The numbers bear this out: According to the report, the suburban office vacancy in Lexington fell 1 percent in 2011, while office vacancies in the Central Business District dropped 1.16 percent.

The news was good on the retail side, too: According to the NAI Isaac report, retail vacancies fell 6.65 percent during 2011. And industrial saw the biggest decline in vacancies in the past year, a solid drop of 15.06 percent.

Lexington has been a fortunate market, though. It certainly suffered during the worst days of the Great Recession; I don’t know of any city that didn’t. But Lexington didn’t seem to suffer quite as much as many other Midwest markets. The Lexington commercial real estate professionals to whom I’ve spoken always point to the same factors: Lexington features a diverse employment base. It’s a fairly conservative market, meaning that it doesn’t suffer the high highs or the low lows that more volatile markets do. And Lexington boasts a solid, centralized location.

Add to this the fact that the city has managed to carve out a presence in the still-thriving healthcare market, and you understand why vacancies dropped last year in this city, even in the struggling office segment.

“These two major deals are strong evidence of the quality and value that 1111 Touhy offers to larger tenants,” said Fred Ishler, senior vice president with Transwestern’s agency leasing group. “The transactions also signify a noticeable upturn in activity in the O’Hare office market.”

The property is a 148,444-square-foot class B office building owned by Siete7 and located in Commerce Centre, a three-building development in the O’Hare submarket. The building offers quick access to all major expressways and is a five-minute drive to O’Hare International Airport. Amenities include on-site management, conference facilities and an on-site deli. The building is in close proximity to many restaurants, hotels and public transportation options.

Transwestern’s Fred Ishler, Joe Stevens and Zach Fox represented the landlord in both transactions. Peter Livaditis and Paul Diederich of CBRE represented National Insurance Crime Bureau and Steve Kardel of Glenlake Capital Partners represented Founders Insurance Co.

Asamblea Evangelica purchased the 2,237-square-foot office building from ACW Investments, LLC.

This deal took place in collaboration with Five Star Real Estate.

The initial term of the lease is 15 years. The lease terms include expansion, contraction and renewal options for Latham & Watkins consistent with those negotiated in the market for lease transactions of this size and nature.

The building that will serve as Latham’s new office was designed by architect Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1971. It was designated with landmark status by the City of Chicago in 2008. The owner of 330 N. Wabash Avenue is a joint venture between subsidiaries of Prime Group Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust headquartered in Chicago, and Five Mile Capital Partners LLC, a Connecticut-based commercial real estate and alternative investment firm. PGRT is the property manager and leasing agent for the property. Latham & Watkins was represented in its search by Scott Gamber, Todd Lippman and Kyle Kamin of CB Richard Ellis, and PGRT was represented by its Executive Vice President of Leasing Steven R. Baron.

The building has undergone and is currently undergoing a renovation that includes a new fire and life safety system, new restrooms, elevator cab modernization, updating the building’s HVAC system and asbestos abatement. Also under construction are a new 5,000-square-foot fitness center and a combined food service and conference room center.

“We are very pleased to announce that Latham & Watkins has chosen to move its Chicago office to 330 N. Wabash,” said Jeff Patterson, Prime Group Realty Trust’s president and chief executive officer. “Taken together with the recently announced American Medical Association and SmithBucklin Corp. leases, the Latham & Watkins lease brings the office portion of 330 N. Wabash Ave. to approximately 84 percent leased and results in a total of about 521,000 square feet of new leases completed at the building in the last 30 days.”  

“A combination of location, architectural significance and the high-quality original construction and renovations at 330 N. Wabash are all attractive qualities to us,” said Rick Levy, managing partner of Latham & Watkins’ Chicago office.

A new Langham Chicago Hotel on floors two through 13 of 330 N. Wabash also is scheduled to be open in the second quarter of 2013. The hotel will feature approximately 316 rooms and suites and will include a full service restaurant, meeting and conference facilities, as well as a fitness facility and the hotel’s wellness retreat, Chuan Spa.

The new lease relocates the firm’s world headquarters from its current location at 300 Tower Parkway in Lincolnshire and increases its total square footage by nearly 20,000 square feet. Lou Hall, a senior director of Cushman & Wakefield of Illinois Inc., represented ACCO Brands in the 10-year lease. Steve Kling and Dave Florent of Colliers International represented the landlord, BPG Properties.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to provide our people with a working environment that offers state-of-the-art amenities and the ability to accommodate future business growth,” said Boris Elisman, president and chief operating officer, ACCO Brands. “Our employees will be involved in every stage of the design of our new office space, ensuring that we create the ideal environment for collaboration and product innovation.”

