Chicago Retail Market Report

Chicago records standout net absorption. While scant construction is positioning many existing spaces to be backfilled, strong demand for single-tenant properties is expediting this trend. Population growth, which has returned to the metro for the first time since 2017, is aiding foot traffic and influencing a mix of retailers to execute expansion initiatives. Tenants occupied a nationally high 1.6 million square feet of the market's vacant single-tenant stock over the 12-month span ending in March. Move-ins were widespread, leading 11 submarkets to post all-time low vacancy rates at some point in the last year. Three of them — Oak Brook-Naperville-Aurora, Joliet-Central Will and the North Side — will likely see the most tightening in the near term. Together, they are expected to host over 350,000 square feet of move-ins to shopping centers in 2024, outstripping the sector's marketwide net absorption volume from the last 12 months.