CHICAGO—Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC has just added Brian Kuzniar, formerly a managing director and portfolio manager at LaSalle Investment Management, as a director in the firm's portfolio management group. Kuzniar has more than 20 years of experience in acquisitions, asset management, dispositions, joint ventures and debt financing strategies. In this role, he will develop and execute the firm's investment strategy and oversee asset and portfolio performance for its opportunity fund series. He currently manages asset and portfolio performance for Fund III and Fund V. Harrison Street is one of the largest real estate investment firms dedicated to the education, healthcare and storage sectors. For the past five years, Kuzniar oversaw LaSalle's Income Property Trust, which grew to $2.5 billion in gross assets under management under his leadership. DEALTRACKER

CHICAGO—Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP has just completed a $77 million refinancing for 545 and 555 North Michigan, two fully leased, adjacent, free-standing retail properties totaling 61,909 square feet along Chicago's historic Magnificent Mile. HFF worked on behalf of the borrower, ECA Capital, to place the 10-year, fixed-rate loan with a fund managed by Apollo Global Management. Loan proceeds were used to refinance the existing floating-rate mortgage. The buildings are within walking distance of River North's burgeoning tech community and entertainment district, the Chicago Riverwalk, Navy Pier and Millennium Park. Completed in 1998, the 45,904-square-foot, three-story 555 building is home to The Gap's Chicago flagship. The five-story 545 building was completed in 1928, includes 16,005 square feet and was recently leased by Ugg. HFF's debt placement team was led by director Christopher Knight and managing director Timothy Joyce.

CHICAGO—Marcus & Millichap has just completed the sale of Metropolitan Square, a 120,983-square-foot mixed-use center in downtown Des Plaines, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago. The grocery-anchored lifestyle center sold for $13.025 million, or $108 per square foot. Sean Sharko and Austin Weisenbeck, senior vice presidents of investments in Marcus & Millichap's Chicago Oak Brook office, represented the private seller and also procured the buyer. “This sale provides the investor a value-add opportunity to lease approximately 39,000 square feet of vacant space alongside national tenants in the middle of a vibrant community,” says Sharko. Completed in 2004, Metropolitan Square is located at 518 Metropolitan Way, one block from the Des Plaines Metra station. Also included in the sale was a three-story, 22,000-square-foot medical office building. The center's retail and office space was approximately 68% occupied at the time of sale.

BUILDING BLOCKS

ST. LOUIS—McCarthy Building Cos., Inc. recently broke ground for a new aquarium at St. Louis Union Station in downtown St. Louis. The 120,000-square-foot St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station will be located in the former mall area and feature exhibits and tanks with 1.3 million gallons of water housing thousands of aquatic animals. McCarthy and PGAV Destinations, the St. Louis-based designer, expect to complete construction in summer 2019. During construction, the project will create 500 jobs and once operational, will bring more than 100 permanent jobs to the downtown St. Louis area. “The fact that both McCarthy and PGAV Destinations are based in St. Louis means that they appreciate the value of Union Station's history and its importance to our community,” says Bob O'Loughlin, chairman and chief executive officer of Lodging Hospitality Management, which owns Union Station.

MILWAUKEE—Evergreen Real Estate Group and Legacy Midwest Renewal Corp. last week celebrated the groundbreaking of The Legacy Lofts at the Blommer Ice Cream Factory, a 64-unit mixed-income rental community located at 1500 W. North Ave. in Milwaukee. Housed in the former Blommer Ice Cream Factory, a three-story structure that was built in 1928 and has been largely vacant for more than 20 years, Legacy Lofts will offer a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments when completed in August 2018. It was partly financed using state and federal historic tax credits. “Projects like Legacy Lofts are a testament to the importance of tax credit financing as these programs face an uncertain future in Washington,” says David Block, director of development for Chicago-based Evergreen. “Without them, it's hard to make the numbers work and, as a result, communities lose their historic buildings and the opportunity to restore and preserve them for future generations.”