About Area

The Chicago downtown market consists of approximately 250 million square feet of commercial office space, with half of that being within the downtown CBD. While the commercial real estate market has historically been focused on the Downtown CBD submarket, the city is seeing rapid outward growth into the Chicago 77 communities and neighborhoods, causing a shift in what is seen as the center of the city. An eruption of more than 7 million square feet of new construction in the West Loop and Fulton Market has pushed the boundaries West, while new adaptive reuse and new construction projects in Goose Island and River West continue to drive attention to the north. In the South Loop, multiple Mega-projects are in planning or development, and with their anticipated completion, new neighborhoods and boundaries will be formed. Beyond the core neighborhoods, the commercial market continues to expand outward as neighborhoods like Bronzeville, PIlsen, Humboldt Park, North Center and Avondale see more demand, and older manufacturing and industrial buildings are seeing revitalization through adaptive reuse into new age commercial space.