Chicago is one of the easier US markets to lease in — supply is deep, landlords answer, and serviced operators can hand over keys in under a week. Here is the sequence we walk tenants through, using figures from our Chicago office listings.
1. Turn headcount into square feet
Budget 100–150 ft² per person for a conventional private office, 60–80 ft² if you plan an open floor with shared desks. A five-person team is comfortable in 500–750 ft². The question we field most often — what does a 20-person office in Chicago need — resolves to roughly 2,000–3,000 ft². We list 40 units in that band, asking $4,552 to $10,996 a month, typically about $6,190.
2. Choose a format before you choose a building
Three formats compete for the same tenant. A conventional lease gives the lowest per-foot rate — large floors in our set start at $1.16 per ft² — but you fund fit-out, furniture, cabling and reception yourself and sign for years. A furnished or serviced suite is priced all-in and usually available month to month. A coworking desk at $385, or a business address at $110, covers a team that mostly works remotely. Run all three numbers: below about eight people, the all-in formats usually win on total cost.
3. Shortlist by submarket, not by tower
Rates move more between ZIP codes than between buildings. The Wacker Drive corridor (60606) offers 103 units at a typical $3.02 per ft²; the West Loop blocks around Randolph (60661) sit lower at $2.42, and so does the Washington–Madison stretch of the Loop (60602). The Magnificent Mile (60611) averages $2.63 despite the address, because its floor plates are large. South Loop (60605) is the outlier at a typical $4.48 — small, finished suites in converted buildings.
4. Read the price the way a broker does
US listings quote per ft² per month or per year: $2.69 a month is about $32.28 a year. Ask what the number covers. Our listing shows asking rent — operating expenses, property taxes and electricity are added on top under a modified-gross or triple-net structure, and in Chicago those add-ons are substantial. Ask about free-rent months and a tenant improvement allowance; with this much competing supply, both are negotiable on terms over three years.
5. View, then negotiate
Book two or three viewings on the same morning — the Loop and West Loop are walkable end to end in twenty minutes. Check the floor number and the actual usable area against the listing, ask when the space was last fitted out, and confirm what happens to furniture at handover. Then negotiate on term length rather than headline rate: landlords in this market give away months more readily than dollars per foot.
We charge tenants nothing — our fee comes from the landlord — so a viewing request costs you only the hour it takes.