Chicago
Despite improving return-to-office numbers, the office sector still battles numerous challenges that are resulting in higher loan defaults. According to MSCI Real Assets, office leads the charge on rising distress levels, which have not been seen in more than a decade. Office accounts for nearly half of outstanding distress: $51.6 billion in outstanding distress at the end of fourth quarter 2024, and another $74.7 billion in office properties identified as at risk for “potential” distress.
Four experts discuss how to rebuild urban cores by bringing the public and private sectors together to create thriving downtowns that entice remote workers to return to the office and broaden the mix of uses.
Consumers have kept a steady foot on the gas this year. A record-high 197 million consumers shopped in stores or online over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF forecasts that holiday sales will grow between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent, with total retail spending in the United States falling between $979.5 billion and $989 billion during November and December. That forecast also is consistent with NRF’s annual U.S. sales growth—between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent—for 2024.
At ULI Chicago’s October gathering at the new 73-story 1000M apartment tower, located at 1000 S. Michigan Ave., key members of the building’s development, architecture and construction teams hosted a tour of the project and enlightened attendees with a panel discussion on the history behind the skyscraper’s signature cantilever.
The construction landscape has largely held steady across the United States and Canada.
The ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate is pleased to announce its two newest board members: Esther An and Collete English Dixon.
The winners of the ULI Americas Awards for Excellence become finalists for the 2024 ULI Global Awards for Excellence, competing against projects from the Europe and Asia Pacific regions. The awards are open to projects and programs in the ULI Americas region that are substantially complete, financially viable, and in stable operation. The program evaluates submissions on overall excellence, including achievements in marketplace acceptance, design, planning, technology, amenities, economic impact, management, community engagement, innovation, and sustainability, among others.
![30_north_lasalle_street_8712042[1].jpeg](https://cdn-ul.uli.org/dims4/default/454a61f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/465x261+0+235/resize/500x281!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fk2-prod-uli.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fcb%2Fbe%2Fec9022084f7ca4fca698c5e7c0d5%2F30-north-lasalle-street-87120421.jpeg)
Chicago has become one of the many major cities nationwide whose downtown office market has been negatively affected by the pandemic and the associated increase in remote work. To boost development in its downtown core, the city of Chicago recently announced that it will offer $150 million in subsidies to real estate developers. The move will help develop more than 1,000 apartments in four separate adaptive-use developments.
How we use words is important. Words can describe both racial inequities and the efforts to remedy them. As the real estate industry continues the work to dismantle systemic racism, it’s critical to be intentional about language.
![KAEGI_0072_pp (005)[1].jpg](https://cdn-ul.uli.org/dims4/default/6cc4423/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2400x1349+0+564/resize/500x281!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fk2-prod-uli.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F80%2Fa7%2Fc10772a049429983d4b20358d4b1%2Fkaegi-0072-pp-0051.jpg)
Since assuming office in 2018, Assessor Fritz Kaegi has overseen the assessment of all residential and commercial properties in Cook County, the region in northeastern Illinois that includes Chicago.
Developer Quintin Primo, who has done more than $14 billion worth of transactions over his decades-long career, is currently eyeing revitalizing Chicago’s Loop in his hometown, among other projects.
Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate was awarded first place in the graduate division of the 13th annual Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation Real Estate Challenge, which culminated with final presentations in April at the offices of Holland & Knight, 150 N. Riverside Plaza in Chicago.
In April, ULI Young Leaders participated in a webinar that addressed the current and future impact of artificial intelligence on the real estate industry and the obstacles and challenges to its adoption.
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.
A number of factors are encouraging developers to try to bring Mother Nature on as a partner. On the carrot side, some governments are offering incentives to build green. There are sticks as well, which are also helping to keep builders focused on their carbon footprint
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
Internationally acclaimed Chicago architect and Studio Gang founder, known for bringing a sustainable approach to tall buildings, to receive the prestigious ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.
Investors who specialize in “deconverting” condo properties back into rentals are finding opportunities. But the deals take patience and fortitude.
Fall meeting attendees toured on foot this dynamic and exciting community in Chicago that is evolving differently than any other Chinatown in America. A neighborhood rich with historic and award-winning contemporary architecture, this proud community is fighting gentrification while retaining its cultural significance.
Eight new hotels are now under construction in Chicago’s central business district, totaling about 1,500 new rooms, according to the latest list from STR Group. Developers are also planning to start construction on more than a dozen other new hotel projects, totaling an additional 3,700 new rooms.
Members Only
Ten bridges for walkers and bicyclists creatively span waterways, roads, and railway tracks.
Ten communities bring contemporary design approaches to housing for seniors.
How did Reston Town Center, set some 20 miles (32 km) from the nation’s capital in the leafy suburbs of Northern Virginia, generate premium real estate values and become desirable enough to compete for the best tenants? It is a story dating back more than 30 years, the product of critical decisions made by a host of real estate professionals, public officials, planners, and designers.
The city of Chicago is celebrating the adoption of an extensive overhaul of its building code that has been decades in the making. The new code means some big changes ahead for the city. For ULI Chicago’s Building Reuse Initiative, it also represents a significant step forward in its work to clear a path for more building reuse throughout the city.
The Chicago Riverwalk, which reused derelict infrastructure, is a 1.25-mile-long (2 km) civic space between Lake Michigan and the confluence of the Main Stem, North Branch, and South Branch of the Chicago River. This reinvention of urban life is at the heart of a new chapter for Chicago in which public space becomes a gathering ground for residents. Providing sweeping views and new connectivity, this civic amenity reunites the river and the city.
For more than a decade, the brick “two-flat” on the 900 block of North Drake Avenue on Chicago’s West Side had been vacant. But by the time the school year begins this fall, the West Humboldt Park home will have a new occupant. A major reason for this property’s happy ending is the involvement of a land bank that acquired the building and wiped out its back taxes and encumbrances, making it easier for someone to purchase the property and improve it.
Teams from Carnegie Mellon University, Université Laval in Quebec, the University of Maryland, and the University of Texas at Austin have been selected as the four finalists for the 15th annual ULI Hines Student Competition.
With no end in sight to the boom in urban and close-in suburban multifamily housing construction, developers are eager for ways to save money on ever-increasing land and construction costs. Experts speaking at the 2016 ULI Fall Meeting said that reducing parking requirements and increasing use wood-frame construction for buildings up to five stories could help keep costs in check.
PBS will broadcast a new documentary, 10 Parks That Changed America, on April 12th. Produced by WTTW in Chicago, the program identifies the 10 most influential urban parks in the country, from the era of America’s early settlers to the present day, ranging from the Squares of Savannah, Georgia, to the High Line of New York City.
Robotic vehicles, drones, and other cutting-edge technological advances could soon reshape urban land use as radically as the automobile once did. Here are some leaders’ thoughts on how the future might look.
