Downtown Multifamily Developers Setting Records

Onni Group recently completed the first phase of its Old Town Park, which has 405 luxury units, and it was 60% pre-leased on opening day and 40% occupied within 30 days.

CHICAGO—Despite worries about overbuilding, the market for downtown apartments, fueled by a constant stream of residents new to the city, has shown a great deal of strength so far in 2018. According to Laura Ballou, senior associate-market analytics with KIG, tenants absorbed a record-breaking 3,509 apartments in 2017, and in just the first six months of 2018 took another 2,560.

“Leasing is as strong as ever,” Ballou tells GlobeSt.com, and tenants within the core downtown submarkets look set to break another record for absorption this year. The negative news about Chicago, whether about political in-fighting or violence in the neighborhoods, tends to show up on the national radar. Meanwhile, the urban core continues to attract new businesses, and the residents that inevitably follow, proving “our downtown is a strong place to live and invest.”