155 N. Wacker detail in the Loop.

Photo brought to you by Skyscraperpage user J M Tungsten.   This would make a perfect background for your computer so cheers to the photographer.

Chicago’s Downtown Office Vacancies Have Reached a New 4 Year High.

Downtown office vacancy highest in 4 years

By: Thomas A. Corfman March 29, 2010

(Crain’s) — The downtown vacancy rate has made its biggest leap in seven years, as a sharp drop in demand was compounded by the completion of yet another office project.

The vacancy rate spiked to 14.9% during the first quarter, compared to 13.8% during the fourth quarter and 11.5% during the first quarter of 2009, according to a report by the Chicago office of real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Inc.The jump of 1.1 percentage points is the largest single-quarter increase since the fourth quarter of 2002, when the vacancy rate climbed 2.1 percentage points, to 12.9%, in the wake of another recession.

The vacancy rate has climbed for six consecutive quarters and now stands at the highest level since first-quarter 2006, when the vacancy was 15.1%. During the last decade, the vacancy rate peaked at 16.0% at the end of 2005.

Yet in a hopeful sign, the amount of sublease space fell during the first quarter, the first decline in two years, prompting some landlord representatives to think the worst may be over.

“I think we have nudged off the bottom,” says landlord rep Robert Gillespie, a senior vice-president with CB Richard Ellis. “I am not suggesting that we are on a sharp V-type of recovery, but we are on an upward trajectory.”

Including sublease space, the overall vacancy rate shot up to 17.1% during the first quarter, compared to 16.2% during the fourth quarter and 13.3% during the first quarter of 2009, CB Richard Ellis says.

The increase in overall vacancy is the largest single-quarter jump in five years.

Demand for downtown office space plunged by more than 700,000 square feet during the first quarter, the fourth time during the past six quarters that demand has fallen. The drop in demand is the biggest single-quarter decline since the fourth quarter of 2002.

Demand is measured by net absorption, the change in the amount of leased and occupied space, compared to the previous quarter.

Mr. Gillespie says that first-quarter demand reduction is the result of corporate decisions made six to nine months ago.

But tenant representative Daniel Arends says he expects the vacancy rate to rise another full percentage point this year, adding, “There just doesn’t seem to be a lot of demand.”

More than half of tenants with leases coming due are renewing, compared with just 30% to 35% in 2008, says Mr. Arends, a principal in Rosemont-based Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc.…

Read the full Crain’s Chicago Business article by clicking HERE!

Photo brought to you by delobbo.com

A city park in the middle of the Loop? Planned and ready to go ahead!

So although I wasn’t happy to see two old buildings demolished, I’m glad there will be a patch of green and trees in the middle of the Loop.  The John Buck Company, developer of the neighboring 155 N. Wacker, is helping to develop this new downtown public plaza located at Randolph and Franklin Streets.  Now for the fun part, Chicago taxpayers are footing the $7MM bill for this public plaza through TIF funds.

Photos courtesy of Skyscraperpage contributer, ‘george.’

NEW LISTING ALERT! Large 1Bed/1Bath in historic Manhattan building, Printers Row!

We’ve got a new listing to talk about!  Only 1 day on the MLS and we’re already getting calls about it.  This is a large 1Bed in the historic Manhattan building in Chicago’s Printer’s Row neighborhood, just North of Congress.  Located at  431 S. Dearborn the home features an updated kitchen and bathroom, a great breakfast bar, and even enough space for a dining area.

The home also features hardwood floors throughout, very large windows which are great for letting in tons of sunlight, in-unit laundry, and tons of storage.  The building features a doorman, bike room, and extra storage space.  This home’s location is perfect!  You’re a short walk away from all there is in the Loop, the El stops, Grant Park, and all of the restaurants and shops in Printers Row and State Street!  Priced at $209,000!

Check out a couple of the pictures and for the full virtual tour, click HERE!

 If you or someone you know are looking to buy, sell, or rent a home, don’t hesitate to contact me.  Email me at jeffstewart@atproperties.com.

Target may move in to Sullivan Center on Chicago’s State Street.

Target Corp. eyes historic Carson’s site on Chicago’s State Street for new store.

By: Eddie Baeb January 18, 2010

Discount giant Target Corp. is in talks for a full-line store that could include groceries at the historic Carson Pirie Scott & Co. building on State Street.

A spokeswoman for the firm that owns the building, Joseph Freed & Associates LLC, says talks with Target are at an advanced stage for a lease at the store designed by architect Louis Sullivan more than 110 years ago.

“There are serious conversations going on,” she says, declining to provide specifics.

                       

Real estate sources say Target has been scouting in recent months for big downtown and River North sites, including the Carson’s building at 1 S. State Street. The landmark building has been rechristened Sullivan Center as part of Chicago-based Freed’s efforts to redevelop the property since Carson’s closed its department store about three years ago.

Landing Target, which has built an image as a stylish discounter in apparel and home furnishings, would boost Mayor Richard M. Daley’s bid to bolster downtown’s residential and retail mix. It also would be a major victory for Freed, which has only one tenant at Sullivan Center, a small restaurant, and is battling foreclosure up the street at the newly opened Block 37 mall.

“It would be a huge boon and shot in the arm for State Street,” says Bruce Kaplan, a retail broker at the Chicago office CB Richard Ellis Inc. who’s tracked retail vacancies on State for 20 years. “Target is really the state of the art in department stores and the kind of brick-and-mortar store positioned to succeed in the future.”

The retailer is looking to occupy about 80,000 square feet on no more than two stories, which would make the State Street outlet almost half the size of its new SuperTarget suburban stores. Such space will be a challenge to find in and around the Loop. Indeed, Target has looked periodically for a downtown site for at least a decade. It also has been trying to get into Manhattan for years and is poised to open its first store in East Harlem this year….

Check out the full Crain’s Chicago Business article by clicking HERE!

Village Green seeking TIF money to redevelop a historic Loop highrise!

I really really hope this building gets started soon.  I have a friend who lives in another Village Green rental building and let me tell you that they did an amazing job with the apartments and I’m confident that Village Green will do the same for 188 W. Randolph.  Now I just gotta try to get in to one of those below market rent apartments!

Tower seeks public financing

20% of landmark would be set aside as lower-rent units

January 13, 2010

DAVID ROEDER – droeder@suntimes.com

Partially masked by nets and scaffolding for months, the Jazz Age skyscraper at 188 W. Randolph looks like a wounded veteran of the real estate crash. To restart its renovation, the owners are in hot pursuit of public financing.

Apartment builder Village Green Cos. has asked the Illinois Housing Development Authority to issue tax-free bonds on its behalf. And City Hall has begun to move on Village Green’s request to establish a tax-increment financing district that could help the project.

The 188 W. Randolph building, known in its early life as the Steuben Club Building, is remembered more recently for its falling terra-cotta. Village Green, which bought the building out of bankruptcy for $10 million in 2005, fixed the worst of it and put up the scaffolding to protect pedestrians. But the richly ornamented terra-cotta is what makes the building special and contributes to its status as a Chicago landmark.

Kenneth Barnes, senior vice president for development at Village Green, said public support is justified by the historic preservation.

Twenty percent of the apartments would be set aside at below-market rents, calculated as affordable for families with 50 percent of the city’s median income.

The office building would be converted to 310 apartments, Barnes said. Village Green will occupy lower-floor commercial space, turning it into its Chicago regional office….

Check out the full Chicago Sun Times article by clicking HERE!

Adler School of Professional Psychology’s major move and expansion in the Loop.

North Loop school moving to 1 N. Dearborn

By: Eddie Baeb Dec. 02, 2009

(Crain’s) — The Adler School of Professional Psychology is moving to the vintage office building at 1 N. Dearborn Street, a deal that doubles the school’s current space and is one of the biggest new leases downtown this year.

