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Sidley Austin is finalizing a deal to anchor an office skyscraper planned near the Fulton Market District, jump-starting...
06/16/2026

Sidley Austin is finalizing a deal to anchor an office skyscraper planned near the Fulton Market District, jump-starting what will be the first new high-rise office building to kick off downtown since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city’s second-largest law firm is close to signing a lease for more than half of a 45-story office building planned at 725 W. Randolph St. Related President Curt Bailey said his company is also nearing a deal to secure financing for the 968,000-square-foot tower, with plans to begin construction next year and welcome Sidley as its largest tenant in 2030.

The pending deal is a watershed moment for the downtown office market, which is still grappling with record-high vacancy and has not seen a new skyscraper break ground since work began on the 60-story Salesforce Tower Chicago skyscraper in April 2020. While post-pandemic work patterns have severely weakened demand and many landlords are losing properties to foreclosure, Sidley’s commitment underscores the lack of high-end office options downtown and the premium many firms and companies are willing to pay for top-tier workspace.

Read more here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/real-estate/commercial/ccb-sidley-austin-related-midwest-skyscraper-20260616/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Huntington Bank is expanding its Loop workspace and adding a decade to its lease, bucking the space-shedding trend that ...
06/15/2026

Huntington Bank is expanding its Loop workspace and adding a decade to its lease, bucking the space-shedding trend that has shaped the downtown office market since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bank has signed a new 10-year lease for 60,900 square feet at 222 N. LaSalle St., growing from the 37,677-square-foot office it occupies today in the riverfront building, according to a statement from the company and property manager Tishman Speyer. Huntington’s Chicago office has been in the 26-story building since 2011, and the extension pushes its lease commitment to 2036.

The bank’s growing footprint stands out as a bright spot for downtown office landlords amid record-high vacancy. While leasing activity has stabilized from the rampant downsizing seen in recent years, many companies are still seeking less space than they did before 2020 — making expansion cases like Huntington especially valuable.

Read more here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/real-estate/commercial/ccb-huntington-bank-loop-office-20260612/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Crain’s Recommender-in-Chief remembers meeting chef John Manion in 1999, when he was working at the South American-insp...
06/15/2026

Crain’s Recommender-in-Chief remembers meeting chef John Manion in 1999, when he was working at the South American-inspired restaurant Mas on Division Street.

Today, Manion is a decorated chef with two restaurants of his own. Live fire is the theme at both, and it’s especially dramatic at El Che.

The West Loop steakhouse serves South American-inspired dishes like choripan — a house-made chorizo sandwich —along with steaks sourced from Australia to Oklahoma, wagyu tartare, beef fat fries and more.

The steaks are grilled over charcoal with just salt and tallow, and guests can pair meals with a drink from El Che’s extensive South American wine list.

Read more and subscribe to The Dining Table newsletter here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/restaurants/dining-table/ccb-dining-table-recommends-el-che-steakhouse-west-loop-20260610/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

The Obama Presidential Center has been touted as a launching pad for jobs and workforce development on the South Side. B...
06/12/2026

The Obama Presidential Center has been touted as a launching pad for jobs and workforce development on the South Side. But some of the local contractors hired to help build it say they are paying the price for the project’s delays and cost overruns.

Several subcontractors on the nearly finished $850 million campus say they are quietly fighting to collect millions of dollars in unpaid bills for completed work and are being pushed to the financial brink, providing a new window into the fallout from the center’s widely reported construction issues.

The companies, including several established minority-led firms, allege a portion of the unforeseen costs on a project that came in hundreds of millions of dollars over its original estimated budget has been pushed onto them and other small contractors least able to afford them — jeopardizing jobs and the future of some businesses the historic project was designed to elevate.

The companies, including several established minority-led firms, allege a portion of the unforeseen costs on a project that came in hundreds of millions of dollars over its original estimated budget has been pushed onto them and other small contractors least able to afford them — jeopardizing jobs and the future of some businesses the historic project was designed to elevate.

Read more here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/real-estate/commercial/ccb-obama-presidential-center-contractors-20260611/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

A west suburban family put up for sale at almost $11 million a Lake Geneva estate they have owned since the late 1980s, ...
06/11/2026

A west suburban family put up for sale at almost $11 million a Lake Geneva estate they have owned since the late 1980s, launching the summer of mega-mansion listings in that hub of high-end Wisconsin homes.

The upper-end market in Lake Geneva has been quiet since November, when a lakefront home that sold for $8.25 million came at the end of a summer-into-fall hot streak when at least eight homes sold for $8 million or more. Of the two of those that went for $10 million or more, one, a house in the South Shore Club that sold for $10.1 million in August, hadn’t even been on the market before a buyer came along offering that price.

In the past five years, at least seven Lake Geneva homes have sold for $10 million or more, at prices up to $36 million.

