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Originally Posted by the urban politician
With Chicago's downtown being so compact and increasingly residential, my guess is that various forms of office will be desirable in multiple locations. Look at River North, for example, which has the lowest vacancy these days--it's not that close to the Metra stations either.
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River North has the lowest vacancy but it's also the second-smallest submarket in terms of SF after North Michigan. It only has 1/3 the space of the Central Loop and 1/2 the space of the East Loop (including Illinois Center) but it covers an even broader area geographically.
A lot of the River North space is in small loft buildings, which are attractive to growing sectors of the economy (tech, design, etc) in ways that the Illinois Center and Streeterville skyscrapers are not. Also, River North has direct access to the Red and Brown Lines and it's fairly easy to bike, bus, or even drive in from the west, so it doesn't have the same transportation challenges. It's not convenient to Metra, true, but those growing sectors of the economy don't tend to employ a lot of suburbanites or a lot of older people generally.
Right now West Loop office is growing, but it doesn't have easy access to Metra or the North Side CTA lines. We'll have to see if this trend picks up speed or dies out. Certainly there are tons of cheap, cool Pilsen apartments just a short Pink Line ride away from Google's new offices.