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.
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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Ford City Mall to Logistics Hub: What It Means for Chicago’s Retail and Industrial Real Estate Markets
Bridge Industrial’s $150 million plan to demolish Ford City Mall and redevelop the site into a 913,000-square-foot warehouse complex marks...
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Building A Team That Performs With Megan Gluth – RFP 69
What happens when a small-town kid from Iowa becomes a corporate attorney, transforms into a CEO, and then buys the...
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What Does Logistics Consolidation Mean for Commercial Real Estate?
Over the last decade, the logistics industry has undergone a rapid transformation, driven by e-commerce, supply chain digitization, and shifting...
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The Quiet Collapse in Construction No One’s Talking About With Hunter Kosar – RFP 68
In Episode 68 of The Real Finds Podcast, we sit down with Hunter Kosar, founder of Twisted Nail, a Texas-based...
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Class A vs. Value-Add Office Space: Which Strategy Holds the Real Value?
In today’s reshaped office market, landlords and investors face a high-stakes question: Is the future of office space found in...
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Does the ESG Office Premium Pay Off?
The rise of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) office buildings has redefined the commercial real estate landscape. Whether marketed as...
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Who Is Winning The Amenity Arms Race? With Jared White – RFP 67
In a bifurcated real estate market where only best-in-class assets seem to thrive, Jared White, Managing Director at Quadrum Global,...
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401 N. Michigan Ave. Returns to Market Amid Downtown Chicago Office Sales Activity
The 35-story tower at 401 N. Michigan Avenue is back on the market after a previous sale effort fell through,...
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Shapack Venture’s $247 M Refi at 167 North Green Street Speaks Volumes About Fulton Market
In a bold move signaling selective resilience in Chicago office space, Shapack Partners led a joint venture to refinance 167 North Green Street...
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$45 Million Sale of 311 S. Wacker Marks Sea Change in Chicago Office Space Valuations
After years of stalled deals and declining tenancy, one of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers has finally sold—at a staggering discount. The...
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What the Fed’s Downgraded Outlook Means for Chicagoland’s Industrial Market
Last week, the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, but the real headline was hidden deeper in the details: for...
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What the Fed’s Revised Forecast Means for Chicago’s Office Market
The Federal Reserve just signaled that economic momentum is slowing. Its most recent meeting left interest rates unchanged but revised U.S. GDP...
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Another Big Win for the Revitalized Merchandise Mart
The comeback of Chicago’s Merchandise Mart just added another headline name to its tenant roster. Berlin Packaging, a global supplier...
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