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.
Is There Still Real Value To The In-person Workspace?
The value of the In-person Workspace The office hasn't disappeared. But what people expect from it — and what makes...
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Scheduling Regular Inspections for Industrial Facilities
How To Schedule And Conduct Regular Inspections For Industrial Facilities Regular inspections are the unglamorous backbone of every well-run industrial...
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Insurance, Development Risk & The Hidden Economics Of Real Estate With Lisa Holt – RFP 90
For most of the past century, commercial real estate operators treated insurance the way they treated utility bills: an unavoidable...
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Preparing Your Commercial Real Estate Portfolio For AI Disruption
Artificial intelligence is not a future threat to commercial real estate. It is already reshaping how space is used, how...
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Chicago’s Truck Parking Problem Is Reshaping Industrial Real Estate
Why the truck parking crisis is driving up IOS values across Chicagoland The United States is short roughly 40,000 to...
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The Myth That Built The Modern Office (And Why It Is Finally Collapsing)
Your Office Was Designed For Someone Who Does Not Exist There has always been a ghost living inside the modern...
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Caregiving, Building For A Longevity Society, And The Future Of Work With Marisa Toldo — RFP 89
Caregiving, Building For A Longevity Society, And The Future Of Work With Marisa Toldo — RFP 89 The office vacancy...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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