CHICAGO-A $14.1-million mortgage allowed a joint venture to buy a 16-story office building at Wacker Drive and Dearborn Street, directly south of the Chicago River. They inherit a building 96% occupied.

CHICAGO-The telecommunications firm is leasing 173,151 sf, or 18% of the office building near the intersection of Lake Street. MCI WorldCom will have 850 employees working there beginning in May.

CHICAGO-Developers and city hall insiders say Alicia Mazur Berg, a 10-year veteran of the city's department of planning and development, has the people skills and deal-making ability to handle the top job.

KILDEER, IL-Space in the Shops of Kildeer is 58% pre-leased as construction begins on the 175,000-sf shopping center, directly north of another Developers Diversified Realty project, Deer Park Town Center.

CHICAGO-"Second City" isn't high on the shopping lists of foreign investors as it was a year ago. So says the ninth annual survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate.

CHICAGO-Investors looking to get off the financial roller-coaster ride that is Wall Street should put their money into real estate. That's the tonic for volatility prescribed by Heller Financial, Inc.

CHICAGO-The Downtown office rental market opens 2001 at an all-time low 8.2% vacancy rate. A report by CB Richard Ellis, Inc. says the hottest areas are River North and the West Loop.

CHICAGO-A 26-story Downtown office building one block west of the Loop has changed hands. The 290,807-sf building was 99% occupied at the time of the sale. The new owners' plans were not immediately available.