WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008

Target redevelopment hits the mark in Uptown

by Illinois Real Estate Journal Reports
Chicago

Richard Spinell, principal of Oakbrook Terrace-based Mid-America Asset Management Inc., announced that Target recently closed on the sale of 132,000 square feet at the Wilson Yard mixed-use redevelopment that is under construction in Uptown Chicago.

The retailer plans to open in fall 2010 along with 20,000 square feet of specialty retail. Spinell and Mid-America Principal Paul Bryant represented the seller, Chicago-based Holsten Real Estate Development Corp., which is the lead developer of the five-acre project. Adrian Brown of Indianapolis-based Gershman Brown Crowley Inc. represented Target, which purchased the site for an undisclosed amount.

According to Spinell, this is the second Target land closing in Chicago since a Target store signed at Marshfield Plaza. "This is great news for the city," he says. "The redevelopment effort in Uptown can now move forward more easily, creating jobs, tax revenues, and a gentrification of the area in its wake."

The $150 million Wilson Yard development is situated on the site of a former Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Rail Yard that was an operation and maintenance facility for the railroad system.

In 2001, the city created a tax increment financing (TIF) district to help spur economic development in the area, and purchased the Wilson Yard property from the CTA. The project is comprised of a mix of retail, restaurants, residential, offices, and a 700-car parking garage. Adjacent to the proposed 2-story Target store is an Aldi grocery store that opened in 2007, which had relocated from its old site at 4450 N. Broadway.

According to the developer, Wilson Yard has excellent access to public transit, a campus park, and a rehabilitated CTA rail station that is planned for 2010.

Wilson Yard is bounded by Broadway and the CTA tracts on the east and west, and Wilson and Montrose Avenues on the north and south. Funding for the project includes TIF, developer and retail owners' equity, private loans, LIHTCs, and HOME, among other sources. Mid-America Asset Management's Development Services is retained as the construction manager of the project.

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