The Fulton East Project by Parkside Realty, Inc. Chairman and CEO Bob Wislow

In the latest episode of Real Estate for Breakfast, host Phil Coover is joined by living Chicago real estate legend Bob Wislow. Phil and Bob discuss the properties managed and developed by Parkside Realty throughout Chicago, including the ground-up development of Fulton East – a 12 story commercial building including 5,000 square feet of retail, 3 levels of enclosed parking and 8 stories of office space. The top is crowned with an 8,000 square feet outdoor space. Fulton East is the nation’s first office building designed to deliver health-focused operating solutions for the post-COVID-19 business environment, and is receiving national publicity and attention. Each of the 10,605 square foot floor plans enable flexible, custom planning options to accommodate safe social distancing. State-of-the-art wellness features include a hands-free elevator system and air and surface disinfection systems housed within a beautiful glass and steel grid exterior design that fits the historic district where the property is located.

Bob Wislow is chairman and CEO of Parkside Realty, Inc.

In 1978, Bob Wislow and Camille Julmy founded U.S. Equities Realty which they, together with Nancy Pacher, grew to be Chicago’s largest, privately-owned commercial real estate services firm. U.S. Equities has been responsible for a number of major projects including the development of the Harold Washington Library Center, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Center For Care & Discovery and Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago, Poetry Foundation and John Stroger Hospital for Cook County; co-development of One Financial Place , Grand Plaza and The Cook County Hospital Headquarters and Clinic Building;  and the redevelopments of the John Hancock Center, Willis Tower, 20 North Michigan, and 840 N. Michigan in Chicago; as well as overseeing the development of Compuware’s Headquarters in Detroit, Bank Boston’s Headquarters in both Argentina and Brazil, 618 S. Main in Ann Arbor, and in partnership with Clayco Centene’s Headquarters in St. Louis.

In Spring 1999, U.S. Equities was retained by Millennium Park Inc., (the group representing the Park’s private donors) to oversee the design, engineering, fabrication and construction of Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion and BP Bridge, Anish Kapoor’s monumental Cloud Gate sculpture and Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain. 

In addition to development and project management services the firm provided tenant representation, asset and property management, leasing, real estate consulting, and financial and investment services. Its Chicago headquarters, directly across from Millennium Park, housed original works of art, including paintings, prints and sculpture by over 150 artists. Through its annual Artist in Residence program, the company commissioned artists to create original, limited edition books related to the cities where the firm did projects. 

After nearly four decades of success in Chicago, Wislow and his partners merged their firm into CBRE, the world's largest commercial real estate services firm, in the summer of 2014. At the time, U.S. Equities leased and managed 17 million square feet of Chicago property, including Willis Tower, 2.5 million square feet of office and retail space along Michigan Avenue, Union Station, Metra Market, and six Illinois tollway oases. The successfully merger brought more than 400 U.S. Equities employees under the CBRE flag. 

In August 2019, after five successful years with CBRE, that includes projects like the World’s largest Starbucks Roastery on Michigan Avenue, Wislow and Julmy formed a new, boutique real estate venture called Parkside Realty Inc. The real estate veterans will maintain their portfolio and develop new projects, such as Fulton East, a 12-story, 90,000-square-foot office and retail building under construction at 215 N. Peoria Street, in the heart of Chicago’s Fulton Market.

A native Chicagoan, Wislow is known by friends as a dedicated heli-skier, road biker and fly fisherman, an avid arts supporter and longtime dedicated steward for civic engagement in Chicago. He has, or is serving, on the boards of many organizations and institutions, including the Chicago Public Library Foundation, Rush University Medical Center, Civic Committee, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Civic Consulting Alliance, CHICAGO Symphony Orchestra, Columbia College, North Central College and the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. Wislow has been honored with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Lifetime Achievement Award, the NAIOP Chicago Award for Excellence, and the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) Legacy Award.  

For more information on the Fulton East project, visit https://fulton-east.com/.

