One of nation’s fastest-changing urban areas is still forming long-term identity Chicago’s Fulton Market has undergone major changes for more than a decade, including waves of new retailers. (iStock) By Ryan Ori | CoStar News | February 25, 2026 | 4:16 P.M. More than a decade into its run as one of the nation’s fastest-changing […]

A Mexican-American restaurant and bar is taking the place of the recently shuttered Loop steakhouse McCormick & Schmick’s. Espiritu, an upscale restaurant offering classic Chicago dishes with a Mexican twist, will occupy the 10,000-square-foot ground-floor retail space at 1 E. Wacker Drive, as well as 2,200 square feet of adjoining patio area along Wacker Drive, […]

After dipping to a vacancy rate below 17 percent in 2022, retail vacancy increased to 17.11 percent in 2023 and then jumped to 20.47 percent in 2024.  While the 2024 vacancy rate is high, a substantial portion of it was attributable to the 30,000 sf former Whole Foods space at One W. Superior.  Now that […]

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 […]