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I retired…it’s been a great career!
After 58 years of being a licensed real estate broker, I officially retired effective December 31, 2024. I have been blessed to have worked with so many wonderful brokers, bankers, and attorneys over the years. The clients, customers, and friends I have served over the past 58 years have made my career enjoyable. I’ve always said that I didn’t need to “push the steering wheel while driving to work” because I enjoyed what I did for a living. I have seen many changes in my profession such as technology, services and benefits to the public.
I began my real estate career following in my mother Vera Matter’s footsteps, who was also a licensed real estate broker for 58 years. I graduated from Patton Commercial Real Estate College and opened my own office, Bruce Realty, in Algonquin where for 25 years I sold both residential and commercial real estate. In 1991, I sold the residential portion of my business and opened Premier Commercial Realty in Lake In The Hills specializing in commercial real estate. While working in real estate, I also owned a construction company Bruce Construction Inc. where I built homes and commercial buildings throughout McHenry County. I also owned and operated Port Barrington Marina and Restaurant on the Fox River, known to many as Dockside Restaurant.
Over the years, I’ve been a part of many professional and community organizations where I made many friends along the way. I was a founding member of the McHenry County MLS, a past president of the McHenry County Board of Realtors, and I served on the McHenry County Zoning Review board. I was a past president and a 34-year member of the Cary Rotary Club, a founding member of the Fox Waterway Agency, and founder of the Algonquin Ducks Unlimited Chapter.
Most recently, and for the past 17 years, my daughter Heather has worked at Premier Commercial Realty as a licensed real estate broker. In 2018, she took over as the Designated Managing Broker for the office and in addition has been overseeing most of the operations. She is an amazing leader and I am confident she will lead Premier Commercial Realty into continued success. With my retirement, I am happy and proud to pass the baton to Heather. She will continue to be the Designated Managing Broker as well as the new President and owner of Premier Commercial Realty.
Many thanks for your business and loyalty.
Bruce Bossow
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From the Desk of
Bruce Bossow
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Lots 22-24 Knaack Blvd.
Crystal Lake
WELL PRICED INDUSTRIAL LOTS
Crystal Lake-5 contiguous industrial lots, a little over 1 acre each available individually or as a group. Off site detention, city water and sewer. Must build masonry or pre-cast. Only $82,000 per lot.
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27125 N. Williams Park Rd.
Wauconda
40 ACRES - IDEAL FOR LANDSCAPERS
Wauconda-40 acres with rolling hills, some woods, 3500 sf ranch home, 2 barns. Zoned AG. Was a sheep farm at one time. $2,300,000.
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SWC Galligan Rd. & Binnie Rd.
Gilberts
9.35 COMMERCIAL ACRES DIVISIBLE
Gilberts-6.68 and 2.67 acre adjoining parcels in booming Gilberts zoned C-1 with city water and sewer. 462 ft on Galligan Rd. $45,000 per acre.
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721 E. Dundee Ave.
Elgin
PROFESSIONAL OFFICE SPACE
Elgin-180-286 sq ft private offices in 2 story building ideal for attorneys, insurance, engineering, accountants, etc. Common conference room. $1000/mo full service gross.
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1375 S. Eastwood Dr.
Woodstock
OFFICE/RETAIL/SHOWROOM/WAREHOUSE
Woodstock-9238 sq ft fully air conditioned freestanding building with 5238 sf office/showroom and 4000 sf warehouse with 18 ft ceilings. 1.2 acres. For sale: $879,000; For Lease: $11 psf NNN.
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2742-2746 Barney Ct.
McHenry
INDUSTRIAL BUILDING W/ OFFICE
McHenry- 6,035 SF space with ±1,000 SF office and ±5,000 SF warehouse area. Fully Air conditioned and heated, zoned BP. $11.00 psf.
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4419 NW Hwy.
Cary
3.65 ACRE COMMERCIAL LAND ON RT 14
Crystal Lake-690 ft on Rt 14. Former banquet hall site. Great demographics and traffic counts near intersection of Rt 31. $11.48 per sq ft ($1,825,000)
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$1,675,000 / Investment
101 N. Virginia St.
Crystal Lake
Bruce Kaplan
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$2,000,000 / Investment
6704 Pingree Rd.
Crystal Lake
Bruce Kaplan & Shari Haefner
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$1,100,000 / Retail
2450 Algonquin Rd.
Lake in the Hills
Bruce Kaplan & Shari Haefner
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$1,175,000 / Land
Lot 2, Three Oaks Rd.
