Snapshots

Class A buildings west of the River and north of Madison reveal a leasing advantage to entire Chicago submarket

West Loop buildings have generally commanded some of the highest rents across the Chicago office market.

May 08, 2019

West Loop buildings have generally commanded some of the highest rents across the Chicago office market. While Wacker Drive remains a premier address in the city, a cluster of Class A assets west of the river and north of Madison Street, near the split of the Chicago River has outperformed the West Loop by a significant margin.
The seven buildings included in the sample account for over 6.4 MSF of the total submarket, or 16.7% of the West Loop inventory. Over the past five quarters, those six, less 500 W. Madison, accounted for 25.1% of all West Loop Class A absorption from Q1 2018 to present – outperforming the other West Loop Class A assets relative to their net absorption and percentage of total inventory by nearly 9%. These six assets also show a rent premium of $2.53, or 8.25% to the rest of the West Loop Trophy & Class A market.

Source: JLL Research