Why trophy keeps moving west
The submarket math underscores why The Fulton matters. Fulton Market posted 221,384 square feet of positive net absorption in Q1 2026 — the only downtown submarket to record gains. The West Loop captured more than 60% of new Class A leasing activity in the same quarter, per CBRE. Jeff Skender, managing director at Cushman & Wakefield's Chicago office, summarized the bifurcation to REjournals: "Trophy towers seeing vacancies below 10% while Class B and C properties are experiencing vacancy rates of 30% or more. Flight to quality continues to be the trend through Q1 2026."
By comparison, the prior generation of trophy properties (150 N. Riverside Plaza, Bank of America Tower, Salesforce Tower, River Point) continues to perform at the Loop's high end. Per CoStar's reporting, these buildings have "little unleased space" even as the broader market struggles, and gross rents at high-rise floors in towers like 110 N. Wacker Drive, 150 N. Riverside, and 444 W. Lake Street are running $80 to $90 per square foot, per Crain's reporting. The Loop trophy class is not dying. But the next generation of trophy capital has gone west. Further west than the Loop, further west than the Wacker Drive corridor, all the way to Fulton Market. As the Chicago Architecture Center observed in its Our Changing Downtown brief, this is the continuation of a decade-long migration toward the commuter rail hubs at Union and Ogilvie. Trophy follows transit, talent, and amenity density.
Two more trajectories run in parallel
919 W. Fulton tells us what's happening at the top of Chicago's office market. It doesn't tell us what's happening below it. The same Q1 vacancy report that gave the West Loop a 22.8% direct vacancy rate also recorded River North at 34.4% and the East Loop at 31.8%. The buildings in those numbers aren't sitting still; they're being repositioned, recapitalized, and in some cases permanently converted to other uses. That's the rest of the story.
looks at what happens when a 1980s tower changes hands at a fraction of its pre-pandemic value — and what new owners with reset valuations can do that legacy ownership simply cannot.
looks at the buildings being permanently removed from the office market through adaptive reuse — including one River North property whose first residents moved in this week.
Read Part 3Your Office Branding Project Guide
An office branding project is a coordinated effort that brings together brand identity, workplace culture, operational needs, and physical execution. This guide is designed to help you navigate that process with clarity. It breaks an office branding project into realistic phases, highlights common decision points, and provides practical guidance to help you plan confidently.
