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A team of local real estate investors has raised its bet on a downtown office recovery, buying a distressed Loop office building loan for roughly 84% less than the property was worth over a decade ago. It's the 23-story office property at 200 W. Monroe St.
Audio and summary linked here.
A mess of uncertainty and litigation is sure to follow.
Summary and audio linked here.
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
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The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Buying overpriced office space in chicago is pretty much the same thing, regardless of how much of a discount you received. The problem is the overarching governance and taxation structure that many companies don’t want to pay for anymore. Until that changes, office space is likely to continue its decline.
I know WP commenters have stated what I’m going to say in many different ways, but …
You read about Chicago office buildings selling for much less than they did one or two decades ago, and you read about so many Chicago office buildings being converted to residential units. Then, you picture a movie with a dystopian scene showing smoldering ashes, while the Illinois, Cook County, and Chicago “leaders” who created the mess relocate out of state, laughing all the way to the bank.
Many of them go to lower tax and warmer weather states with the loot.
But prices are up!
Oh…wait. It’s Crain’s. Might as well consult a cat.
It sounds like you can’t comprehend the difference between residential real estate and commercial. Crain’s reported the facts and it didn’t align with your desired sky is falling outcome. It doesn’t mean Crain’s was wrong. I get it though. Anytime you have to read something that you disagree with, just demonize the messenger instead of having an open mind to actual facts. It’s intellectually lazy but it suits you perfectly.
It’s not just work from home causing this. As others here have described, its multi-pronged. I just don’t see a way out of this, the trend is your friend they say, and Chicago’s trends are downright frightful.Chicago, with a 35% near poverty rate, and a labor force of CPS graduates, is ill-equipped to fill the office towers, so they rely on transplants and suburbanites. The transplant market is drying up as graduates seek greener pastures in safer, more vibrant sunbelt cities with a younger median age population. And suburbanites perceive Chicago as dangerous and refuse to work downtown or even… Read more »
I totally agree with your sentiments and then add in the $25.00 dollar minimum wage and you a recipe for disaster.
I know that building. It is a terrific building, with a good location and in pretty good condition. The collapse of downtown is only going to get worse. And plans for a wealth tax, a head tax and maybe a New York style luxury home tax are only going to make it worse. We are watching in real time the dismantling by politicians of a once great urban center.