Friedman was slightly less ominous, but agreed that the summer is expected to be sluggish. There is still capital out there, Friedman says. "Chicago remains fairly well banked," he says. "The caveat is the deal size and equity." Larger loans and projects require more capital, Friedman says.

As a developer, "the current capital markets are completely frozen to us," Blum says. "There is a significant de-leveraging going on. We are seeing a complete lock out of any type of capital." For the next 12 months, Blum expects the main active buyers to be "cash rich pension funds," insurance companies and foreign investors.

Blum is seeing "a lot of distress out there," he says. "I see a lot of developers that have sites with great development plans that cannot be brought to fruition." Still, Blum believes this is a temporary setback. "Twelve months from now will be a great time to put a shovel in the ground," he says. But, he would not say everything will be back to normal in that time. "I do think there will be a lot of opportunity," he says.