Cost of CBD’s Trophy Spaces Grow Fastest in N. America

Hines’ River Point development at 444 W. Lake St. just opened, and was not part of this year’s survey by CBRE.

CHICAGO—Even before Chicago’s two new trophy office towers opened earlier this year, rental rates in the CBD’s trophy spaces hit historical highs and had grown faster than in any other city in North America, according to CBRE Group, Inc.’s new Global Prime Office Rents survey. These top office properties, generally those constructed since 2000, contain about 14 million square feet, and saw rents rise 19.9% from 2015 to 2016, faster than every major market in the world except Belfast.

“When you dig into the data it’s really a simple supply and demand issue,” Kyle Kamin, a Chicago-based executive vice president with CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. “The overall vacancy rate for class A properties is about 10%, but within this subset it’s about 4%.”