Available sublease space in the Chicago Central Business District office market has fallen throughout 2024. And this trend is expected to continue in the coming year, according to the December 2024 Chicago Sublease Report from Transwestern.
According to Transwestern’s research, the available office sublease space in the Chicago CBD totaled more than 6.337 million square feet. This represents the fourth consecutive quarter of decline in available sublease space in this market.
The fourth-quarter figure is down from the high of more than 8.263 million square feet of CBD office sublease space that was available in December of 2023.
Transwestern says that the available sublease space represents 3.97% of the Chicago CBD’s total office inventory. Transwestern says that available sublease space fell during each quarter of 2024 in Chicago’s Central Business District.
Why is the amount of available sublease space declining? Transwestern says that a growing number of tenants are reevaluating their office space needs.
Since September of this year, four large sublease spaces were removed from the Chicago CBD, with only one finding a subletter. Transwestern reported that Vizient subleased 50,313 square feet of Uber’s space at 433 W. Van Buren St.
However, Trading Technologies’ lease at 222 S. Riverside Plaza expired without a subletter, while Newmark’s space at 300 S. Riverside Plaza and Golub Capital’s space at 150 S. Wacker Drive were taken off the market without landing any known subtenants.
There were some notable sublease deals in Chicago’s CBD during the fourth quarter, though, according to Transwestern. Facebook sublet 26,278 square feet of office space at 151 N. Franklin St., while Charles Schwab sublet 16,277 square feet at 150 S. Wacker Drive.
New large-block sublease spaces include Allianz Commercial’s 73,252 square feet at 225 W. Washington St., Stantec’s 51,447 square feet at 233 S. Wacker Drive and Synchrony Financial’s 50,930 square feet at 222 W. Adams St.
