CRE News: What We’re Reading the Week of July 4th

Each week, The Elevator Speech summarizes a list of important news stories impacting our industry and the City of Chicago. Here are the news stories that caught our attention this week:

• The Chicago downtown office market is continuing its comeback as prime spaces become scarcer and pricier. Vacancy rates are at their lowest since the end of 2009. 
  

  Downtown Chicago office vacancy rates are at their lowest since the end of 2009.

• Samsung leased a 650,000-square-foot warehouse and appliance maker Electrolux has reached an agreement to lease about 600,000 square feet, marking the two biggest local industrial deals of the year.

• A lender filed a foreclosure suit against the historic Evergreen Plaza shopping center in Evergreen Park and and put its $20 million note up for sale.

• 

  The Taste of Chicago

  Last week’s Taste of Chicago drew 300,000 less people than last year, marking the third consecutive year of lowered attendance.
  

• A 2,900-square-foot condo on the 83rd floor at the John Hancock Center is Chicago’s loftiest foreclosure— and very likely, the world’s loftiest foreclosure.

• Carried interest negotiations are expected to come to a head in Washington, D.C. in early August. Some members of Congress want to change the tax characterization of carried interest, which currently allows hedge fund and private equity managers to pay a 15% capital-gains rate on their earnings.

These news items crossed our desk this week. Let us know what local commercial real estate or business news has made an impact on you.