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.
Common Types of Industrial Leases Explained
https://youtu.be/uRCJA3Bpq1w Understanding the Types of Industrial Leases: A Complete Guide for Tenants and Investors Leasing industrial property is a major...
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Calculating the Costs of Renovating Office Investments
https://youtu.be/U07oi1nHU60 How to Estimate Office Renovation Costs for a Successful Investment Renovating an office building can be one of...
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Assessing Your Office Space Needs for Lease Renewal
https://youtu.be/LKjNe32Bofg How to Reassess Your Office Space Needs Before Renewing Your Lease As your office lease approaches its expiration, now...
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Assessing Your Industrial Space Needs for Lease Renewal
https://youtu.be/uFOwLDEcYlY A Complete Guide to Assessing Your Industrial Space Needs Before Lease Renewal When it comes to commercial real estate,...
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Redeveloping Bannockburn Lakes: A Case Study in Removing Obsolete Office Space
https://youtu.be/B9rJgutp_oo The redevelopment of Bannockburn Lakes, particularly the proposed conversion of 2201 and 2121 Waukegan Road into youth sports facilities,...
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Boosting Your Industrial Property’s Curb Appeal for Leasing
https://youtu.be/Le25xN8Pq1s In industrial real estate, first impressions matter, often more than many landlords realize. The exterior of a building...
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Best Practices for Responding to Buyer and Tenant Inquiries
https://youtu.be/h7TVsKkaa8U How to Respond Effectively to Buyer and Tenant Inquiries In commercial real estate, the initial response to a buyer...
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Benefits of Advanced HVAC Systems in Industrial Properties: Is Upgrading Necessary?
https://youtu.be/gQgKLe7y24A Should You Upgrade to an Advanced HVAC System in Your Industrial Property? In the world of industrial real estate,...
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Industrial Landlords Guide To Conducting Property Inspections Before Leasing
https://youtu.be/X5M5D1CBLzU For industrial landlords, leasing a property without conducting a comprehensive inspection is a costly gamble. A thorough evaluation not...
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Assessing Telecom and Internet Services in Office Spaces
https://youtu.be/q1Dj1rjODgY Reliable telecom and internet services are foundational to modern business operations. Whether you're leasing a single office or a...
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Assessing Property Conditions for Office, Industrial, and Medical Investments
https://youtu.be/nvpRW4pEaBY When investing in commercial real estate, especially in office, industrial, or medical properties, assessing the condition of the...
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Assessing Power Supply And Capacity for Industrial Properties
Assessing Power Supply & Capacity for Industrial Properties https://youtu.be/I71KQb8y-iM Power is the unseen lifeblood of industrial real estate. From running...
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Assessing Building Infrastructure for Office Spaces
https://youtu.be/mE9ZwbiVxJM Choosing the right office space involves more than just location and aesthetics; the building’s infrastructure is crucial to ensure...
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Tariffs, Uncertainty, and the Real Estate Paralysis Facing U.S. Manufacturers
For manufacturers and their suppliers, industrial real estate decisions have always been complicated. But in 2025, uncertainty over tariffs and...
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Sterling Bay Lists Entitled Kingsbury Site Near Lincoln Yards
A high-profile parcel of land near Chicago’s ambitious Lincoln Yards redevelopment has officially hit the market. Sterling Bay is marketing...
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Is Chicagoland’s Future Under Redevelopment?
Chicago has always been a city in flux—from the rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1871 to the rise of...
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Chicago Industrial Market Heats Up as Speculative Construction Ramps Up
After months of caution and conservative development pipelines, speculative construction in Chicago’s industrial market is picking up steam. According to...
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The Power of Efficiency in Logistics Spaces in a Down Market
In a high-growth market, inefficiency hides in plain sight, tolerated, even ignored, in the name of growth. But in a...
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