Cary
Bruce Kaplan
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$165,000 / Industrial
720 Industrial Dr.
Cary
Bruce Kaplan
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8,160 SF / Industrial
500 Industrial Ave.
Crystal Lake
Mike Deacon
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8,200 SF / Industrial
1815 IL Rt. 120
McHenry
Brian Cowell
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5,803 SF / Industrial
200 Berg Rd.
Algonquin
Heather Schweitzer
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3,960 SF / Office
1004 Courtaulds
Woodstock
Mike Deacon
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1,800 SF / Retail
215 Higgins Rd.
Gilberts
Sharon Glasshof
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1,389 SF / Office
9 Crystal Lake Rd.
Lake in the Hills
Sharon Glasshof
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TOWNS SHOULD REVIEW TRUE IMPACT OF IMPACT FEES
Being in the commercial real estate business as long as I have, and being involved in the development process for my clients as a broker, I have had to deal with numerous municipalities on the matter of their impact fees. A lay person probably wouldn’t relate to the term “impact fees” so I thought I’d try to bring everyone up to speed on the subject.
Development impact fees have been born out of the notion that “growth should pay for itself”. Certainly this is a noble objective. If a developer wants to build a project that’s going to require a new school to be built or a fire or police station or a new sewage treatment plant, as an individual tax payer, I don’t want to have to pay for that. Growth has impact on the existing infrastructure of a municipality.
A definition of development impact fees is “a one time charge assessed to new development.” The objective of these charges is to raise revenue for the construction or expansion of capital facilities (like schools, fire stations, etc.) located outside the physical boundaries of the new development itself from which the new development in question will directly or indirectly benefit.
A lot of case law exists nationally on the efficacy of impact fees but suffice it to say there needs to be some rational correlation between the fee assessed and the actual cost of the incremental impact being generated. If you study impact fees from community to community, you will see a wide variation on this subject with some communities heavily buying into the notion or charging impact fees for everything from soup to nuts, and other communities not so hung up on the idea.
Because of my orientation to talk about commercial real estate topics in this newsletter, I think it is totally appropriate to point out that commercial developments and residential developments have different kinds of impacts in the real world. For example, commercial projects don’t generally create more kids in the schools like residential subdivisions or apartment complexes. The same is true for parks and libraries. The amount of water and sewer usage for general offices and retail uses is very low compared to residential subdivisions. In spite of these differences, I have seen communities (which shall remain nameless) that think it is appropriate to charge commercial developers certain impact fees even though their developments have zero impact on schools, parks and libraries.
I am not advocating for eliminating all impact fees for commercial developments, just fair and reasonable fees that can be justified by common sense. Besides impact fees, developers are saddled with so called “tap on” fees to hook up to water and sewer as well as building permit fees which are often huge “soft costs” that factor into the feasibility or infeasibility of the project.
When a developer adds up the cost of impact fees, tap-on fees and building permit fees and compares those line items in the development budget from one community to another, he may conclude that it’s more cost effective to build the project somewhere else. If this is what a town wants to do (discourage commercial developments), that’s well and good. But by not at least being competitive with the surrounding towns that you are competing with for commercial projects, you are foregoing the benefits of potential sales tax revenue, jobs, increases in the real estate tax base, etc. that a given commercial development would generate.
I think it is fair to say that developer impact fees are here to stay. In and of itself, this is not a bad thing. They have a purpose. When used sensibly and appropriately, they are justifiable and beneficial. But if a town desires commercial development, it needs review the impact of their impact fees on the development process to make sure it is not giving out the wrong message.
By Bruce Kaplan, Senior Broker at Premier Commercial Realty
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SIGNS OF LIFE RETURN TO COMMERCIAL MARKET
Economic indicators, and the promise of more Fed cuts, point to an improving market.
The Federal Reserve went all-in when COVID-19 struck. From March 2020, a 0% interest-rate policy and cheap capital boosted investment in commercial real estate. The average commercial property price rose by 15%. Many of the loans were of a five-year term, and these loans are starting to come due. Some $2 trillion in refinancing will be required over the next two years.
When the Fed aggressively raised interest rates in 2022 and 2023, from 0% to 5.375%, the higher cost of capital killed off commercial investment purchases and erased earlier price gains. Recently, the average commercial price was 10% below the 2019 average.
Despite these challenges, the worst in commercial prices could be over. The job market has been resilient. There are 7 million more workers compared to pre-COVID employment, and wages are up 4.1% year over year.
Consumer spending will help boost the retail sector, which incidentally added very little new supply and is therefore holding at low vacancy rates. Both industrial and multifamily sectors are enjoying solid positive demand for space but are temporarily facing oversupply conditions, which have hurt rent growth. Even the office sector is showing signs of life, especially in the Sun Belt cities.
Most importantly, the Federal Reserve has started its interest rate–cutting cycle. Extra capital will move into commercial real estate, property prices will rebound somewhat, and refinancing—though not necessarily easy—will be much less challenging.
By Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of REALTORS®
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