An affiliated entity of Midwest Industrial Funds recently purchased a 51,860-square-foot headquarters, light‐manufacturing and distribution building located at 5101 Thatcher Road in Downers Grove, Illinois. The high-image, precast concrete and brick building was originally constructed in 1989 and expanded in 2011. Midwest Industrial Funds and the tenant, National Technologies, executed a long‐term lease for the property in conjunction with Midwest Industrial closing on the property.
“The building has unique characteristics such as a large block of high‐end office situated above a fully‐enclosed, covered parking lot,” said Jed Degnan, director of acquisitions at Midwest Industrial. “We were aware of the property’s pending availability several months ago as we have owned several other buildings within the Ellsworth Industrial Park where the property is located. We loved the building, business park and location, but we had a difficult time making the investment economics work at the seller’s pricing expectations without a tenant. When the team from NAI Hiffman identified a qualified tenant, we were able to come up to the seller’s needed price point in a way that made financial sense for us as well.”
National Technologies, a leader in the fiber optic and data center communications industry, viewed this transaction as an opportunity to consolidate three separate office, service and warehouse locations into a single building and has begun moving into the property which will serve as its new national headquarters facility. John Whitehead and Jeffrey Fischer of NAI Hiffman represented Midwest Industrial on the lease deal while Nick Weis of Suburban Real Estate Services represented the tenant on the transaction.
The property features visibility from I‐355, 18-foot clear ceilings in the warehouse, 15,363 square feet of office and parking capable of accommodating over 97 cars. This transaction, combined with a 73,000-square-foot vacant manufacturing facility in Elgin, Illinois and a 218,000-square-foot vacant distribution facility in McHenry, Illinois, results in nearly 350,000 square feet of “market‐maker” transactions in the past year for Midwest Industrial where the acquisition simultaneously came together with the lease for the property.
“Midwest Industrial platform is designed to be able to act extremely quickly after identifying these types of opportunities. It takes a lot of flexibility, communication and knowledge to manage all the complex moving pieces of three‐party transactions like this one,” said Degnan. “The owners of MIF and myself all come from a brokerage background which sets us apart from our competition in having the experience and quick decision making to turn opportunities like this into facility solutions that are a win for all parties.”