This year’s first upper-end property hit the market June 8 at just shy of $11 million. The Walcowis Drive estate is a five-bedroom house on a little more than 9.1 acres with 160 feet of Geneva Lake frontage.

Read more here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/real-estate/residential/ccb-lake-geneva-walcowis-drive-20260610/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

For public officials around Arlington Park, the Chicago Bears’ latest Indiana stadium flirtation is reason to start thin...
06/10/2026

For public officials around Arlington Park, the Chicago Bears’ latest Indiana stadium flirtation is reason to start thinking about the site’s future without the team — while knowing that the saga has produced enough plot twists to make any final breakup feel premature.

The NFL team’s announcement last week that it was ready to “advance” its stadium pursuit in Hammond, Ind., marked its most forceful statement to date that it was focusing on a stadium option across the border. Yet for leaders in communities that would be reshaped by a $5 billion, 326-acre stadium-anchored campus on the shuttered racetrack site, it showed that uncertainty is still the only certainty.

In many ways, the team’s latest Indiana declaration is a replay of what Arlington Heights experienced in early 2024, when the Bears turned their attention back to a downtown Chicago option amid squabbling over property taxes at the racetrack site. The team’s downtown vision didn’t gain traction, and a property tax accord with suburban school districts ultimately pushed them to declare that Arlington Heights was once again their focus.

After Illinois lawmakers adjourned last week without approving legislation the team had sought, Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia now sees “a bit of a lull in the action for us” as the Bears focus on Hammond.

Read more here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/real-estate/commercial/ccb-arlington-heights-rolling-meadows-bears-20260608/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Each year, Crain’s Chicago compiles a list of the 50 Fastest-Growing Companies.While some of the top companies in this y...
06/10/2026

Each year, Crain’s Chicago compiles a list of the 50 Fastest-Growing Companies.

While some of the top companies in this year’s Fast 50 embraced new tech to outmaneuver the competition, they actually attribute much of their success to an old-school business fundamental.

Specifically, several leading executives said their victories to date have to do with the axiom: Treat your customer with honesty, and you’ll be rewarded. More than one said much of their financial success in recent years was due to “word of mouth,” thanks to happy clients who were quick to spread the word.

The newest class of the fastest-growing businesses in the Chicago area employs more than 36,000 workers combined and pulled in a collective $21.1 billion in revenue last year.

Read about all 50 companies here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/lists-rankings/ccb-fast-50-20260427/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Another new riverfront restaurant is set to open this summer, continuing the culinary refresh occurring on the Chicago R...
06/08/2026

Another new riverfront restaurant is set to open this summer, continuing the culinary refresh occurring on the Chicago River’s north bank.

The Carlyle Club is set to open at 316 N. Clark St. in August. The owners — the team behind Wicker Park’s Dēliz Italian Steakhouse — added a 72-seat patio to the space, with 10-foot-tall double doors that give the restaurant an indoor-outdoor feel. They also ensure almost every seat inside gets a river view, too.

The Carlyle Club will be in the Reid Murdoch Building, which was built in 1914 for one of the country’s largest wholesale grocers, Reid, Murdoch & Co., which used the river adjacency to ship goods. It will fill a space long occupied by The Kitchen American Bistro, which Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk, co-owned. That restaurant appears to have quietly closed earlier this year.

The restaurant plans to serve classic American fare with a global influence. There will be a burger, French dip sandwich, steak and pasta, plus sushi, seafood from Japan, wagyu from Australia and locally sourced ingredients.

Read more here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/restaurants/ccb-carlyle-club-chicago-riverfront-restaurant-20260605/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

06/08/2026

Nearly a decade after choosing a home on the South Side and almost five years after construction began, the Obama Presidential Center will open to the public June 19. It's part of an $850 million campus that covers 19 acres overlooking Jackson Park near the lakefront. The eight-story building is now the neighborhood’s dominant feature. Here’s what’s inside.

See what’s inside here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/nonprofits-philanthropy/ccb-obama-center-inside-look-20260604/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

Finalists in a citywide design competition want to reimagine Chicago’s highways, alleys and boulevards into networks of ...
06/06/2026

Finalists in a citywide design competition want to reimagine Chicago’s highways, alleys and boulevards into networks of community spaces and climate-resilient infrastructure.

Those proposals are among the six concepts World Business Chicago has selected to advance after an open call for transformative projects, seeking the city’s next big idea in the vein of Millennium Park or the Chicago Riverwalk.

The design competition, dubbed Horizon Lines, is part of the organization’s refreshed economic-development roadmap, Chicago 2050, which aims to grow the region’s economy by attracting more outside capital for both developments and companies.

The project concepts will be on display at the Chicago Cultural Center Welcome Center from today through Sept. 20, and the public can offer feedback there or online through July 24.

Winners will be announced Sept. 15.

Read more here: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/real-estate/commercial/ccb-world-business-chicago-horizon-lines-20260603/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

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