900-950 Church St, Evanston, IL, 60201-3126, US

Church Street Plaza

Asset description

Church Street Plaza is a blue-chip retail asset primely located in the heart of downtown Evanston. Since acquiring the Property in 2021, current ownership has worked to complete an impressive repositioning plan leading to 7 new leases covering nearly 93k SF (64% of total GLA). These leasing efforts have been well split between national brands (4 tenants / 82k SF) and local shops (3 tenants / 11k SF), with each of the 7 tenants signing for 10-year terms. The second floor of the Property was formerly home to an 18-screen movie theater across 69k SF. This location was one of the strongest performers in Illinois before being forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic. This space has recently been renovated and re-leased to fit 12-screens across 45k SF for AMC and an additional 30k SF space has been built to suit for new tenant, Sky Zone trampoline park. The Sky Zone space was leased corporately backed by CircusTrix, the world's largest developer, operator, and franchisor of indoor active entertainment parks. With the massive success of Sky Zone's locations since CircusTrix acquired the brand in 2018, CircusTrix underwent a rebrand in 2023 and is now called Sky Zone, Inc. Sky Zone, Inc. is the umbrella organization for three distinct indoor active entertainment brands: Sky Zone, Defy, and Rockin' Jump.

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Attributes

Occupancy

94%

Year built

2000

Land area gross

2.2 acres

Media

Investment highlights

TREMENDOUS RECENT LEASING MOMENTUM

Seller has executed 7 long-term leases across 92,863 SF throughout their 2 years of ownership
10-year lease with AMC Theatres (45,000 SF)
10-year lease with Sky Zone (30,180 SF)
10-year leases with 5 new small-shop tenants covering 17,683 SF

RARE OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE A PRIME RETAIL ASSET IN A SUBMARKET WITH HIGH BARRIERS TO ENTRY

Church Street Plaza has the largest retail footprint in downtown Evanston, providing an exclusive opportunity to acquire a full city block of high-performing urban retail
Downtown Evanston is almost entirely developed with very little land for ground up development, promoting future rent growth

IRREPLACEABLE LOCATION IN ONE OF CHICAGO’S BUSIEST SUBURBS

Trade area encompasses nearly 300,000 people ranging from Chicago’s Far-North neighborhoods down to the affluent suburb of Kenilworth
0.25 miles away from Northwestern University and its 22,000+ students
Walk Score of 98 – a “Walker’s Paradise”
Excellent Demographics within a 3-mile radius

UNMATCHED PARKING AVAILIBITY FOR DOWNTOWN RETAIL

Multi-level self-park garage with 1,400 stalls immediately adjacent to the Property
2 additional multi-level garages serve Downtown Evanston, providing nearly 3,600 total spaces
Garage parking is free on all Sundays and major holidays and costs just $1 for the first hour all other days of the year
More than 1,200 spaces of public street parking in Downtown Evanston
Street parking on three sides of the building

IDEAL ACCESS TO ALL VARIETIES OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Davis Street Metra stop located directly across Church Street
Purple Line “L” station within 500 feet of the Property
CTA bus stops located on 3 of the 4 street corners surrounding the Property, providing immediate access from 6 separate routes

SECURE CASH FLOWS FROM BOTH NEW AND LONGSTANDING TENANTS

Ideal income distribution with 51% coming from national anchors
7.8 years of WALT remaining at analysis start
20.5 years of average tenure from tenants that were in-place upon current ownership's acquisition