Editors’ Weekly News Roundup September 29 – October 3
Regional news spanning four different property types comprised the five most-read Connect CRE stories for the past week. Among these five, there were two pairs of stories with overlapping subject matter: conversion of hotels into apartments in one pair and the popularity of grocery stores in the other.
The latter included the week’s most widely read story, Whole Foods in Suburban Chicago Trades Hands for $17M. The freestanding property in St. Charles, IL sold to a long-established real estate investor, Benenson Capital Partners.
A quote from JLL senior managing director Alex Sharrin, who led the team representing the seller, illustrates the category’s appeal to a variety of buyers. “As one of the only new-to-market freestanding Whole Foods deals, the asset drew interest from 1031x purchasers, family offices, institutional capital and foreign investors,” said Sharrin.
Connect CRE has reported on numerous property acquisitions by owner-occupiers over the past couple of years. These tend to be smaller assets, unless the buyer happens to be Apple, which has acquired some of the millions of square feet it occupies in the Bay Area.
The latest example of this initiative was reported in our second most-read story as Apple Finalizes Sunnyvale Acquisition for Reported $365M.Formerly owned by Kilroy Realty, the complex at 05-599 N. Mathilda Ave. has been occupied by Apple since at least 2020. The tech giant recently spent more than $500 million on two other office complexes in the region and indicated that more such investments would follow.
Moving from Northern California to South Florida, the past week’s third most-read story reported that a lodging property from the late 20th century is slated to become a multifamily property in the 21st. Pompano Beach Hotel May Convert to Apartments reported that the local development review committee will consider a proposal to redevelop the 61-key Lighthouse Point Hotel into 187 residential units.
The hotel in question was developed in the 1960s and 1970s. It’s therefore in keeping with the scenario of redeveloping older properties—whether office, hotel or industrial—into newly built apartments.
In another illustration of the grocery sector’s appeal, Southern California-based Vallarta is branching out from its home region. We reported in SoCal Grocer Planning 15 Arizona Stores that Vallarta is already getting its first Buckeye State location ready for business.
A Phoenix store—the first of 10 to 15 Arizona sites that Vallarta intends to roll out over the next decade—is targeting a January 2026 opening. It will join more than 70 SoCal stores that the 40-year-old supermarket chain currently operates. The story ranked fourth in the top five.
Another hotel-to-resi adaption rounds out the top five for the past week. Former Everett Hotel Set for Conversion Into Apartments reports that Sage Investment Group, which specializes in such conversions, has acquired an Econo Lodge property. A total of 124 studio apartments is planned for the 39,600-square-foot Everett location.
As with the Vallarta supermarket in Phoenix, the Everett apartment conversion is expected to open its doors within months. Locally based Sage has acquired at least three other lodging properties in the Puget Sound region thus far in 2025.