Articles About Chicago

One of Chicago’s most visited real estate icons — and the Western Hemisphere’s tallest building — is getting a new name.  And Chicagoans are not thrilled. Under the terms of a significant lease signed by global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings, Ltd., the 110-story, 1,450-foot-tall Sears Tower will change its name to the Willis Tower. […]

Contrary to popular perceptions, significant CBD office leases are still being signed, recession or no recession. A case in point is KPMG LLP’s recent inking of a 15-year lease for 260,000 SF in the Aon Center at 200 East Randolph Street in the prized East Loop market.  The accounting and advisory firm will relocate its […]

The economic forecast for 2009 is bleak, although it’s possible that recovery will begin mid-year. This is the opinion of William Strauss and Rick Mattoon, senior economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. “We are predicting that 2008 will yield real GDP of 0.2 percent and that 2009 will be 0.7 percent,” Strauss said. […]

According to a Grubb & Ellis report on the Chicago office market during the third quarter of 2008, vacancy rates increased slightly to 17.1 percent, versus the 16.9 percent reported during the second quarter.  Downtown Chicago reported a loss of 200,000 SF of occupied space during the third quarter, while the suburban office market posted […]

Bill Alter, founder of The Alter Group, passed away peacefully Friday, August 8, in his Winnetka, IL, home of complications from Alzheimer’s at age 78.  Named one of the most influential people of the 20th century by National Real Estate Investor magazine, Alter presided over the development of more than $1 billion of space over […]

One of the biggest issues we’ve faced is the stability of the capital markets, which are slow but showing some signs of life.  You have to look closely, but there are some positive signs.  At the end of March, two office properties sold for more than $500,000,000 each.  These included the UBS Tower in Chicago, […]

When you embark upon a construction project today, the process is one of tight controls, vigilant attention to detail, and a careful balance of cost, schedule, safety, and quality.  Industry professionals are highly skilled and often highly specialized.  It takes an integrated team effort including the owner, design professionals, construction professionals, and many other stakeholders […]

I recently hosted a panel at DePaul University in Chicago on the history of corporate real estate, which highlighted the sector’s emergence from an embedded functionary to a stand-alone department with direct reporting to the CFO.  Unlike today’s more integrated version, the blueprint for corporations throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s was the holding company corporate model, featuring […]

One of the interesting drivers for new development may be the exchanges for futures and options which are seeing some consolidation.  A recent article in the March issue of Business Week Chicago profiles the acquisition of the Chicago Board of Trade by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to form CME Group — a blockbuster deal that […]

Dear Friends, Welcome to Alter NOW, our company’s brand new blog. We hope you’ll find it informative as we set out to chronicle the important trends underway in our industry. We hope to keep this free from sales and marketing language and simply use it as a way to start a dialogue with the stakeholders […]