Quick Answer
Chicago retail construction in 2026 is supply-constrained rather than demand-constrained. Roughly 1.1 million square feet of retail was under construction across the metro entering the year, about 0.2 percent of total inventory, according to CoStar data published by Matthews. Elevated costs and tight financing have shut down most speculative retail. What is actually being built falls into four categories: single-tenant replacement buildings in premium corridors, ground-floor space inside mixed-use residential towers, big-box redevelopment of obsolete suburban office parks, and retail embedded inside multi-billion-dollar entertainment districts. Below is a look at six live Chicago-area projects and what each one tells you about building retail here right now.
The Market Context: Nobody Is Building Speculative Retail
CBRE’s 2026 Chicago outlook flagged the same thing we see in the field: on Southport, Armitage, in the Gold Coast and in Fulton Market, there has been almost no new construction to replace space as it disappears. Tenants are competing for a fixed pool of existing storefronts, which pushes rents up and pushes well-capitalized retailers toward the only reliable option left, which is building their own box.
That is the backdrop for everything that follows. When a developer in this market commits to new retail construction, it is because the alternative, which is finding suitable existing space, has failed.
1. 67 E. Oak: The Economics of a 6,000 Square Foot Flagship
A full building permit was issued in August 2026 for a two-story, 5,960 square foot single-tenant retail building on the Oak Street corridor, midblock between N. Michigan Avenue and N. Rush Street. Myefski Architects designed it. LG Group is the general contractor. Taylor Excavating and Construction handles demolition. The permitted construction value is 8.1 million dollars, with completion targeted for September 2027.
Run the math and this is the single most instructive number in Chicago retail construction this year: roughly 1,360 dollars per square foot for the shell alone. The developer turns the finished building over to the tenant, who then pays for their own buildout on top of that.
Three things stand out to us as builders.
- They are demolishing a five-story building to construct a two-story one. An existing five-story multi-tenant retail building comes down first. The replacement has less leasable area by a wide margin. That is a deliberate trade of square footage for frontage, floor plate quality and single-tenant control, and it only pencils in a corridor where ground-floor rents carry the entire deal.
- The building goes lot line to lot line at 36 feet tall. Only the front facade gets glass, a curtain wall system with bird-safe glazing. The other three elevations sit on property lines and are opaque. Zero-lot-line construction in a dense retail corridor means shoring, protection of adjacent structures, sidewalk closures, and delivery windows negotiated around neighboring tenants who stay open through the entire job.
- Thirteen months for 6,000 square feet. Demolition of an occupied-block five-story structure, foundations, structure, curtain wall, then turnover. That schedule is not padding. It is what a downtown site with no laydown area actually costs you in time.
The signed tenant is confidential until they announce. For context on why this works, recent market reporting from Bradford Allen put Gold Coast retail rents at their highest levels ever, with deals signing at 300 dollars per square foot and up.
2. Oak Brook and Orland Park: Amazon Is Rebuilding Dead Office Into Big Box
On August 11, 2026, the Oak Brook Village Board voted 4-0 to rezone from office to retail, consolidate seven parcels into one, and approve a 225,000 square foot Amazon store on a 27-acre site at the southeast corner of Butterfield and Meyers roads. The Ashley Furniture store originally paired with it is no longer part of the project. The village’s own timeline calls for demolition of the existing office buildings starting in fall 2026, construction through 2027, and opening in 2028.
What is coming down first is the real story. Seven three-story office buildings from the mid to late 1970s, totaling more than 600,000 square feet and largely vacant. That is a demolition and abatement scope larger than the building replacing it.
The south suburban version was approved earlier. In January 2026, Orland Park approved a roughly 229,000 square foot Amazon store on 35 acres at 9600 159th Street, with about 800 parking spaces and seven loading docks, plus deceleration lanes on 159th Street and La Grange Road and an acceleration lane on La Grange. Amazon has said it expects to open in late 2027 at the earliest.
From a construction standpoint, both of these are civil-heavy jobs before they are building jobs. Stormwater management drove much of the Oak Brook public comment, and the developer agreed to fund a new traffic signal and dedicate land for potential future westbound I-88 ramps. On projects like these, the site and offsite work is where the schedule risk lives, not the steel.
3. The 1901 Project: 670,000 Square Feet of Retail on a 10-Year Clock
The Wirtz and Reinsdorf families broke ground on June 3, 2026 on the 7 billion dollar 1901 Project, redeveloping roughly 55 acres of surface parking around the United Center. The full master plan by RIOS includes about 670,000 square feet of retail, 660,000 square feet of office, 9,500 residential units, 1,300 hotel keys and 25 acres of open space.
