AAA Location, Core + Property

BROE REAL ESTATE PURCHASES TWO TRANSAM PLAZA IN OAKBROOK; UPGRADES, SPECIAL BROKER LEASING INCENTIVES SET

- Building Ideal for Small, Medium, and Large Sized Businesses: 3,000 -20,000 Sq. Ft.
- Immediate Broker Payment Upon Lease, Plus Bonus, Promotions

Chicago, Illinois, February 22, 2005: Broe Real Estate has purchased the five-story, institutional-quality, 118,000-square-foot Two TransAm Plaza building located in Oakbrook, at the juncture of Butterfield Road and TransAm Plaza Drive. The seller was Principal Financial.

Broe Real Estate immediately embarked on a highly aggressive leasing program. Broe instituted its trademark leasing broker payment program whereby brokers are paid immediately upon a Two TransAm Plaza lease execution.  In addition, Broe Real Estate will be announcing a Broker bonus program designed to ensure Broe sees all lease opportunities in the market. 

Broe has hired veteran leasing broker Mike Van Zandt with NAI Hiffman to handle leasing for the building. “Broe’s hallmark is its quick response and flexibility to make deals,” Van Zandt said, adding “we already have a number of lease deals being negotiated as we speak. We expect the market to be very receptive to our programs and the brokers and tenants will find Broe to be very easy to deal with in getting their deals done.”

According to Keith Neff, VP Leasing for Broe Real Estate, an intense focus will be placed on providing quick responses to prospective and current tenants and their brokers. “Broe’s internal structure is such that decisions get made very quickly, many times within minutes. We can respond to a prospects’ needs, work out a customized proposal and get it approved in incredibly short order. No one moves faster than Broe,” Neff said.

This institutional-quality office building, which features a dramatic five-story atrium, is being upgraded by Broe to further enhance the building’s position as a premier Oakbrook business address. To that end, hundreds of thousands of dollars in immediate upgrades are being made throughout the building to include the lobby, interior common areas and exterior common areas. Broe’s Director of Acquisitions Hank Brumley said, “Broe’s always looking for solid properties in great locations that with some capital and creativity, we can bring them up a notch.”  A sample of prestigious tenants currently in the building include: Dental Network of America, Johnson & Mattey, Fair Isaac & Company, Crown Pacific, and Beech Street Corporation.

Broe Real Estate, an affiliate of the international, multi-billion dollar Broe Companies, has allocated $100 million for acquisitions in the Chicago land area in 2005. Brumley added, “We want to continue to acquire office properties throughout Chicago, but specifically we are looking for office assets in the Oakbrook, Shaumburg, and O’Hare sub-markets.” Brumley added, “We can move quickly and for cash. We buy Core, Core plus, Value Added and Opportunistic assets. We aren’t a “fund” and as such we can color outside the box and go after a lot of different types of opportunities.”

Indeed, Broe is already an important, active investor in and around Chicago.  Broe owned the 1.5 million-square-foot Hawthorne Works industrial complex in Cicero for nearly a decade. Broe’s creativity showed when it recently sold a portion of the 1.5 million-square-foot Hawthorne Works industrial property to Madnard’s for retail redevelopment.  Broe Real Estate sold the remaining 450,000-square-foot industrial building at the Hawthorne Works to Cook County Records. In addition, OmniTRAX, a railway company owned by The Broe Companies, owns/operates three railroads in the Chicago area, including the Manufacturer’s Junction Railway, which was located adjacent to the Hawthorne Works. Broe has owned numerous other industrial properties throughout the Chicago area.

Broe Real Estate Services will be providing building management. Broe’s focus throughout its portfolio is on providing exceptional customer service to its tenants. As an example, longtime Chicago commercial property management professional Linda Bellow, CPM, will be the local, on-site manager for the property. “We believe that localon-site property management is crucial in providing our tenants the kind of attention and consideration they deserve,” says Mark Best, Managing Director of Broe Real Estate Services. In addition, Best states that Leo Kular, building engineer for the property over the last 20years will remain in this position to ensure a seamless transition.

About The Broe Companies: Founded in 1972, The Broe Companies is an international investment, acquisition, and operational enterprise headquartered in Denver, Colorado.  The company is involved in an expanding and diverse array of businesses and industries including: Transportation, featuring OmniTRAX, the largest private rail and rail-related operation in North America; Strategic Capital, including McKinley Medical, a global supplier of innovative drug infusion systems; Real Estate, incorporating the ownership and operation of premier office and industrial properties throughout North America; Aspen Retirement Communities, which owns and operates independent and assisted living communities across the United States, with eight communities and nearly 1,400 units; and Energy including Century Coal, a major coal mining operation with mines located in western Kentucky.