CHICAGO—The CBDs in many Midwestern cities began reviving in 2012, and the coming year promises more growth. It will even occur in cities long considered Rust Belt basket cases. But experts say this sometimes surprising expansion has a dark side.
“It's a tale of two cities,” said Michael McKiernan, managing director of Avison Young in suburban Chicago. The CBDs have revived, “whereas the suburban market is suffering.” In Chicago, large corporations such as Sears and Google have decided to leave their sprawling suburban campuses and migrate downtown, a process McKiernan expects to accelerate. “Many of these companies are being forced to run back to the city for the quality labor they need,” especially young workers “who aren't going to make the trek out to the 'burbs any more.”
In the final quarter of 2012, the suburban office market had an overall vacancy rate of 24.5%, a level unchanged from last January, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
