CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — So many people are still working remotely. Will the Chicago Loop ever be the same as it was before March 2020?
Fewer than one third of those who used to work downtown are doing so now.
That’s the latest number from the Chicago Loop Alliance for what they call “Chicagoland’s office occupancy” — 31 percent. It’s the highest percentage in a year.
“I think eventually we’ll get back to the 370,000 employees that we had downtown on a daily basis before the pandemic,” said Michael Edwards, president and CEO of the Chicago Loop Alliance.
“We, for example, have ‘required’ folks to come into the office Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and work from home Monday and Friday. Probably very typical. And that seems to be working.”
Derrick Johnson is senior vice president at Zeller commercial property management in Chicago, and he’s president of BOMA Chicago, the Building Owners and Managers Association.
Conventional wisdom might dictate that companies aren’t going to need so much office space and they will contract.
“But as we’ve kind of come through this, people are trying to do their spaces differently so that they have more space for employees,” Johnson said.
He adds: “People are doing other things to provide social gathering space within their space - while not putting people on top of each other.”
Meantime, the Loop Alliance’s Michael Edwards said apartment leasing in the Loop is what it was in 2019.
“And this is a really good sign,” he said. “Downtown becoming a more social place where people live their daily lives as opposed to a 9-to-5 business district — this may be one way the Loop is going to evolve.”
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