Contractors working in the Midwest, and especially in the Chicago area, have heard much about recovery. But is such chatter just idle?
“Yes and no,” says Jeff Riemer, who heads up Chicago operations for Lendlease as executive vice president. “What we see is some strong recovery in certain market sectors, weak recovery in others, and almost no recovery in a third category.” But because it is happening in Chicago means even a partial recovery has contractors working. “Chicago is one of a number of cities around the U.S. that has pretty good diversity of market sectors,” says Riemer. “That’s good for us, because we like to be in cities where there is sustainability of market over a long period of time.”