Chicago Industry Trends

As Chicago changes in the industry, Chicago is welcoming an expanding variety of new business and real estate development projects. Office leasing activity is rebounding in spite of rising costs for construction according to the BOMA/Chicago Study; tenants place greater importance on amenities and placemaking, leading them away from extravagant new construction to more co-operative spaces; this trend is also apparent by retrofitting existing buildings, allowing for more flexibility in the use of firms who are relocating or downsizing to smaller areas.

IT (Information Technology) has quickly become one of the fastest growing industries in Chicago because of the proliferation of shared workspace operators like WeWork and Regus, but also because IT firms profit from Chicago's strong infrastructure and its proximity to other talent pools in different sectors; furthermore, 1871 incubator has been recognized as the best incubators worldwide.

Chicago is among the top three manufacturing city in the US that has high concentrations of food, metals and plastics production. Manufacturing companies benefit from Chicago's central location which makes their products easy to transport across the nation or globe. Furthermore, technology in this sector is rapidly progressing and Chicago has many incubators like mHub.

Transportation and logistics are key economic drivers in Chicago area, particularly in the process of transitioning businesses away from traditional retailing towards online sales. Chicago has a varied shipping fleet including container ports as well as air cargo hubs, airports, waterways inland and rail yards. It also has well-developed intermodal facilities which provide access to the entire US the supply chain.

Chicago remains well positioned to remain a leading economic engine due to the recent expansions to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange - a global center for trading and processing commodities – taking effect. Union Station serves thousands of Amtrak passengers each day. Its port provides another important part of regional commerce, handling both containers and bulk items.

Tourism in the Chicago area is also seeing expansion, and is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels this summer because of a number of major events such as 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 eases travel restrictions. However, consumers' trust could be affected as the it is extremely unpredictable in the housing market and real estate professionals are able to assist buyers with these complexities and make sure informed decisions are made by buyers.