| Chicago unemployment is down to 8.7%, lower than state and national rates; you can thank, in part, start-ups and small firms. This year and next, even more will take loft office space in River North. | |||
| Urban Innovations' Aaron Zaretsky leases nine buildings west of LaSalle and just north of the river and has filled the upper-floor office space at 222 W Hubbard. (He's in talks to lease the ground floor space to a furniture showroom.) Tenants include media buyerCentro, Viewpoints Technology, and Integrated Marketing Services. It's dozens of these 5,000 to 10k SF tenants that caused the 139k SF of absorption in the River North submarket during Q1, according to Transwestern. | |||
| Aaron believes small companies are choosing River North lofts because they're more affordable and flexible. In many instances, Urban Innovations offers short-term leases and will renegotiate if a company needs to change office size mid-lease. Small companies are also coming up with unique ideas about what office space should look like: Centro thinks it should have LED lighting, giant bean bag chairs, and bright colors. (Above, that's either the interior of the space shuttle Endeavour, or one of those chic offices.) |
Lofty Aspirations
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Aaron Zaretsky
, Urban Innovations
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