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Led by troubled buildings in the urban core, almost $7.2 billion worth of Chicago-area commercial properties were distressed midway through the year, dwarfing the amount in any other major market except for New York City and San Francisco, according to research firm MSCI Real Assets. It's a historic wave of financial pain fueled by the highest interest rates in more than two decades, new work patterns and investors wary of betting on downtown Chicago. Crain's maps out prominent distressed buildings to track downtown's post-COVID fallout.
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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