David Elya
Broker/owner
Realty Executives Group
Shelby Township, Mich.

How is your market?

“It’s a great time to buy right now. There’s ample inventory to choose from. A lot of buyers are moving up, finally getting the home that they wanted — a bigger, better home at a better price. It’s just taking a little time sometimes to sell their own homes and get those priced fairly.”

What’s happening with prices?

STAMFORD, CT-Marking the first deal closed by its recently formed Direct Investments business unit, GE Real Estate has acquired a portfolio of 15 industrial parks in five states from AMB Property Corp. of San Francisco in a deal valued at $108 million.

The industrial parks are located in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Northern New Jersey and Orlando. The portfolio consists of 22 buildings that total approximately 2.3 million sf.

Commenting on the deal, Greg Bates, managing director of GE’s Direct Investments unit, says, “The AMB portfolio is an attractive mix of stable and value-add properties in geographically diverse markets that offers solid projected returns. By leveraging GE Real Estate’s capital strength and local market operational expertise, we foresee an opportunity to increase rents, enhance the assets’ value and drive growth.”

CHICAGO-GlenStar Properties LLC and other partners have purchased the four-tower, 810,000-sf Presidents Plaza in the O’Hare submarket from Equity Office Properties Trust for about $129 million, and plans a renovation of the property that will cost up to $10 million, according a company official. This is the second purchase of property by the Chicago-based company; GlenStar bought the 450,000-sf Culligan International Inc. corporate headquarters a week ago in Cook County for about $23 million, says principal Michael Klein.“Our plan is to take what we think is a great property and a great location and do some upgrades,” Klein says about Presidents Plaza. GlenStar purchased the roughly 20-year-old property at 8600-8700 Bryn Mawr Ave. in a joint venture with investors advised by Prudential Real Estate Investors. “We’re going to do everything from exterior work on the entrance, renovate the lobby, bathrooms, and other common areas. We haven’t finished plans yet, the cost could be around $10 million or less,” Klein tells GlobeSt.com.

Move-in date nears for first residents of often-delayed project

In the time it’s taken to build the first 11 condos at Jeffrey Place in Italian Village, other developers have built more than 1,500 condos and apartments Downtown.

But Jeffrey Place devotees say the wait will be worth it.

“I know we’ve had our fits and starts,” said HER real-estate agent Donna Carstens, who soon will sell Jeffrey homes full time. “When everyone sees how this community is laid out, they’ll be happy we took this long.”