News
CHICAGO RETAIL SNEAK PEAK
March 8, 2012
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| Marcus & Millichap was good enough to give Bisnow a sneak peak at its new Chicago Retail Report, and we're going to be good enough to pass along its highlights. We took a close look at it while visiting the Mrs. Fields above, which opened for business downtown only last fall and happens to serve coffee. (We took such a close look that we may have left with several cookies.) The big takeaway: the market is improving. Some 2.6M SF of retail will be absorbed in metro Chicago this year; vacancies will drop 60 bps to 10.6%; and effective retail rents metrowide will rise 1.2%. Steven Weinstock, M&M's regional manager in the Oak Brook office, told us the decompression of cap rates for single-tenant, net-leased assets is migrating into the multi-tenant retail sector as wily investors, eager to compete at these new low cap rates, hunt for alternatives in an improving retail economy. | |
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| There's no truth to the rumor, which we started ourselves, that the G8 Summit was moved from Chicago because it would conflict with an upcoming Bisnow summit. But really, which would you rather attend? One featuring stuffy international finance ministers, downtown roadblocks and enough security to staff a supermax prison, or a convivial real estate pow wow? |
