The Loop retail market improved slightly in 2024 as the vacancy rate decreased to 29.78%, down from 30.13% in 2023. As we approach the fifth anniversary of Covid, we can now analyze what occurred during the 5 year period after the March 16, 2020 shutdown. Since the shutdown, Loop retailers have vacated 222 storefronts consisting […]
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Stone Real Estate’s 2024 Annual Loop Retail Analysis as Featured in Crain’s Chicago Business
Nearly five years after the onset of the pandemic, 1 in 3 storefronts remain vacant in the Loop as retail vacancy held steady in 2024. The Loop retail vacancy rate was 29.78% in 2024, down slightly from 30.13% in 2023, according to a report from Chicago-based retail brokerage Stone Real Estate. Though the rate remaining […]
Chicago Loop Retail Analysis – 2023 Data
The Loop endured its fourth straight annual vacancy rate increase in 2023, jumping to 30.13% in 2023 from 28.32% in 2022. Significantly, the vacancy rate has now doubled from its pre-Covid level of 14.92% in 2019. In the 22 years that Stone Real Estate Corp. has conducted its Annual Loop Retail Survey, the lowest recorded […]
Loop Retail Vacancy Tops 30% for the First Time
Nearly four years since the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of empty storefronts in the Loop has surpassed a daunting threshold: More than 30% of the central business district’s retail space is vacant. The Loop retail vacancy rate increased for the fourth year in a row in 2023, rising to 30.13% from […]
John Vance, Stone Real Estate Principal, Provides Insight to CBS2 Chicago on State Street Vacancy
State Street downtown has highest vacancy rate ever, but experts say there is hope CHICAGO (CBS) — State Street is a cultural anchor, a shopping destination, and an important part of Chicago’s history. The Loop stretch of State Street has had its ups and downs – in the late 1970s, it was turned into a pedestrian […]
John Vance, Stone Real Estate Principal, Provides Insight to CBS2 Chicago on the Mag Mile
Signature Room at the 95th in former Hancock Center closes permanently CHICAGO (CBS) — The decades-long story of an iconic Chicago restaurant ended suddenly Thursday with a note on the door. The iconic Signature Room at the 95th restaurant near the top of the former John Hancock Center abruptly closed for good on Thursday, citing “severe […]
Armitage/ Damen/ Southport Survey – 2022
Stone Real Estate has completed its 2022 Armitage/Damen/Southport Retail Survey, an annual market analysis of Chicago’s three primary boutique neighborhood retail streets. In this sixth edition of the Survey, the data shows a mixed bag for these three corridors in 2022 and identifies their disparate leasing trajectories as follows: 1) Armitage remains the heavyweight followed […]
CHICAGO RIVER NORTH MARKET SURVEY – 2022 REPORT
Chicago’s River North trade area vacancy rate dropped to 16.96% in 2022, down from 19.13% in 2021. River North bucked the trend of its Loop and Magnificent Mile neighbors with this improved market condition. Noah O’Neill, principal of Stone Real Estate Corp and co-author of Stone Real Estate’s River North Retail Analysis, sees the area’s […]
John Vance, Stone Real Estate Principal, Provides Insight to The Wall Street Journal on American Cities Thriving Again
American Cities Are Starting to Thrive Again. Just Not Near Office Buildings. Neighborhoods are benefiting from remote work By Konrad Putzier and Kate King May 30, 2023 12:01 am ET As people spend more time at home, they frequent local shops, gyms and restaurants, boosting the economy of places such as Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown. PHOTO: PHOTO: AL DRAGO/BLOOMBERG NEWS […]
A Bucktown corridor, once a trendy retail magnet, transforms as consumer tastes change
Damen Avenue in Bucktown attracts more service retailers | Crain’s Chicago Business A stretch of Damen Avenue in the Bucktown neighborhood once known for attracting trendy clothing stores and restaurants is becoming a magnet for service retailers. The former home of Mindy’s Hot Chocolate is going to be an early childhood education center; a veterinary […]