CHICAGO—Office tenants in Chicago's CBD were quite active during the third quarter, and it looks like 2017 will be as healthy for the market as 2016. Year-to-date, tenants have leased about 7.5 million square feet, or roughly the same as last year, according to a new report from Savills Studley. The overall availability rate fell 60 bps this year, down to 15.5%, although it's also a 20 bps increase in the past 12 months. And all this activity has helped keep rental rates swinging upward. The overall asking rate increased from $38.34 to $38.83 in the last quarter, and in the Far West Loop/Fulton Market neighborhood, rents went from $42.19 to $43.99, a 4.3% spike.

But in addition to all of these incremental improvements, big changes are afoot across the CBD. And the strong possibility of a giant new Amazon facility somewhere downtown or on its periphery is only the most notable.

“The third quarter brought some substantial moves by tenants,” says Eric Feinberg, senior vice president of Savills Studley. “These were accompanied by significant changes in building ownership. Tenant demands for the workplace and landlord investment strategies both continue to shift.”