River North's Appeal Remains Undiminished

444 N. Wells was Urban Innovations’ first building. The once gritty neighborhood is now one of the most desirable office markets in the city.

CHICAGO—Rental rates have recently increased significantly in the River North submarket, and many of its office tenants have responded by redesigning their spaces to allow more workers per square foot. That’s the conclusion of Aaron Zaretsky, the leasing director of Urban Innovations, the company that in helped create this market more than thirty years ago by renovating many of its industrial spaces into modern offices.

Urban Innovations has just completed a series of leases within its roughly 600,000 square foot portfolio in the neighborhood, and Zaretsky tells GlobeSt.com that the occupancy rate is now around 98% or 99%. As a result, River North rents have risen as much as 10% in the past year. “Companies still want to be where they can attract great human capital.” And “River North’s proximity to all public transportation service lines, day and evening entertainment and vast number of newly constructed homes are second to none… providing an attractive place for many to live and work.”