Raising Equity in a COVID-19 World with Jay Soave and Matthew Burskey of Cadence Capital Partners LLC

In this episode, host Phil Coover is joined by Jay Soave and Matthew Burskey of Cadence Capital Partners LLC and Jay Augustyn of Ice Miller LLP. The Cadence team shares its approach to raising equity and placing debt for sponsors and developers to facilitate their real estate projects. Cadence employs a proprietary data-driven scoring system that evaluates and weighs deal vitals, demographics, trends and risk probability for its sponsor clients and capital sources. The discussion includes an insider’s look at how COVID-19 has impacted the retail and hospitality sectors and investments in Opportunity Zones.

Jay Soave, Cadence Managing Principal

Jay Soave in a Managing Principal at Cadence and leads the Chicago office with responsibility for sourcing debt and equity for all asset classes nationwide, focusing on the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast. Jay has structured, negotiated and closed sophisticated transactions for 16 years, representing over $15 billion in gross value. Before joining Cadence, Jay worked in Tishman Speyer for nine years as a Managing Director in the Transactional Tax Group based in New York. Before Tishman Speyer, Jay worked as an attorney in the Chicago offices of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Kirkland & Ellis, and Baker & McKenzie where he represented clients in mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, restructurings, and fund formation.

Matthew Burskey, Cadence Partner

Matthew Burskey is a Partner at Cadence and is responsible for the firm’s directional strategy and sourcing equity for all asset classes nationwide. Matt has established himself as an expert in the art of opportunity zone capital raises, yet his experiences spans all aspects of the capital raise spectrum.

Jay Augustyn is a Partner in Ice Miller’s Real Estate Practice. He represents clients in all manners of real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, financing, leasing and joint ventures. Jay also advises investors, developers and entrepreneurs in fund formation and investment matters with respect to the federal Opportunity Zone program and other federal, state and local programs to improve efficiency of project financing.

For more information, visit the Cadence Capital Partners website: https://cadencerec.com/.

Tenant Needs in a Post-Pandemic World with Christian Beaudoin, JLL Managing Director of Research and Strategy

In this episode, host Phil Coover is joined by JLL Managing Director of Research and Strategy Christian Beaudoin and Ice Miller partner Jay Augustyn. As we all know, COVID-19 has caused an abrupt shift in workplace operations, many of which may have a lasting impact on how we work. For example, as we return to the office, we can expect a hyper-focus on health, wellness and safety. Post COVID-19, tenants and landlords will be looking for space designs that offer greater privacy and separation from others, as well as opportunities to collaborate and concentrate. We can expect flexible work schedules and locations, and our workplaces will need to accommodate these flexible needs. The amenities we expect from our workplaces will be different in a post COVID-19 world.

Christian Beaudoin is a Director of Research and Strategy for JLL in the Americas. He manages a team of analysts and consultants covering market dynamics in office, industrial, multifamily, and retail properties. He is nationally recognized as a leader in site selection, and he drives industry-leading analysis on economics, real estate development, and market conditions. He has led several publications on cities and planning, and real estate strategy and trends.

Christian advises many of the world’s largest organizations across multiple industries—including banking, consumer products, high-tech and government—on real estate strategy and development. Most recently, Christian led site selection project for Toyota in its decision to move its corporate headquarters from California to Texas and to locate its next generation auto plant in Huntsville, Alabama. He currently serves as an Advisor to the Obama Foundation on the planning, design and development of the Obama Presidential Center. He has presented at ULI, CoreNet, IFMA and related real estate association events and authored published papers on real estate trends, innovation and strategy.

Learn more about Christian at www.joneslanglasalle.com.

Please review the JLL article on this topic at:  https://www.us.jll.com/en/trends-and-insights/research/2020-first-look-navigating-post-COVID-19

COVID-19 Stimulus and Relief Packages with Brian Crist and Josh Christie of Ice Miller LLP

In this episode of Real Estate for Breakfast, Phil is joined by two of his Ice Miller colleagues: partner Brian Crist and partner Josh Christie. Phil, Brian and Josh discuss the ongoing economic impact of COVID-19 across a variety of sectors and the hot topics surrounding stimulus and relief packages. They also discuss legislation and federal stimulus packages including: the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Stabilization program, the Main Street Lending Program, the Fannie-Freddie Mortgage Forbearance Program and other available programs. In addition, they discuss what landlords and tenants are doing in the current situation. The impact of various state and federal orders to suspend or stay rent and tax collections, evictions and mortgage payments is also explored.

