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Vacancies Rise in Suburban Office, But Tenants Return to the Market
The first quarter brought stirrings of life in Chicago’s suburban office market, according to reports by Colliers and JLL. Both firms reported that while some metrics worsened in Q1, the quarter also saw more tenants in the marketplace.
JLL’s Edgar Leon reported that the suburban market recorded its fourth consecutive quarter of negative net absorption at 211,130 square feet, primarily from rightsizing tenants and sublease vacancies. Colliers’ Ronna Larsen put the vacancy rate at 24.2% overall, although lower in some submarkets.
“After a lackluster close to 2020, leasing activity saw a resurgence with 35 transactions executed,” Leon wrote. “This is the largest level of activity since the first quarter of 2020.”
While Q1’s largest suburban office lease was a deal for 42,000 square feet signed by Kellogg’s at the Shuman in Naperville, Larsen wrote that “smaller spaces of 10,000 square feet and less continue to see the most activity.”
Pictured: The Shuman.
- ◦Lease
