has just bought the 291-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel South Bend located at 123 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. in South Bend, IN, for an undisclosed price. CBRE Hotels' Nate Sahn, senior vice president, in Chicago and Drew Noecker, vice president, in Houston represented the seller, Jenna Hotel Investments, LLC in this transaction. The full-service hotel changed brands from a Marriott to a DoubleTree and underwent a comprehensive renovation that was completed in 2013. The hotel is also connected to the Century Center Convention Complex, which houses approximately 125,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor convention space.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA—Mid-America Real Estate Corp.'s investment sales team recently brokered the sale of Northland Square in Cedar Rapids, IA. The 187,068-square-foot shopping center was purchased by a private investment firm. Northland Square is located at the southeast quadrant of Collins Rd. and C Ave. Kohls and TJ Maxx anchor the center, along with a tenant lineup that includes Barnes & Noble, Office Max, Old Navy, Famous Footwear and Hallmark. Mid-America principals Joe Girardi and Ben Wineman, a licensed broker in the state of IA, were the exclusive brokers in the transaction on behalf of the seller, a public REIT.