‘Starting to bounce back’: Amenities, spec suites helping to stabilize suburban office market

The suburban office market that’s been struggling to establish a new identity since the cataclysm of the pandemic five years ago seems to be moving more confidently toward a fuller realization of its ever-stabilizing trends, analysts say.

“To me, I feel like the COVID cycle’s over,” said Dan Fernitz, suburban market leader of Chicago-based commercial real estate firm Bradford Allen. “Our focus is finding tenants that want to be in office buildings and delivering the kind of space that they want to put their business and their employees in.”

Stability among small and midsize tenants is a particular characteristic of 2025, he said.

“That’s our story now and we’ve got a lot of buildings to show for it that are 90% leased and more,” Fernitz added. “You should have figured it out by now, you know, from the top on down. And so anyone that’s like, ‘Oh, I don't know about getting back,’ I'm like, OK, you’re just kicking the can. Pick a lane, get in it and stay in it.”

Trends that have helped drive the market in this direction include the demand for amenities and use of spec suites as leasing accelerators, experts say.

“The buildings with the amenities are winning the race,” said Jim Adler, executive vice president in the Office Services Group of Oakbrook Terrace-based NAI Hiffman.

Even to get the office market up to about 75% to 80% of what it was in 2018, landlords have had to focus on making their buildings comfortable and happy places. That wasn’t necessarily the case five to 10 years ago, he added.

The new generation of amenities includes such perks as cozy kitchen areas and privacy rooms for phone calls.

That’s even more so with the rising popularity of the spec suites that about a third of landlords have embraced to some degree. Spec suites were built by landlords with efficiency in mind 10 to 15 years ago, but today they’re designed to entice companies.

The biggest hesitation some landlords have about spec suites is the advance investment without guarantee of a return, Adler said.

But Bell Works Chicagoland, the redevelopment of the former AT&T headquarters in Hoffman Estates, has been well rewarded for its investment. It’s made about 10% of its office space into “Ready-to-Wear” suites, according to Ralph Zucker, CEO and founder of Inspired by Somerset Development.

“There is turnover, but there’s always someone waiting in line,” Zucker said. “We’ve built our spec suites to a very high quality. We’ve gone to great pains to make them all unique. And our spec suites are all on the retail level. You feel the vibe.”

With so much desire for Class A space, analysts say one of the challenges the market faces is the limited supply of it. Prohibitive construction costs mean new buildings are probably many years in the future, Adler said.

But with the benefit of an existing structure to adapt, Bell Works is one of the rare creators of new inventory in the region. Renovation work has just begun on the west side where another 430,000 square feet of traditional office space, 35,000 square feet of furnished spec suites, and 70,000 square feet of retail space are expected to be available for occupancy in the autumn of 2026.

“The flight to quality is real,” Zucker said. “There’s not enough inspired space. There’s been a lot of large companies sitting on the sidelines for a while. We’re in the right place at the right time.”

Though recent deals made the prominent companies Wheels LLC and ADP tenants of the iconic Zurich North America building in Schaumburg, that village isn’t yet experiencing a shortage of Class A space, Economic Development Director Matt Frank said.

But while he sees vacancy rates going down, Frank believes the office market will continue to require a level of attention beyond what was normal before the pandemic.

“I am optimistic and believe things are starting to bounce back,” he said. “We need to make sure our existing businesses don’t leave.”

Schaumburg’s position as Illinois’ second-largest hub of economic activity is dependent on the relationship between the office market and other sectors, Frank said.

The recent completion of a Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse and the ongoing construction of the multi-tenant restaurant campus of Crossroads of Schaumburg along Golf Road could be seen as renewed signs of faith in the office market, Frank said. But the proximity of hotels, stores and other leisure activities also means the restaurants aren’t betting everything on the offices.

Adler said one of the challenges of the next phase of the market is whether municipalities will have the courage to rethink their unwanted office space.

Frank said one of the most innovative ideas in Schaumburg is the residential conversion of an office building on Woodfield Road. Though newly approved, only its completion will demonstrate how influential it might be, he added.