Luxury Renters Headed to the Suburbs

15 N. Vail in Arlington Heights, a luxury apartment building renovated by 33 Realty.

CHICAGO—The rise of Chicago’s market for luxury apartments is having an impact beyond the city’s boundaries. Apartment managers in the suburbs are now seeing spillover effects as renters getting priced out of once affordable neighborhoods in the city seek alternatives. And that is creating a new frontier for those that provide luxury apartments.

“The renters that come to us now include many from the West Loop who say they can’t afford the apartments there since companies like Google came in,” Drew Millard, principal, 33 Realty, tells GlobeSt.com. The company manages about 2,000 luxury units in the metro area, with about 300 in towns such as Des Plaines and Arlington Heights, where it now sees record-breaking rents. “The suburban prices are starting to get propped up because of these new renters.”