The Adler School will occupy two full levels at 1 N. Dearborn and is to move in January 2011 from its home of almost 20 years at 65 E. Wacker Place, a skinny building where the school is spread over seven floors.

At 1 N. Dearborn, a 17-story tower built in 1905 that includes Sears’ State Street department store, the school has leased 100,796 square feet that includes a designated first-level entrance and lobby. The school also will have a rooftop deck and has expansion options for the currently vacant 17th floor.

Adler President Raymond Crossman says the move will be “transformational” for the little-known school, which offers graduate-level courses in psychology and group counseling as well as social justice programs inspired by Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychiatrist who died in 1937 and is credited with coining the term “inferiority complex.”

Mr. Crossman says the move will accommodate the school’s recent growth, to 712 students this fall from 366 five years ago, and also help raise Adler’s profile.

“Right now, you can walk by the school and not really notice it. That won’t be possible at the new location,” says Mr. Crossman, adding that the new classroom space also will be a big improvement for students and staff. “It’s going to be hard to walk into that space and think inside the box. The space is going to be so innovative.”

While the recession has ravaged the office leasing market and burst the construction boom downtown, universities have been a bright spot for the Loop. Roosevelt University recently sold bonds to finance a new 32-story tower, which will be the second-tallest college building in the U.S. when completed in 2011, while Robert Morris University is also expanding….

Check out the full Crain’s Chicago Business article by clicking HERE!

1 N. Dearborn St. Photo from CoStar Group Inc.

My own visions for Roosevelt University’s new high rise in downtown Chicago

What do you think?  After eating for an entire day, I was sitting bored and trying not to give in to the tryptophan so I did a little editing for Roosevelt University’s new proposed dormitory and educational building, located at 425 S. Wabash Avenue in Chicago’s Loop.

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Roosevelt University to construct 32 story building. 2nd tallest in United States!

Roosevelt University to Build 32-Story Vertical Campus for Academics, Student Life and Housing

Roosevelt University will begin construction in February on a dramatic skyscraper that will be the second tallest university building in the nation.

The University’s new vertical campus will be sleek and contemporary, featuring a glass exterior, undulating shape, views of Lake Michigan and connections in four locations with the University’s landmark Auditorium Building.  A groundbreaking ceremony for the project is planned for April.

Designed with open spaces that will make the building feel like a series of neighborhoods, the structure will be a “green” building, drawing in natural light and cutting energy costs, and will be one of the few skyscrapers in Chicago that is LEED certified.

The 32-story multi-purpose building will be located at 425 S. Wabash Avenue in Chicago on the site of the University’s old Herman Crown Center, which is currently being demolished.

The structure will have classrooms, lecture halls, state-of-the-art science labs, conference space, a dining center, a student recreation center, residence suites for more than 600 students, offices and space for the Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration.

The new facility is needed for increasing numbers of full-time students who are taking more credit hours than ever before at the Chicago Campus. The University is projecting full-time equivalency enrollments will continue to rise significantly through 2017. The building will increase classroom capacity by 40 percent at the Chicago Campus and will pave the way for centralization of student services and new facilities for growing numbers of student-life organizations.

“This is the most important development in the University’s history since the Auditorium Building was acquired in 1946,” said Roosevelt University President Chuck Middleton. “We are building the quintessential 21st Century university structure and it’s going to give us a dramatic new image on Chicago’s skyline….”

Check out the full article by clicking HERE!  Photos courtesy of Roosevelt University’s website!

 

 

Another Chicago building gets a good cleaning. The Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue.

Wow, I’m naiive…and I guess stupid but why is it that I always think these buildings are supposed to be this dark and grimy color?  First it was the Old Colony building and now it’s the Fine Arts Building that is returning to its original splendor after a nice bath.  The Fine Arts Building, located at 410 S. Michigan Avenue across from Chicago’s Grant Park, has been going through the tedious process of cleaning the facade after decades of filth and grime soaked into the exterior stone.  Look at the pictures, especially the last one, and you’ll notice the change.  A big thanks goes to the ArchitectureChicago Plus website for the post and the photos!