Phase one is a 500 million dollar package on about 12.3 acres south and west of the arena: a 6,000-seat music hall, retail and restaurant space, a hotel, parking structures and green space, targeted for completion in 2028.
The first building out of the ground is the West Garage, and it is a useful example of how retail gets delivered inside a mega-project. McHugh Construction holds the foundations permit and a tower crane permit. Stalworth Underground has been drilling and filling caissons for a three-story mixed-use structure that combines parking, retail space and a new loading area, all under an occupiable rooftop deck.
Note the stacking. The retail is not a standalone pad. It is a liner wrapped around a garage with a green roof above it. That configuration means the retail contractor is coordinating around a concrete structure sized for vehicle loads and a rooftop assembly carrying soil, drainage and public access. Waterproofing, structural deflection and utility routing all get decided long before any tenant signs a lease.
4. Foundry Park: 420,000 Square Feet of Retail Breaking Ground This Fall
Chicago City Council approved the 3 billion dollar Foundry Park development on February 18, 2026. JDL Development and Kayne Anderson Real Estate are redeveloping the northern portion of the former Lincoln Yards site with a Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture master plan that includes roughly 420,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and about 350,000 square feet of office alongside more than 3,200 residential units.
JDL has said it intends to begin permitting and break ground on the 800 million dollar first phase in October 2026, starting with a triangular parcel bounded by N. Southport Avenue, W. Cortland Street and N. Kingsbury Street, built over roughly one and a half levels of underground parking with about 300 spaces.
This site is a former steel mill. Anyone bidding work here should be pricing for soil conditions, dewatering and remediation that come with heavy industrial history, plus deep excavation next to the Chicago River. The retail in Foundry Park will be ground-floor liner space, which means the retail schedule is entirely dependent on the residential structure above it topping out on time.
5. Reid Murdoch Building: The Retrofit Play
Friedman Properties completed reconstruction of the riverwalk at the Reid Murdoch Building at 325 N. LaSalle in August 2026. Together with renovations at River Roast, the coming opening of The Carlyle Club and earlier ground-level work, the investment totals roughly 15 million dollars at the 1914 landmark.
The scope is a clinic in hospitality retrofit. The 300-foot riverwalk connecting Clark Street to LaSalle Drive was nearly doubled in width. Ten-foot-tall double doors were cut into the south elevation to open interior space to outdoor dining. The work included new precast piers, railings, lighting, integrated planters and improved access for visitors arriving by boat. Levy Restaurants renovated the 28,000 square foot River Roast, rebranding the main event space as RR Events with a new riverside entrance and curved grand staircase, and added a coffee concept called Corner Roast with its own entrance. The Carlyle Club, an 8,200 square foot restaurant from Group LV Hospitality with seating for more than 250 and a 62-seat cocktail bar, opens in September.
Every bit of that happened in a landmarked, occupied building on a working riverfront. New openings in a historic masonry elevation require structural lintels and landmark review. Riverwalk piers mean permits from multiple agencies and marine access constraints. And the building never went dark. In a market where new retail construction is scarce, this is where a lot of the actual construction dollars are going.
6. Chicago Fire Stadium at The 78: Remediation First, Steel Later
The Chicago Fire broke ground March 3, 2026 on a privately funded 750 million dollar, 22,000-seat stadium designed by Gensler, anchoring Related Midwest’s 62-acre development at The 78. It is targeted to open for the 2028 MLS season and would be the first major professional stadium built in Chicago in more than 30 years. Pepper Construction, GMA Construction and A.L.L. Construction are on the build.
The permit sequence tells the story better than the renderings. Environmental remediation started in February 2026, before groundbreaking. A foundation piles permit followed in March, then a shallow foundations permit in April, then tower cranes. That is roughly four months of substructure and site work before anything went vertical on one of the largest undeveloped parcels in the city.
The 78 will eventually include restaurants, retail, office and residential along a Riverwalk extension. None of that retail can start until the stadium and the surrounding infrastructure define the street grid.
What This Means for Cost and Schedule in 2026
The cost environment is the reason so little speculative retail is moving. Associated Builders and Contractors data showed nonresidential construction input prices surging at a 12.6 percent annualized rate over the first two months of 2026, the fastest pace since early 2022.
As of April 2026, steel, aluminum and copper items made entirely or mostly from those metals carried a 50 percent tariff, with derivative products at 25 percent. Industrial and electrical equipment incorporating those materials, including transformers, panel boards and conduit systems, sat at 15 percent, and softwood lumber at 10 percent. Baseline escalation forecasts for 2026 land in the 4 to 6 percent range, with higher exposure in tariff-sensitive and labor-intensive trades.
