MARKET AREA

North Suburban Office Market Chicago’s North Shore & Edens Corridor

The market spanning Skokie and Evanston north through Northbrook, Deerfield, and Lake Forest along the I‑94 Edens corridor — an established base of professional services, healthcare, and research tenants with deep availability and real negotiating room.

17.4%

Vacancy Rate

$17.25

Avg Asking Rent / SF

18.2%

Availability Rate

36,793

SF Inventory

THE SUBMARKET

One of Chicago’s deepest suburban office markets — and one of its most tenant-friendly.

The North Suburban market runs along the North Shore and the I‑94 Edens Expressway, served by U.S. Route 41 and the Union Pacific North and Milwaukee District North Metra lines, with O’Hare 20–30 minutes southwest. Demand is anchored by affluent residential communities and established employment nodes around Lake Cook Road, Northbrook, and Deerfield. With vacancy elevated, negative net absorption, and almost no new construction, landlords are competing hard to keep and win tenants — giving well-prepared occupiers meaningful leverage on rate, free rent, and buildout.

Northbrook

Corporate Center II

1033 SKOKIE BLVD · 4-STAR · 128,670 SF

91.1%

LEASED

$19.50

ASKING / SF (N)

2,403–8,926

SF AVAILABLE

A six-story, 4-Star tower beside Dundee Road with banking, fitness, food service, and a conferencing facility on site. Four direct suites are open from 2,403 to 8,926 SF at a $19.50 NNN ask — an attractive entry point for a tenant wanting institutional-quality space at a suburban rate. O’Hare is 27 minutes out; Glencoe and Northbrook Metra are minutes away.

Deerfield

Hyatt Deerfield Campus

1650 LAKE COOK RD · 4-STAR · 129,177 SF

54.5%

LEASED

$17.25

SF MAX CONTIGUOUS

36,793

SF CONTIGUOUS

With the building roughly half vacant, this is one of the highest-leverage opportunities in the submarket — 58,727 SF available, including a 36,793 SF contiguous block, at a $17.25 NNN ask. Day care, fitness, and conferencing on a 7-acre campus off Lake Cook Road, 21 minutes from O’Hare. A tenant negotiating here should expect aggressive concessions.

Libertyville

Innovation Park

1930 Innovation Way · 4-Star · 279,731 SF

97.2%

LEASED

$20–$27

Asking / SF

150–5,000

SF Available

A heavily amenitized mixed office/flex campus on 84 acres — atrium, courtyard, fitness, conferencing, 24-hour access — anchored by Takeda. Smaller office suites from 150 to 5,000 SF suit a right-sizing tenant or satellite office. Note: this is a South Lake County / flex asset just outside the core North Suburban office submarket; included as an amenity-rich alternative.

Market Conditions

Vacancy stands at 17.4% — above the five-year average of 15.3% and well above the long-run norm. The market absorbed roughly −842,000 SF over the trailing year, and inventory is shrinking as older space is removed rather than replaced. Only 24,500 SF is under construction.

Asking rents average about $23.75/SF gross, roughly $6 below the metro average of around $30. Rent growth has been modest at 0.8% year over year, and elevated availability — plus roughly 590,000 SF of sublet space — continues to weigh on landlords, particularly for larger blocks.

What This Means for You

This is a tenant’s market. High vacancy, negative absorption, and minimal new supply mean landlords need deals — and that translates into leverage on face rate, free rent, and tenant improvement dollars.

Buildings sitting half-empty, like the Hyatt Deerfield Campus, are where concessions run deepest. A tenant who benchmarks the market, starts early, and runs a competitive process can lock in below-market economics on quality space. That’s the entire job we do — and we only ever do it for the tenant.

SUBMARKETS WE COVER

North Suburban Office Markets

Questions about this market? We know the buildings and what deals are closing.

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