BWE, a national commercial and multifamily mortgage banking company, announced today that it has secured a $20,000,000 loan to finance the acquisition of Innovation Park, a one million square foot mixed-use office and research laboratory campus in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville, Illinois.
Daniel Rosenberg, executive vice president in BWE’s Chicago and Boca Raton offices, Chris Caroll, senior vice president in BWE’s Chicago office, Logan Petersmeyer, senior analyst in BWE’s Chicago office, and Max Miller, analyst in BWE’s Chicago office secured the loan from a depository institution on behalf the borrowers, a joint venture of Chicago-based developer R2 and Chicago-based JDI Realty. The five-year loan features multiple years of interest-only payments and structured flexibility.
“Closing a loan on this kind of collateral is not easy to do in today’s environment, where office properties are historically difficult to finance,” said Rosenberg.
“We are pleased to have secured very attractive terms for our client, with a structure that provides desired business plan flexibility,” added Carroll. “By leveraging our connections with a wide variety of capital sources, BWE is able to provide our clients across the country with the resources they need to capitalize office projects, even in challenging market conditions.”
Originally constructed in the 1990s to serve as an R&D facility for the Motorola Corporation, Innovation Park offers a unique blend of multi-tenant laboratory and office space across 83 acres and one million square feet. The property was 71% leased at the time of closing and is anchored by life science firms Valent BioSciences, Medline Industries, and Juno Therapeutics.
Innovation Park is located directly off US Highway 45 and is just west of I-94, one of the region’s busiest highways. The suburb of Libertyville is situated approximately 30 miles northwest of downtown Chicago.