City of Big Shoulders Craves Big Office Towers

Real estate deal making and development are unfolding all around Chicago on a grand scale. The nation's largest convention center, McCormick Place, just opened a 470,000 sq. ft. addition, expanding the center to 2.7 million sq. ft. City officials are lining up billions of dollars in financing in a bid to lure the 2016 Olympics to town.

It's the office sector, however, that is really boiling over with investment this year. There are currently three residential towers exceeding 1,000 feet in height under construction downtown, led by the 2,000-foot Chicago Spire that will be the tallest building in North America when completed in either 2010 or 2011.

By the end of this past summer, there were a half-dozen high-rise buildings either planned or under construction in the Loop, the city's downtown business district, spanning almost 5 million sq. ft. Most observers figured that would be all the new office space the market could absorb in the next four years.

Then it was revealed that local developer J. Paul Beitler was planning a 1 million sq. ft. tower of almost 50 stories on Wacker Drive. Now there are five office towers of 45 stories or more being added to the Loop — more activity than at any time since before 9/11.

Matthew Ward, senior vice president of The Alter Group, a local builder, has noticed that younger office workers increasingly shun suburban employers in favor of downtown companies. “Chicago's downtown has a great mass transit infrastructure. That's what makes it such a desirable place to live and work.”

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source: nreionline.com