[left of center]

^ Amazon choosing Chicago is a long shot (technically all the locations are long shots; from a purely mathematical perspective its 5% for each of the 20 locations.... short of the DC area that is) but if they do indeed choose us, you are absolutely right. I don't see why any of these major 1000+ ft projects wouldn't get built, recession or not. It would be a fantastic situation to find ourselves in.

Regarding an upcoming recession, you are correct in that most likely we wont see all bank lending dry up completely as was the case in 08-09, but it might cause some parties to put a few projects on pause, especially if they have several high end projects all going at once in the same market (like Related Midwest, for instance). The fact that these towers are predominantly rentals also works in their favor of being built during a down market, since mortgages wont be an issue and people need a place to live regardless of the economic situation. It all really depends on how well the high end segment of the rental market fares when the economic headwinds go south in the next year or two. People may feel pressured to trade down to more economical living quarters, even if they keep their job; the fear of losing it could be enough to depress demand.