Chicago Industry Trends

As Chicago industry trends change, Chicago is welcoming an increasing diversity of new business and real development projects. Office leasing activity is increasing even as construction costs are rising according to the BOMA/Chicago Study and tenants place greater importance on amenities and the places to be, which is driving them away from lavish new constructions to more collaborative spaces. This trend is also apparent through retrofitting of existing buildings to allow for companies to use them in a variety of ways who are relocating or downsizing to smaller spaces.

IT (Information Technology) has quickly become one of the fastest-growing industries in Chicago due to the proliferation of shared workspace companies like WeWork and Regus in addition to the fact that IT firms benefit from Chicago's strong infrastructure and its proximity to talent pools in other sectors; furthermore, 1871 incubator has ranked amongst one of the most prestigious incubators worldwide.

Chicago is among the top three manufacturing cities of the US that has high concentrations of food and plastics, as well as metals. Manufacturing companies profit due to the city's central location, which allows their products to be easily transported throughout the United States or around the world. Additionally, the innovation in the industry is rapidly advancing which is why Chicago offers numerous incubators like mHub.

Logistics and transportation remain major economic drivers for the Chicago area, particularly when companies shift away from traditional retail and move to online sales. Chicago has a varied shipping fleet, including container ports, air cargo hubs, press release 3 july 2019 Gst - Pressez.substack.com, airports, waterways inland and rail yards. There are also strong intermodal facilities that provide access to the entire US logistics chain.

Chicago remains well positioned to continue to be a major economic force due to the recent expansions of Chicago Mercantile Exchange - a global hub for trading and processing commodities – taking effect. Union Station serves thousands of Amtrak passengers daily while its port provides another important part of regional commerce through handling containers and bulk merchandise.

Tourism in the Chicago area is also seeing growth, and should return to pre-pandemic levels this summer as a result of several major events including NASCAR races, Lollapalooza Festival, Democratic National Convention and International Manufacturing Technology Show. O'Hare airport should see improved flow of passengers as more airlines resume service and the government reduces travel restrictions. Nevertheless, consumer trust could be affected as the it is extremely unpredictable in the housing market Realtors can assist buyers with these complexities and ensure that informed choices are made by prospective buyers.