Tag Archives: Commercial Real Estate

Chicago Commercial Real Estate – In the News

Jill’s Top 5 Articles From This Week

  1. Senior Managing Director, Ben Azulay, and Director, Justin Kessler, have completed a new 9,828-square-foot lease on behalf of Mindcrest Inc. at 440 S. LaSalle Street in Chicago. – RE Journals
  2. SIRVA, Inc has expanded its headquarters by 9,000 square feet at 1 Parkview Plaza in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, according to Bradford Allen Realty Services Senior Managing Director, Joel Berger, who completed the lease expansion and renewal totaling 62,000 square feet. –  RE Journals
  3. Renters just can’t seem to keep away from the city. Chicago has seen an increasing migration of people relocating downtown—whether it be for housing purposes or for business, it’s impossible to stay away from the center of where all the action happens. – RE Journals
  4. Chicago’s in the top five cities in the country when it comes to emerging technology hubs, according to a new report – Biz Journals
  5. World Business Chicago tracks indicators from month to month to gauge the strength of several aspects of Chicago’s economy, including employment in major sectors, residential and office real estate data, price and purchasing indexes, and freight demand. Note: employment data refers to payroll job estimates for the city of Chicago and is not adjusted for seasonality – World Business Chicago
 

Chicago Commercial Real Estate – In the News

Tom’s Recommended Reading for the Week

  1. A Chicago Masterpiece Rediscovered – Even though downtown Chicago has a worldwide reputation for great architecture, many of its treasures suffer from neglect and disinvestment. But an increasing number of businesses believe that occupying historically-significant space can bring a type of prestige that modern office buildings… Globe St.
  2. As Office Space Shrinks, So Does Privacy for Workers – Dafna Sarnoff worked her way up to vice president at American Express and what she remembers as “a desirable office.” Later she was hired by a financial services company — bigger salary, bigger office. Then, in 2012, she was recruited by Yodle, a smaller, newer company that sells online marketing tools for small businesses…. New York Times
  3. Cushman & Wakefield Going Up for Sale – The Italian family that controls Cushman & Wakefield Inc., one of the world’s largest real-estate services firms, is putting the company up for sale as rising property prices push up the value of rivals, according to people familiar with the matter… Wall Street Journal
  4. More New Jobs Are in City Centers, While Employment Growth Shrinks in the Suburbs – For decades, most Americans working in metropolitan areas have gone to work outside city centers – in suburban office parks, stores or plants, not downtown skyscrapers. But as people increasingly choose to live in cities instead of outside them, employers are following…. New York Times
  5. The Smart Way to Create a Transparent Workplace – Transparency. The concept is as simple as it is alluring. By making sure employees conduct their work in plain view—visible in open offices, monitored with sensing technology and tracked through digital activity—companies hope to increase accountability, collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation… Wall Street Journal
 

Chicago Commercial Real Estate – In the News

Tom’s Recommended Reading for the Week

I’m sorry about jinxing the weather everyone. I clearly forgot where I lived. Check out the top news stories in Chicago Commercial Real Estate before heading into the weekend!

