Toymaker Buys 214,000-SF Office Building

CHICAGO-A joint venture of US Equities Realty and Prudential Real Estate Investors has sold the 214,000 sf office building at 600 W. Fulton St. to a private investor. The property was reportedly sold for nearly $32 million to Capital Holdings LLC, based in Northbrook. The private equity company is led by Randy Rissman, founder of Tiger Electronics Inc., which made Furby’s, and was sold to Hasbro in 1998.

Jim Whittington, managing director of investments at US Equities, along with Jason Gill and Keith Gray, with US Equities, brokered the sale and assisted the owner with acquiring acquisition financing. Whittington would not disclose the owner or the sales price, and a spokesperson for US Equities Realty would not confirm or deny the buyer or the price. The buyer is a “high net worth investor that is looking for capital appreciation but also a current return,” Whittington says.

The nine-story timber loft building consists of about 200,000 sf of office space and about 14,000 sf of storage. The building has a “high stable occupancy” of 96% with architectural firm Epstein and Sons International as one of major tenants in the building, Whittington says. “The current market rate is about $22 [per sf] gross and the average rate is probably a couple of dollars less than that,” Whittington tells GlobeSt.com.

The building was constructed around 1900 as a Sears warehouse and was renovated into an office building after Epstein and Sons purchased it in the early 1980′s, Whittington says. There are not major renovations to the building planned at this point. “It is in great condition,” he says.

US Equities has managed the building since the joint venture purchased it in 2000 and will continue to manage the building for the new owner. US Equities Finance and Investment Services Group has executed more than 17 million sf of commercial space and land valued at about $1.3 billion in the past 10 years.