The purpose of this podcast is try to wrap our arms around the various stimulus and legislative packages at play, provide some practical tips and guidance from practitioners who are living this on a daily basis and see how businesses are responding at this current time.

Brian Crist is a partner at Ice Miller and concentrates his practice in business, real estate, environmental, public/private partnership and privatization law. He represents and counsels clients on all aspects of the acquisition, disposition, redevelopment, leasing and financing of commercial real estate assets across the country.

Brian has provided counsel to an international real estate development company on numerous transactions related to its Shari'ah compliant real estate investment funds, including serving as lead counsel with respect to a $100 million acquisition of leasehold interests in two office parks in Boca Raton, Florida in a multi-tiered ground lease structure owned by several municipal entities. He has also represented publicly-traded real estate investments trusts and privately held developers over a sustained period of time with respect to the development, acquisition, sale and financing of single property and portfolio transactions throughout the country.

Brian also has provided counsel with respect to properties with environmental problems commonly called "brownfield redevelopment projects." His legal practice also includes extensive experience in advising clients with respect to public/private partnerships and public infrastructure transactions.

Learn more about Brian Crist: https://www.icemiller.com/people/brian-c-crist/.

Joshua Christie is a partner in the Firm's Business Group. Josh primarily focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate transactions, commercial agreements, general corporate matters and financing transactions including commercial lending transactions. Josh's practice also includes advising clients, including governmental entities, municipalities, bidders and developers, in public-private partnerships. His P3 experience involves a number of jurisdictions, projects and industries.

Josh has assisted clients in the analysis, negotiation, documentation and consummation of a variety of transactions, including the acquisition and sale of assets and equity, equity issuances, financing and re-financing, mergers and joint venture formations. Josh also has experience representing borrowers, lenders and investors in financing transactions. He has assisted entrepreneurs in entity formation and other legal matters related to starting new businesses.

Josh also assists clients in the preparation, drafting and negotiation of commercial agreements, including the sale, purchase, supply, distribution and manufacture of products and services. His experience in this area also has touched a number of areas, including the manufacturing, distribution, logistics, chemical, life sciences, food products and consulting industries.

In addition, Josh helps clients navigate and make informed decisions with regard to general corporate matters, including entity formation, the sale and issuance of securities, advising boards of directors and other corporate governance issues, including fiduciary duties of directors and officers and corporate policies and procedures.

Learn more about Josh Christie: https://www.icemiller.com/people/joshua-l-christie/.

Co-Living With Susan Tjarksen of Cushman and Wakefield

Joining Phil on this episode is Susan Tjarksen, Managing Director at Cushman and Wakefield.  Susan has over 30 years of experience in real estate, in both the public and private sectors.  She is a leading expert on co-living and joins us to discuss how buildings are being developed and adapted for the Co-living model to generate more income per square foot while at the same time serving marketplace demands.  Co-living is a community style of living where common spaces are shared, and spaces such as bedrooms are private, with each tenant responsible only for their share (rather than everyone in one unit being jointly and severally liable).  Susan and Phil discuss why co-living, which has existed for quite some time in various forms, is regaining popularity among the younger professional demographic: millennials.  Susan goes in depth about what is attracting more and more people to co-living in the gateway markets.  One of the main reasons is affordability, because rent is rapidly expanding in these markets, and the other is convenience.  This creates an opportunity for developers and investors.  According to a survey by the National Apartment Association, millennials chose to live close to work and travel for entertainment, which makes co-living all the more attractive for young professionals seeking the ideal living situation.

You can contact Susan Tjarksen and learn more about Cushman and Wakefield here.

You can download the coliving report here.

DISCLAIMER – No information contained in this Podcast or on this Website shall constitute financial, investment, legal and/or other professional advice and that no professional relationship of any kind is created between you and podcast host, the guests or Clark Hill PLC. You are urged to speak with your financial, investment, or legal advisors before making any investment or legal decisions.