Newly vacant Michigan Avenue spaces (Eddie Bauer, BofA, Saks) are backfilling much faster than in years past, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank executive managing director Greg Kirsch, another Bisnow panelist, tells us. (He calls the above pic "Head Shot, Interrupted.") He’s noticed luxury marching south down the Mag Mile (though the point is a bit self-serving, given his work leasing up the Wrigley Building, he admits). Most east-west traffic off Michigan historically came from Oak Street or Chicago Avenue, but Eataly (above right), along with ultra-luxe Tourbillon’s lease last year, beefed up Ohio and generated renewed interest in some formerly stagnant spaces, he says. (This is how you should play Monopoly.) Like snowbirds hellbent on Florida, the southern migration doesn’t stop at the river.
Beyond that, there’s a blooming stretch of Michigan called the “Millennium Mile,” and it’s seeing a host of retail and hotel redevelopments (we predict they'll make a killing during Lollapalooza). We may not think of these expanded retail boundaries as fringe, but larger, established multi-national retail firms are typically reluctant to take risks on secondary streets or pave the way, Greg says. Somebody has to, though, and it will be interesting to see which intrepid tenants take the leap. (We recommend limoncello from Eataly for liquid courage.) Greg's a proud tech nerd and you might catch him walking down the street wearing Google Glass.
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