Identified as Building Four within Kemper Lakes Business Center, 4 Corporate Drive is a three-story, 189,092-square-foot building constructed in 1983. The Class A structure is one of four that make up the office park, which totals 1.1 million square feet and sits on 164 acres.

ACCO Brands will have access to the numerous amenities offered by the facility, including the adjacent world-class golf course, a 600-seat auditorium, a full-service fitness center and on-site daycare, among others. ACCO Brands will receive exclusive signage on Building Four, as well as pylon signage on Route 22/Half Day Road.

According to Adam Miller, president of Summit Design + Build, Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen’s new office suite features private offices, open office area, conference rooms, reception area, exposed wood beams and columns and exposed brick. The finishes complement the loft style with the use of glass, porcelain tile, modern light fixtures and open ceilings.  

Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen marks the fifth build-out that Summit has completed within the 626 W. Jackson building in the past 18 months. The firm also has completed build-outs for Thompson Flanagan, Sterling Bay Companies, Righpoint and Schuman, Simon & Grodecki Ltd. in the multi-tenant class A loft office building that is owned by Sterling Bay Companies.        

Summit Design + Build’s Dave Mooney, senior project manager, Pat J. Lynn, project engineer, and Rodger Meyer, superintendent, were responsible for the on-site construction of Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen. Fitzgerald Earles Architects and Associates was the architect for the project.

By all accounts, the commercial real estate markets across the Midwest should be healthier this year.

The latest report confirming this comes from Cassidy Turley, which earlier this month hosted its State of Real Estate event at Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis.

Jeffrey Henry, regional managing principal with Cassidy Turley, said that Indiana’s commercial real estate market seems poised for a solid 2012.

“Although the many national and international challenges of the past year hampered growth, Indiana’s commercial property markets proved to be remarkably resilient as every segment of commercial real estate demonstrated strengthening fundamentals,” Henry said of the market’s performance last year.

Cassidy Turley research director Jason Tolliver brought good news, too.

“Commercial real estate is improving,” Tollivers said. “The economy has made the difficult transition to a private-sector-led recovery, hiring is up in the demand drivers of commercial real estate, the manufacturing sector is expanding and retail sales have recovered from their bottom.”

Segments experiencing positive growth trends over consecutive quarters were multi-family (10 quarters), industrial (five quarters), and office (three quarters).  Even the retail segment is now trending positive. Vacancy rates are decreasing in many of these markets, rent rates are stabilizing and some new development is occurring in multi-family .

To access the entire Cassidy Turley Indianapolis, Indiana 2012 Annual Market Report visit www.cassidyturleyreport.com.

John Abuja and Stephen Lieberman, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Chicago downtown office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a limited liability company. The buyer, a private investor, was secured and represented by John Abuja, Stephen Lieberman and Howard Wiese, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Chicago and Chicago downtown offices. 

Evanston Enterprise Center is located at 1840 Oak Ave. in downtown Evanston within the Evanston Research Park. The EEC is a multi tenant property, currently 95 percent occupied by 21 tenants including Northwestern University, Evanston Chamber of Commerce, PEPID LLC and others. The property sold for $99.68 per rentable square foot at approximately a 9.50 percent cap rate. The investment included non-recourse assumable financing with a more than $4 million remaining balance. The purchaser acquired the asset at an 81 percent loan to value with standard reserves for tenant improvement allowances also required in the assumption.

The property is the first equity investment for Shorenstein’s “Fund Ten,” formed in 2010 with approximately $1.23 billion of committed capital, including $75 million committed by Shorenstein.

Vornado first purchased the building in 1998, reportedly for $81 million. Completed in 1977, 350 W. Mart Center is the center of Chicago’s apparel industry and host to the world’s largest collection of apparel showroom space. Vornado later converted the property for a variety of office and creative use tenants, such as advertising, telecom, financial services, media and educational institutions. 

The renovated property received LEED Gold certification in 2009 from the U.S. Green Building Council. A glass-enclosed skywalk connects the property to the Merchandise Mart, providing direct access to a CTA station, underground parking, restaurants and retail amenities located within the Merchandise Mart.

Some of the building’s key tenants include AT&T, Comcast SportsNet and Ogilvy. It also offers a 352-room business class hotel, a 3,400-square-foot conference facility and access to The Merchandise Mart’s food court.

The seller was Cargill, an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Hines will assume property management responsibilities on behalf of Hines Global REIT.

Completed in 2010, 9320 Excelsior contains 254,915 square feet, and is one of the three buildings that comprise the Excelsior Crossings campus. The property is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certified, and is fully leased and occupied by Cargill.

Hines vice president Steve Luthman said, “We are pleased to expand our Minneapolis portfolio with this quality asset and are delighted to form a new relationship with Cargill, one of the largest privately held companies in the world.”