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Originally Posted by ithakas
What are the potential anchor tenants in the market right now? My understanding was that 130 N Franklin and 590 W. Madison were both heavily courting CNA in the hopes of breaking ground soon...
Perhaps a relocation from the suburbs? How many more global HQs can the Merchandise Mart handle?
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There are always a lot of 150k+ sf tenants in the market shopping. And, a portion of those will always consider new construction as an option. The market right now is no different. I'll probably be able to get a read on the better prospects later this month or next. In general, the relocations from the suburbs or less frequently out of town are not your top candidates for new construction space. However, there could always be a small number of exceptions. Your bread-and-butter remains existing downtown law, professional/business service/financial tenants with major lease expirations 3-5 years out, who desire completely redesigned/more efficient/better located space. Chicago, luckily for us, almost never has an acute shortage of these - and typically if there is a true drying-up of good new construction prospects, it honestly has to do more with the cyclicality of the macroeconomy - in a significant downturn, tenants as well as even the ever-optimistic developer set (and of course lending community, etc) of course become more risk-averse, and heightened risk aversion and new skyscraper construction are obviously often at odds.....