CHICAGO—The well-publicized migration of many firms into the CBD, especially hot neighborhoods like River North and the West Loop, can obscure the importance of the suburban real estate to many Chicago-area corporations, according to the November market report by MB Real Estate. And some investors apparently believe that even though the economic collapse may have left many suburban properties with high vacancies, underlying fundamentals may help return many to health.

The firm cites a recent study by the Brookings Institution that found that in the Chicago area “68.7% of the jobs are located more than 10 miles from the CBD making it the second most decentralized city in America behind Detroit. While Chicago has seen several companies move to the CBD, nationally it appears the trend is to move outside the city limits.”

Therefore, although much of the suburban area has had a vacancy rate of over 20% for years, some investors feel many of these areas are a good bet. “The suburbs have been overlooked by investors, so we feel there are great opportunities to buy at high cap rates and a low price per square foot,” said Ariel Bentata, co-founder and managing member of Beacon Investment Properties LLC. Bentata's firm just purchased the 210,774-square-foot Park Plaza building in suburban Naperville for about $24 million, or about $114 per-square-foot. The property has top-rated tenants such as Travelers Insurance, the anchor tenant, which occupies about 112,000-square-feet.