Welcome To The Real Finds Blog: Commercial Real Estate Insights for Chicago and the Midwest
Welcome to The Real Finds Blog, your daily briefing on commercial real estate trends across Chicagoland and the Midwest. Published by Gordon Lamphere, a fourth-generation commercial real estate broker at Van Vlissingen & Co., this blog delivers sharp, actionable insights for CRE professionals navigating a changing market. Every article connects macro trends—interest rates, automation, supply chains, policy shifts—to local real estate strategy across high-demand submarkets, including:
- Downtown Chicago – office space, adaptive reuse, capital markets
- Elk Grove & O’Hare – industrial leasing, logistics infrastructure
- Kenosha & SE Wisconsin – warehouse development and distribution hubs
- Oak Brook & Schaumburg – suburban office leasing and reinvestment
- Naperville & the I-88 Corridor – flex space, R&D, life sciences
- Bolingbrook & the I-55 Corridor – fulfillment centers and industrial site selection
- Lake, DuPage, Will, Kane, and McHenry Counties – land use, entitlements, development opportunities, and tenant migration
From daily blog posts to in-depth strategy guides and transcribed podcast interviews, Real Finds turns global uncertainty into hyper-local market intelligence for investors, landlords, tenants, developers, and brokers New posts are published every weekday.
Boosting Your Industrial Property’s Curb Appeal
Boosting Your Industrial Property's Curb Appeal Industrial real estate has a reputation for being purely functional. Four walls, a roof,...
Read More
How to Design the Ideal Office Space for Knowledge Workers
The office market has spent the better part of four years trying to answer the wrong question. Most of the...
Read More
From Mötley Crüe to Multi-Million Dollar Commercial Real Estate Deals With Mike Herl SIOR – RFP 88
On this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, I sat down with Mike Herl, SIOR and partner at Madison Commercial...
Read More
Rick Owens To Open Chicago Flagship In Fulton Market, Cementing The Corridor’s Luxury Retail Momentum
Rick Owens To Open Chicago Flagship At 932 W. Fulton Street, Chicago Global fashion designer Rick Owens is bringing his...
Read More
105 West Adams St In Chicago Positioned For Office Conversion?
Office Conversion At 105 West Adams St, Chicago A vintage Loop office building at 105 West Adams Street, Chicago, IL,...
Read More
Highland Park Clears Way For Redevelopment Of Former Solo Cup Site
The long-vacant former Solo Cup property at has officially moved one step closer to transformation. City officials in Highland Park...
Read More
Are the Bears Really Ditching Arlington Heights for Gary?
Recent reporting has reignited speculation that the Chicago Bears could abandon Arlington Heights in favor of a new stadium site...
Read More
LNR Partners Files Foreclosure On Gold Coast Property
LNR Partners Files Foreclosure On Gold Coast Retail Distress is resurfacing in one of Chicago’s most historically resilient neighborhoods. LNR...
Read More
AI Ambitions Meet Chicago’s Office Reset: University of Illinois System Targets 250 S. Wacker Drive
AI Resets Chicago's Office Space Market? Chicago’s evolving Office Space market just landed another high-profile data point, and this one...
Read More
FPA Multifamily Expands Suburban Chicago Footprint With Another Apartment Acquisition
A national apartment investor is doubling down on suburban Chicago. FPA Multifamily has acquired another suburban Chicago apartment complex, continuing...
Read More
Nicholas D. Panarese, SIOR, Named to SIOR Chicago Chapter Board
Van Vlissingen & Company is pleased to announce that Nicholas D. Panarese, SIOR, has been named to the SIOR Chicago...
Read More
DePaul Layoffs Signal Change In University Real Estate Across Chicagoland
DePaul Layoffs Could Signal A Shift In Chicagoland Educational Real Estate The layoffs announced at DePaul University this fall are...
Read More
U.S. Office Leasing Rebounds in 2025, With Chicago Positioned for a Measured, Strategic Recovery
U.S. office space leasing activity regained momentum in 2025, rising more than 5% year over year as tenants signed an...
Read More
Key Antioch Development Opportunities In 2026
2026 Antioch Development Opportunities Antioch in 2026 represents a very different type of development opportunity than inner-ring North Shore communities....
Read More
State of the Commercial Real Estate Market – 2026 Q1 – RFP 87
Chicago's Commercial Real Estate Market – 2026 Q1 – RFP 87 As we move through the first quarter of 2026,...
Read More
Key Arlington Heights Development Opportunities In 2026
Arlington Heights Development Opportunities In 2026 Arlington Heights in 2026 stands out as one of the most strategically positioned communities...
Read More
Key Chicago Development Opportunities In 2026
Chicago in 2026 is a market reshaping itself in real time. The city continues to evolve block by block, asset...
Read More
Van Vlissingen & Co. Achieves 100% Occupancy in Lake Zurich, IL After Leasing Unit H at 100 Oakwood
Van Vlissingen & Co. is proud to share our first 2026 leasing milestone. In Lake Zurich, Illinois, our portfolio is...
Read More