December 2017

REmark: Percentage of Functionally Obsolete Buildings in the Chicago Market

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about how the shift of tenant requirements has rendered some vacant buildings as “functionally obsolete”. For industrial properties, these factors could be ceiling heights, car or trailer parking, dock doors, or column spacing, among others. For office space considerations include parking, amenities, modern finishes, car parking, and inefficient floor plans. We wondered, just how much space currently on the market could be considered functionally obsolete? Our criteria included completely vacant buildings, built prior to 2000, and that have been available for more than 4 years despite the recovering economy and a tightening of available space. Take a look at the numbers below: