Tom’s Recommended Reading for the Week

Check out the top Chicago commercial real estate news before heading into the weekend!

1. Transportation Drives CRE Development – Cushman & Wakefield has released a new report that explores the consequences of rapid population growth in 10 major North American cities. Entitled “Urban Development: Faster Greener Commutes Key to Sustained City Growth,” the report discusses the impact of intensified gridlock and slow commutes that impact work productivity and quality of life, along with the transit-oriented real estate developments helping to relieve congestion and support growth… Globe St.
   
2. Cision signs lease in Prudential Plaza in Chicago’s East Loop – The owners of Prudential Plaza landed their first big tenant since taking over the East Loop office complex last year, the first deal of many they will need to turn the property around. Swedish public relations software provider Cision AB leased 49,464 square feet at One Prudential Plaza, which will become the firm’s headquarters after it merges with rival firm Vocus Inc. Stockholm-based Cision will move about 400 Chicago workers to the seventh floor of the 41-story tower at 130 E. Randolph St. in the first quarter of 2015, moving from a nearby building, a Vocus spokeswoman said… Crain’s Chicago
   
3. Downtown Chicago office vacancy rate falls – As more companies move their offices, the downtown office vacancy rate keeps moving lower. The overall downtown Chicago vacancy rate fell to 13.8 percent in the third quarter, its lowest point in 5½ years, according to Los Angeles-based CBRE Inc. Vacancy fell from 14.1 percent in the second quarter, which already was a five-year low, and from 14.7 percent a year earlier… Crain’s Chicago
   
4. Office Investors Decide It’s Time to Buy Vacancy – An economy producing a steady stream of new jobs, combined with a dwindling supply of affordable core office properties, has reversed investor sentiment for office properties that were largely discredited and ignored by investors as recently as one year ago… CoStar Group
   
5. Urban Locations Are Most Desirable for New HQs – Developers are trying two distinct approaches to attracting new office tenants in a market that is rapidly seeing cheap, big-block space dry up: the tried-and-true new class-A headquarters building and repositioning a dated property. Office vacancy rates declined again in most major U.S. markets during the third quarter 2014, and asking rates are increasing as tenants’ appetite for space continues to grow, according to a report this week from CBRE… NREI