Office Market Sees Tepid Recovery – U.S. companies are adding employees at the fastest rate in years. But those workers aren’t filling up office buildings like they used to. While the labor force finally has pushed past its prerecession peak, readings on office-space usage have barely budged. The vacancy rate stood at 16.7% in the fourth quarter, down only a hair from the 16.9% registered a year earlier and compared with the postrecession peak of 17.6% reached in 2010, according to data from real-estate research firm Reis Inc…Wall Street Journal
Offices to Become More Like Home in 2015 – In the past several years, office users across the nation began transforming their spaces from old-style cubicle designs into more collaborative arrangements. In addition, many sought to shrink their footprints by using space in a more efficient manner. And as office users look to the year ahead, experts say that other changes are underway… Globe St.
Rising tide lifts DuPage office market – The effects of the improving economy are being felt in the suburban Chicago office market, where conditions are tightening and shifting the landscape for companies that do business here. A microcosm of this dynamic can be found in DuPage County’s sprawling East-West Office Corridor, which runs along a 20-mile stretch of Interstate-88 from Westchester to western Naperville… Daily Herald
Suburban Chicago office vacancy rate drops to six-year low – Suburban office landlords entered 2015 with a burst of leasing momentum rarely seen since the recession. Office vacancy in suburban Chicago fell to 22.6 percent in fourth-quarter 2014, down from 23.4 percent in the previous quarter and from 24.3 percent a year earlier, according to Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle. The vacancy rate is at its lowest level in more than six years… Crain’s Chicago
VisaNow moving HQ to Chicago’s Loop amid quick growth – With a $16 million cash infusion and plans to more than double its workforce within 18 months, visa processing firm VisaNow is moving its Chicago headquarters. VisaNow signed a lease for about 30,000 square feet at 230 W. Monroe St., with an option to add another 20,000 square feet in the Loop tower, CEO Bob Meltzer said. VisaNow helps companies secure visas for their workers… Crain’s Chicago
