With a tech sector taking off and local developers racing to build more commercial space, especially in neighborhoods such as Goose Island and Fulton Market, it's clear high-tech has been high-growth for real estate. A new report by commercial real estate firm CBRE puts Chicago's growth in context nationally, and the comparison is flattering. Chicago's 25.8 percent tech sector growth rate from 2010 to 2013 shows us growing at a faster clip that Silicon Valley, and more than twice as fast as New York. And that's not the only metric that suggests continued growth. With Chicago startups receiving $1.6 billion in venture capital funding in 2014, a 50% increase on the previous year, and the opening of the MATTER health care hub earlier this year, this is poised to be a banner year for tech-related commercial and residential development.
The two areas that come up most often in discussion of the local tech boom, Goose Island and Fulton Market, have numerous expansion opportunities coming online. On Goose Island, the opening of the CityWorks R&D Lab, as well as infrastructure improvements, should continue to build up the region as a tech hub. Fulton MarkeT will see a score of new office buildings, the Google complex, and the Sterling Bay properties at Fulton West and even the former Harpo Studio space further down the line.
Commercial growth has created a concurrent residential boom in nearby neighborhoods as well, and fueled the massive growth of apartment construction in the Loop to house the influx of tech workers. The recent announcement of a 10-story tower at Lake and Sangamon suggests increased development in that area, and a potential push west towards the areas around Union Park.
·The City That Works archives [Curbed Chicago]
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