Pendulum Swinging Away From Open Office?

CHICAGO—The tech sector in this city has been impressing many observers with its energy and rate of expansion. And experts who spoke at yesterday’s 13th Annual Commercial Real Estate Forecast Conference felt that this growth will continue. Sponsored by the Real Estate Publishing Group, about 1,000 conference participants gathered at the Hyatt Regency to hear what the coming year could bring for the region’s commercial real estate.

And when it comes to technology companies, Roger Heerema, principal of Wright Heerema Architects, told a morning panel moderated by Geoffrey Kasselman of NGKF that they will keep their focus on the downtown, primarily due to the lifestyle choices of younger employees. “What we have here is a very immobile workforce,” which unlike past generations remains attached to urban living. “They’ve got to come to the workers” and this need “will just feed on itself.”