Chicago’s construction market is living in two realities at once. Developers are chasing some of the biggest adaptive reuse and infrastructure projects the city has seen in years while also struggling to get deals financed in an era of high interest rates and volatile costs. Optimism is there, but it comes with caveats.

“Our opportunities in 2025 compared to 2024 are up about 50 percent,” said Damian Eallonardo, regional president of W.E. O’Neil’s Chicago and Texas divisions. “We’re pretty bullish on opportunities in Chicago compared to last year.”

Not everyone is quite as upbeat.

“Commercial construction in recent years has been robust and we enjoyed the benefits of the growth in construction, but recently due to interest rates and the uncertainty of taxes, tariffs and the economy things slowed down drastically,” said Sandya Dandamudi, president of GI Stone. “Currently we are still on a hold pattern, but things seem to be loosening up a bit.” Go to RE journals to read the full article!