Steve Grzanich has the business news of the day with the Wintrust Business Minute.

Chicago’s downtown office vacancy rate ended 2024 at a record high. According to Crain’s, the share of available office space downtown rose to 26.3% during the final three months of the year. It’s the 10th consecutive quarter that the vacancy rate hit a record. The data is provided by real estate services firm CBRE. The downtown office vacancy rate climbed nearly 3% in just a year and is up from 13.8% at the beginning of the pandemic. The effects of remote work are mostly to blame as work patterns and work space needs have changed. 

Also, a new study ranks Illinois as the 29th best state for entrepreneurs in 2025. Listen for more below: