Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) announced that Jack Cozzie, senior managing director at NGKF, and Ladson Montgomery, senior vice president/principal of Newmark Grubb Phoenix Realty Group, have received the 2015 Industrial Broker Transaction of the Year Award, presented by the Chicago Chapter of NAIOP (Commercial Real Estate Development Association). The prestigious award was announced during NAIOP Chicago’s Annual Awards for Excellence dinner late November.
Cozzie and Montgomery were awarded the Industrial Broker Transaction of the Year award in recognition of their representation of long-time client Saddle Creek Logistics in its relocation to a 1,114,575-square-foot build-to-suit distribution facility at CenterPoint Intermodal Center (CIC) in Joliet, Illinois. The transaction is the largest industrial transaction and build-to-suit year-to-date in the Midwest region of the United States.
“Ladson and I are honored to have been a part of the largest industrial transaction in Chicago this past year and to have assisted Saddle Creek in this significant expansion,” Cozzie said. “It has been a pleasure to work with the Saddle Creek team on this transaction and NAIOP’s recognition of the deal is the icing on the cake.”
Cozzie and Montgomery assisted in Saddle Creek’s site selection analysis, ultimately securing space at CIC based on its location, proximity to the interstate highway network and available square footage.
Saddle Creek will relocate to CIC from a 590,000-square-foot facility at 21051 W. Walter Strawn Drive in Elwood, Illinois, nearly doubling their space. Saddle Creek plans to relocate to the CIC facility in Joliet by February 2016. Montgomery has represented Saddle Creek nationally since 1994 and has completed over 30 transactions for the firm, totaling more than six million square feet of industrial space. Cozzie has represented Saddle Creek in the Chicago area since 2000 and together with Montgomery have completed three significant transactions for them including this award-winning project in Joliet.
The annual awards event was well-attended by more than 1,000 leading commercial real estate professionals, developers and investors. After NAIOP selects its award nominees, attendees at the event cast their votes determining the winners of each category instantaneously. In addition to winning the Industrial Broker Transaction of the Year award, NGKF was also a finalist for the Industrial Investment Broker Transaction of the Year award.