Commercial real state firm Cushman & Wakefield has completed the sale of 4500 West Armitage Avenue, a 377,738-square-foot warehouse facility in Chicago. Seller Magid Glove and Safety was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Chicago-based team of Brad Weiner, Larry Goldwasser and Colin Green. Buyer Affordable Moving Co. was represented by Brad Weiner, along with Mitch Adams of CBRE.
The acquisition marks a change of venue for Affordable Moving Co., a provider of residential and commercial moving and storage services for nearly 30 years. “The company is currently headquartered a few miles away, and will relocate and consolidate its headquarters, storage and warehousing operations to 4500 West Armitage,” said Weiner. “Its business is expanding, and this new, larger location was ideal to accommodate that growth.”
Recognized as the “warehouse of the year” by Modern Materials Handling magazine, 4500 West Armitage occupies six acres northwest of downtown Chicago, near the I-90 expressway and I-290. Features include a 30,000-square-foot office component, state-of-the-art materials handling systems throughout, secured parking for more than 150 cars, and 12-foot to 32-foot clear ceiling heights. The property also generates $5,375 in monthly income from on-site cell towers.
The sale comes at a time when the Chicago industrial market continues to show improvement. Metro area industrial year-to-date leasing activity totaled 16 million square feet at the end of the second quarter 2014. Overall vacancy improved for the 14th consecutive quarter, measuring seven percent at mid-year, a decline of 0.9 percentage points over the previous quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield research. Weighted average direct net rental rates have reached pre-recession levels, ending the second quarter at $4.53 per square foot.
“For-sale properties continue to attract considerable interest here,” said Weiner. “Overall, we expect the health of this industrial market to continue to improve in the coming quarters.”