  1. KCura gobbles up more office space on LaSalle Street – Fast-growing legal software maker kCura Corp. is taking a big chunk of extra office space at its home on South LaSalle Street to accommodate all the workers it’s been hiring.The Chicago-based company is adding nearly 50,000 square feet at 231 S. LaSalle St., bringing its total space to 133,609 square feet. It’s the fourth time in as many years that kCura has expanded. In 2009, it had just 8,000 square feet, according to CBRE Group Inc., which represented the company. KCura has experienced explosive growth recently. The company hired 150 people last year and expects to add a similar number this year… Crain’s Chicago
  2. Hotels are in, office is out for proposed West Loop high-rise – Jupiter Realty Co. has changed course again on its proposed West Loop high-rise, opting to fill it with hotel rooms instead of apartments or office space. The Chicago-based developer wants to build a 23-story tower at 108 N. Jefferson St. with two hotels, a 210-room Hampton Inn and a 128-room Homewood Suites, sharing the building, according to an e-mail Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) sent constituents last week. That plan marks a big shift for Jupiter, which first proposed a 45-story tower with apartments and offices when it acquired the sitefor $7.5 million in 2007… Crain’s Chicago
  3. Open-Plan Office Space: Is It All It’s Cracked Up to Be? – According to popular accounts, the corporate workplace is changing, seemingly reducing demand for office space. The square footage per employee is shrinking due to the increased prevalence of the open-plan office format. As a result, tenants now require less space than they previously needed. The open-plan office format has been increasing in popularity since the recession, as many tenants viewed it as a way to reduce their real estate costs. Moreover, in theory, this format increases employee productivity through easier collaboration… NREI
  4. Paltry Office Pantries Give Way to Sleek Social Spaces -For 12 years, employees of Anbau, a luxury real estate investment and development firm, worked in a walk-up on Fifth Avenue with no kitchen pantry to heat lunches or make coffee. So it was fitting somehow that the kitchen would become the focal point of the company’s new offices, on East 26th Street, overlooking Madison Square Park. A boomerang-shaped bar made out of Indonesian mango wood doubles as the reception area, making it the first place visitors see. With limestone countertops and stainless steel appliances, the area is more reminiscent of a residential kitchen than it is of an office pantry. In the months since the company relocated, Anbau has hosted cocktail parties in the same place where employees eat lunch and hold staff meetings… NY Times
  5. Suburban Office Vacancy Rate Rises – The suburban Chicago office market has long suffered from a high vacancy rate, and in the first quarter, that number climbed to 21.2%, up from 20.3% at the end of 2013, largely due to the decisions of several corporations to move downtown and the decisions of others to shrink their footprints, according to Colliers, which recently published its overview of the first quarter. “While there continues to be improvement in certain pockets of the market, tenants in the suburbs are still acting conservatively,” the researchers note. Too few are ready to make the long-term commitments needed to create a healthy market, and many suburban landlords are still offering aggressive incentive packages… Globe St.
 

Chicago Commercial Real Estate – In the News

Tom’s Recommended Reading for the Week

This frigid week did not cool off the week’s news. Enjoy!

  1. Downtown biohub, Matter, will be at Merchandise Mart – The new downtown hub for health-technology startups has a name and an address. Called Matter, the facility will be in the Merchandise Mart next to 1871, the digital-technology hub upon which it’s modeled.The 25,000-square-foot facility will be funded by $4 million from the state of Illinois…  Crain’s Chicago
  2. Chicago Spire developer gets funding, wants to resume project – The Irish developer behind the Chicago Spire said it has found an investor to pay its creditors, allowing it to emerge from bankruptcy and possibly restart work on the long-stalled residential project.Chicago Tribune
  3. Two more law firms coming to Chicago- Two litigation-oriented law firms are opening Chicago offices they say could eventually total as many as 50-some lawyers.Akerman LLP, based in Miami with about 600 lawyers and lobbyists, hired seven lawyers from Chicago-based Ulmer & Berne LLP, while Goldberg Segalla LLP, a 180-lawyer firm based in Buffalo, N.Y., took six lawyers from Chicago-based Wiedner & McAuliffe Ltd… Crain’s Chicago
  4. The $180,000 way to create a tech startup – Seventy-nine percent of Illinois university tech startups still alive since 2010 came up through Chicago-area universities, according to a report out Monday.Northwestern University and the University of Chicago accounted for two-thirds of the total 354 startup companies created statewide, with the University of Chicago counting 103 total and 84 still-operating new companies, and Northwestern creating 116 with 92 still alive… Voices
  5. The logic of logistics: Key considerations for companies looking to expand, renovate or relocate – Despite some recent hiccups, a slowly-but-steadily improving economy seems to have reached the point in which many businesses are no longer just trying to keep their heads above water. In many cases, they are looking to move to a bigger pool. Across the Midwest, improving economic circumstances have led to a noticeable uptick in not only commercial moves, but also expansions and renovations of existing spaces… RE Journals