If the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and his party chose Chicago as the venue for the Democratic convention in the summer of 2024 (from August 19 to 22), it is because it is both the city where Barack Obama was a social worker and that of Martin Luther King’s social struggles from 1966, but also the cradle of anarchism and trade unionism in the 19th centurye century. Businesses, however, are leaving the city. The reason ? Too much crime and taxes.
“Big Business” is looking for more favorable skies. Thus, in 2022, Boeing transferred its headquarters to Arlington (Virginia), just opposite Washington and next to the Pentagon, which provides it with numerous military contracts. The same year, Caterpillar, the global construction vehicle giant, moved to Dallas (Texas), where taxes are more advantageous.
In 2023, it was the turn of Citadel, the company founded by financial genius Kenneth Griffin, to pack up for Florida. And, in 2024, the software publisher Salesforce has decided to sublet 13,000 of the 46,000 square meters it occupied. As a result, the city where the first skyscraper was built in 1885 fears becoming a ghost town.
The vacancy rate for office buildings has soared to 16.2%, compared to 11.9% at the start of 2020, according to figures from the CoStar group. The capital of the Midwest is not the only one to be affected by the desertion of offices caused by teleworking, but it is frankly in bad shape, the national vacancy average being “only” 13.8%.
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According to KBRA Analytics, three-quarters of Chicago’s securitized (publicly traded) mortgages are at risk of default, the highest level in the country. reports the Wall Street Journal, which adds that premises were sold for a value four times less than their highest estimate. A ten-story building located near the Willis Tower, which has long been the tallest skyscraper in the world, was sold off in January for 2.5 million dollars (2.3 million euros), while It was purchased for $22.3 million in 2013.
The city’s current mayor, Brandon Johnson, a former employee of the radical teachers’ union, the Chicago Teachers Union, was elected in 2023 on a very left-wing mandate and said he was concerned about making businesses pay. He is now trying to turn things around like other progressive mayors, particularly San Francisco mayor London Breed.
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