As Chicago’s date with the Democratic National Convention inches closer, the city and other invested stakeholders plan to outfit sagging downtown retail storefronts with glitzy art installations, street activations and pop-up shops. For four days in August, the city will perform on a stage that has few equals, with scores of delegates, journalists, vendors, protesters and a veritable political carnival crowding its streets. It makes perfect sense that Chicago wants to apply a little makeup and take its best shot at winning America over, reshaping the city’s national reputation as a Midwestern ne’er-do-well with a crime problem. The city’s play to spruce up its downtown could give it a much-needed shot in the arm, CRE players say. But visitors could also see it as a ploy to paper over record levels of Loop retail vacancy for a short-term image boost — one that might inspire positive momentum for retailers who see successful trial runs without assuaging investors' long-term fears about the health of the area. “Investors are very savvy these days where if you are just window-dressing and it's smoke and mirrors, they get that because you still have to rely on the underlying fundamentals of the marketplace,” Edwards Realty Co. President Ramzi Hassan said. 
As the city ramps up for the DNC, it is grappling with a retail vacancy rate in the Loop that topped 30% for the first time in 2023, more than doubling its 2019 level of 14.9%, according to an Read the full story here. | 
