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As of December, demand in Chicago stood at 45% of the pre-pandemic norm, a 10% decline from the previous year, VTS found. Demand for New York office space was 75% of its pre-pandemic level, followed by Los Angeles at 69%, with San Francisco and Seattle at the bottom with 34%. “Being in the middle of the pack is what we expected from Chicago,” said Max Saia, vice president of investor research for VTS.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Of course no businesses want to settle in CHI with a mayor that blatantly states he is after the lions share of whatever profits one makes.