Tinley Park Retail Property Sells for $8.6 Million

A partially-leased shopping center in the southwest Chicago suburb of Tinley Park took a $1 million loss in its recent sale, demonstrating an uneven market for retail properties.

Riveroaks Properties LLC unloaded the nearly 300,000-square-foot property at 9501 West 171st Street for $8.6 million earlier this month, more than a decade after buying it for $9.6 million in 2011, according to Cook County property records. The buyer was Tinley Park IL LLC, a corporation with an address in Woodstock, Maryland.

Colleen Kaczmarek with Riveroaks Properties said the price gouge was due to the property’s vacancies. It was fully leased when it last sold in 2011. The corporation’s managers are Afzal and Shireen Ahmad, according to records.

While the pandemic upped the value of daily needs retail assets and elevated the sale prices of grocery-anchored shopping centers throughout the Chicago metro area, some shopping corridors and suburban malls have seen sharp declines in lease occupancy rates.

Suburban retail performance has strengthened this year and has outpaced recovery in city shopping corridors including the Magnificent Mile, the Loop and River North.

Overall, retail vacancy in the Chicago area was down 50 basis points in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, down to 6.3 percent in June, according to a report from Marcus & Millichap. The average asking rent went up by 2.6 percent during that time frame, reaching $18.26 per square foot in Q2 of 2022.

In nearby Orland Park, Chicago-based builder Key Development Partners cashed in on a retail property that it converted from a vacant Toys-R-Us to four single and multi-tenant buildings, netting $17.6 million with a recent sale. That property is an outlet of the Simon Property Group-owned Orland Square Mall, which has had its own struggles, including a vacant Sears store that may also be poised for redevelopment.