Activity increases in Downtown Chicago amidst fundamentally transformed dynamics

This period the Downtown Chicago market witnessed its second-best quarter as measured by lease transaction volumes since the pandemic fundamentally altered office leasing more than three years ago. Deal activity totaled 2.4 million square feet (msf) in Q3 2023, up more than 33% from a year ago but still below typical pre-pandemic levels. Touring levels were reported to be heightened throughout the summer for direct and sublease opportunities alike, while several large occupiers were actively seeking to transact space. A number of tenants grew their overall occupancies, most notably Invenergy which nearly doubled its footprint at 1 South Wacker Drive to 210,000 square feet (sf). However, more firms were observed to be shedding space this period, including Winston & Strawn and Relativity, whose occupancies were reduced by 42% and 45%, respectively.

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