Tom’s Recommended Reading for the Week

1. Blackstone to Buy Willis for $1.3 Billion – Blackstone Group LP has agreed to buy the iconic Willis Tower for $1.3 billion, the most ever paid for a US office building outside of Manhattan, the Wall Street Journal reported last night. The sellers, New York-basedJoseph Chetrit and Joseph Moinian and Skokie, IL-based American Landmark Properties paid $841 million for the building… Globe St.
   
2. Guardian Life files to foreclose on Hoffman Estates office property – The owners of a Hoffman Estates office property have been hit with a $21 million foreclosure suit, an increasingly rare event amid a recovering suburban office market. An affiliate of New York-based Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America sued an affiliate of Stonegate Properties that owns Northwest Corporate Centre, a 12-building complex at 2500 W. Higgins Road. The Stonegate venture failed to pay off a $21 million loan on the property when it came due in March 2014… Crain’s Chicago
3. Sam Zell’s latest stab at market timing – Sam Zell gained a reputation for impeccable timing with the $39 billion sale of Equity Office Properties Trust on the eve of the 2007 financial collapse. Eight years after that deal with private-equity firm Blackstone Group, the Chicago real estate billionaire wants to prove he still knows when to head for the exits… Crain’s Chicago
   
4. Updates to the John Hancock could include name change – On the heels of news that the Willis Tower — nee Sears Tower — is changing hands, Sneed hears the Hearn Company — which owns the commercial portion of the John Hancock Center — is proposing changes to the historic structure… Chicago Sun-Times
5. River North office building sells for $8.2 million – A group led by Chicago trader and investor Michael Palumbo paid $8.2 million for a fully leased loft office building in River North, betting the neighborhood’s office boom will continue. Ceres Acquisitions, a company led by Palumbo, teamed up with Chicago-based Elmdale Partners in the purchase of 435 N. LaSalle St. a 50,000-square-foot brick office building built in 1906. They acquired the property… Crain’s Chicago