Blue Line Funding Seen as Boost to One of Market's Strengths

CHICAGO-U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater’s approval of a full-funding grant agreement to pay the lion’s share of the $482 million needed to rebuild a branch of the Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line is seen here as building on one of the real estate market’s strengths. The four-year project will rebuild a 102-year-old elevated rapid transit line that serves the city’s West Side as well as the neighboring town of Cicero.

Real estate experts at recent forecast sessions and symposiums say that despite economic jitters that have resulted in layoffs locally, the market should fare well thanks to a diversified economy that does not rely on one company or a single industry. But the market’s strength goes further than that. “What we are known for us our superior public transportation system,” says Lori G. Brown, SIOR, manager of Binswanger Advisory Group’s Midwest operations.