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54th Edition
📍 This Week’s Lineup:
đź‘” Windy City Office Trends
đź“Š Chart of the Week
📆 Events Around the City
🔙 Previous Editions of the Driver’s Seat
đź‘” Windy City Office Trends
Chicago is seeing one of the fastest YoY return-to-office rebounds in the US.
Let’s take a look at the data:
Chicago's Office Foot Traffic
Last March there was an 8.2% rise in office visits compared to last year, positioning Chicago as third among 11 major US metros.
According to Kastle's Foot Traffic tracker below, Chicago had the highest office occupancy rate at 70.5% last month.
The most significant YoY increase for Chicago was in February, at 19.5%, ranking seventh out of the 11 top markets.
Industry-Specific Growth
There’s a demand for office spaces within specific industries, notably among law firms and tech companies in Chicago.
Chicago’s law firms are expanding rapidly, with office space leasing up by 97% year-over-year, and over 1 million square feet leased last year alone.
The tech sector, despite a downturn in the overall venture markets, is seeing a shift towards reinvesting in office spaces, with some companies looking to balance remote work with in-office opportunities.
Even with a national decrease in tech office space leasing in 2023, the fourth quarter in Chicago showed a strong uptick, with nearly 43% of the year's leases signed during this period.
Broader Midwest Trends
We’re also seeing strong return-to-office trends across the broader Midwest region.
Midwest offices show the highest occupancy in the US, with a 60% weekly average peak rate in 2023.
Workers in the Midwest are more likely to attend the office four to five days a week, suggesting an increase in return-to-office policies and easier commutes compared to other regions.
đź“Š Chart of the Week
In March 2024, nuclear energy was the dominant source of electricity, accounting for 100% of the power supplied to Chicago and northern Illinois.
🗺️ Events Around The City
Ask an Investor Anything
Hosted by Founder’s Institute
Monday
Blaze Venture Challenge Finals
Hosted by UIC
Tuesday
Democratizing Innovation' w/ Inventor of Arduino, Massimo Banzi
Hosted by Kaplan Institute
Tuesday
BioTech Fermenter: Chicago's Biotech Meetup
Hosted by ChiTownBio
Wednesday
Women In Tech Meetup
Hosted by Discover
Thursday
Adaptability & Resilience: Women Entrepreneurs & Economic Challenges
Hosted by mHUB
Thursday
Kaplan Pitch Tank
Hosted by Kaplan Institute
Friday
đź—ž Latest Editions:
#51 - Groupon’s Founding Story 🎟️
#50 - Chicago’s Robotics Revolution 🤖
đź‘‹ See you next week!
Tempus is a Chicago winner.
Founded here. HQ’d here. 2,500 employees. $1.3B in VC. $8B+ valuation.
Largest clinical dataset right here in our backyard. @TempusAI
— Landon (@landon20s)
1:48 AM • Apr 10, 2024