Alby Gallun

Alby Gallun is a senior reporter with Crain’s Chicago Business. A Milwaukee native, Gallun spent more than three years at the Milwaukee Business Journal as a feature writer and a manufacturing and labor reporter. Before that, he covered the agriculture commodities markets for Reuters.

As the use of mass-timber construction gains momentum in the multifamily development business, it is still taking baby steps in the U.S. industrial market. Last October, Affinius Capital and Seefried Industrial Properties attracted plenty of attention when they completed a 161,000-square-foot (14,900 sq m) wood-paneled warehouse outside Dallas, one of the first of its kind in the country, and more are planned or under construction.
When the Field Building on Chicago’s LaSalle Street opened in 1932, it was a technological and architectural marvel, with high-speed elevators, drinking fountains, and even air-conditioning, a first for the city. Nearly a century later, the 1.3-million-square-foot (120,774 sq m) Art Deco landmark is a pioneer of a different sort.
In a market that has been disrupted by rising interest rates and unsteady financial markets, single-family rental investors and developers have not lost sight of the bigger picture. Demand for housing still exceeds supply.
After nearly eight years, workers are returning to a former General Electric factory in Fort Wayne. A complex financial package helped create a new home for one of Indiana’s largest employers at this postindustrial site in the U.S. Midwest.
Members Only
The office and industrial real estate markets have moved in opposite directions since the COVID-19 virus arrived on U.S. shores almost three years ago. In late October, Dermody Properties broke ground on an industrial mega-development on the former corporate campus of insurance giant Allstate.
Undermanaged and underinvested for years, the newly unveiled, amenity-rich Chicago redevelopment appears prescient.
New Land Enterprises is leasing up Ascent MKE, the tallest mass timber building in the world at 25 stories, in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
When developer Michael Reschke opens his new hotel on LaSalle Street in Chicago’s Loop district in a few weeks, he will also be opening the door for dozens of overseas investors to live in the United States.
For decades, the storied North Michigan Avenue shopping district has been a key engine driving downtown Chicago’s economy. But a slow decline already underway before COVID-19’s arrival accelerated as restrictions to contain the pandemic kept many tourists and local shoppers out of stores. City officials and local leaders are trying to lay the foundation for a turnaround after the release of a report from a panel convened by the Urban Land Institute’s Chicago district council.
Investors who specialize in “deconverting” condo properties back into rentals are finding opportunities. But the deals take patience and fortitude.
Members Sign In
Don’t have an account yet? Sign up for a ULI guest account.