Stone Real Estate Research Services has completed its Armitage/Damen/Southport Retail Survey as of year-end 2024, an annual market analysis of Chicago’s three primary boutique neighborhood retail streets. In this eighth edition of the Survey, we examine the fundamentals which created and now sustain the success of these streets. We attribute the streets’ prosperity to the […]

March 14, 2025 02:16 PM Need a dose of good news? Here’s some, courtesy of Crain’s Ally Marotti: After a decade of vacancy ups and downs, Chicago’s neighborhood retail corridors are hitting their stride. As Marotti reports, a new analysis from Chicago’s Stone Real Estate found that the shopping strips on Damen, Armitage and Southport avenues […]

Chicago’s boutique retail corridors are thriving. Here’s why. After a decade of vacancy ups and downs — including a pandemic that changed how people shop — Chicago’s neighborhood retail corridors are hitting their stride. A new analysis from Stone Real Estate found that the shopping strips on Damen, Armitage and Southport avenues are thriving, with […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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’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 […]

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 […]