Labor compounds it. In the AGC 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook, 82 percent of firms reported difficulty filling qualified hourly craft positions.
For a retail owner or developer planning a Chicago project right now, that translates into a few specific moves:
- Price escalation explicitly, not as a lump contingency. Tie volatile line items to named indices or supplier schedules so everyone knows what is actually locked.
- Buy long-lead electrical gear at design development, not at permit. Switchgear, transformers and panel boards are the items most likely to push a retail opening date, and they carry tariff exposure on top of lead time.
- Budget demolition and abatement as a real line, not a rounding error. Oak Brook is tearing down 600,000 square feet of office to build 225,000 square feet of store. The Oak Street project removes five stories to build two.
- Get civil and stormwater in front of the village early. In the suburbs, detention, traffic studies and offsite roadway work now regularly determine the approval timeline more than the building itself does.
- Assume 12 to 18 months of construction on even a small standalone building. A 6,000 square foot downtown box is running 13 months from permit to turnover before the tenant buildout begins.
Chicago Retail Construction Projects at a Glance
| Project | Location | Retail Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67 E. Oak | Oak Street corridor | 5,960 SF single tenant, 8.1 million dollars | Full permit issued, completion September 2027 |
| Amazon Oak Brook | Butterfield and Meyers | 225,000 SF store | Approved August 11, 2026, demo fall 2026 |
| Amazon Orland Park | 9600 159th Street | Roughly 229,000 SF store | Approved January 2026, opening late 2027 earliest |
| The 1901 Project | United Center, Near West Side | 670,000 SF retail at full buildout | Broke ground June 2026, phase one due 2028 |
| Foundry Park | Lincoln Park and Bucktown | Roughly 420,000 SF retail and commercial | Approved February 2026, phase one groundbreaking targeted October 2026 |
| Reid Murdoch Building | 325 N. LaSalle, River North | Riverwalk plus 8,200 SF restaurant, 15 million dollar program | Riverwalk complete, Carlyle Club opens September 2026 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to build a small retail building in Chicago in 2026?
A two-story, 5,960 square foot single-tenant retail building permitted on the Oak Street corridor in August 2026 carries a construction value of 8.1 million dollars, or roughly 1,360 dollars per square foot for the base building. That figure covers the shell only. The tenant pays for their own interior buildout after the developer turns the building over. Costs vary widely by corridor, site constraints and finish level, and a suburban pad site on open land will price far below a downtown zero-lot-line project.
Why are developers demolishing larger buildings to build smaller retail in Chicago?
In premium corridors, ground-floor frontage carries almost all of the value. Upper-floor retail leases at a steep discount and is harder to fill, so replacing a stacked multi-tenant building with a smaller single-tenant flagship can produce more income per dollar invested. Recent market reporting put Gold Coast retail rents at record levels, with deals signing at 300 dollars per square foot and up, which is what makes trading square footage for frontage and floor plate quality work financially.
How long does retail construction take in Chicago right now?
Plan on 12 to 18 months of construction for a small standalone building, and longer if demolition or environmental work comes first. A 5,960 square foot downtown retail building permitted in August 2026 is scheduled for completion in September 2027, roughly 13 months, before the tenant buildout even begins. Large suburban big-box projects typically run demolition in one year, construction the next, and opening the year after that.
What is driving Chicago retail construction costs up in 2026?
Tariffs and labor. As of April 2026, steel, aluminum and copper items made entirely or mostly from those metals carried a 50 percent tariff, derivative products carried 25 percent, and industrial and electrical equipment including transformers, panel boards and conduit systems carried 15 percent. Associated Builders and Contractors data showed nonresidential construction input prices rising at a 12.6 percent annualized rate over the first two months of 2026. On the labor side, 82 percent of firms in the AGC 2026 outlook reported difficulty filling qualified hourly craft positions.
Is there new retail space being built in the Chicago suburbs?
Yes, but it is concentrated in a small number of large projects rather than spread across many small ones. Amazon received approval for a roughly 229,000 square foot store in Orland Park in January 2026 and a 225,000 square foot store in Oak Brook in August 2026, the latter replacing seven largely vacant 1970s office buildings totaling more than 600,000 square feet. Overall, metro retail construction remains historically low, with roughly 1.1 million square feet underway entering 2026, about 0.2 percent of total inventory.
Planning a Retail or Commercial Build in Chicago?
Horizon Construction Team builds retail, restaurant and commercial projects across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, from ground-up single-tenant buildings to interior buildouts and adaptive reuse. If you are pricing a project for 2027 delivery, now is the time to lock scope and long-lead procurement. Call 773 858-3214 or reach out through horizonconstructionteamllc.com to talk through your site.
