Death Spiral Accelerates

Surprisingly, parts of the media continue to cover the death spiral of downtown Chicago:

• Office towers that once sold for hundreds of millions of dollars are now changing hands at discounts of 70%, 80%, even 90% across major U.S. cities, as higher interest rates and remote work reshape demand for downtown space.

  Few places illustrate the shift more starkly than Chicago. There, the markdowns span every era of development, according to figures first tweeted out by Nightingale Associates.

  A century-old office building in the city’s historic Printing House Row district, 401 S. State St., recently sold for just $4.2 million, down from $68.1 million in 2016, a 94% drop.

  The prominent Loop tower at 311 S. Wacker Drive traded at an 85% discount, selling for $45 million compared with $302 million in 2014.

  Even newer, high-profile properties have not been immune. Boeing’s long-term lease interest in 100 N. Riverside Plaza, not the tower itself, sold for $22 million, down from $165 million in 2005, an 87% decline.

  And at 300 W. Adams St., a leasehold interest in the building changed hands for just $4 million, compared with $51 million in 2012 — a 92% discount.

Those four buildings alone have lost over half-a-billion dollars in value, part of a massive hole in Chicago tax revenues for commercial properties. Guess who makes up the shortfall?

• residential property owners who just got hammered citywide 

This isn't all Conehead's fault and it part of an emerging national trend. But he's done less than zero to ameliorate, alleviate or recover from this downturn....and neither has Fata$$, who wants to run on his "successful" governorship.