Retail Space in Elmhurst, Illinois

Van Vlissingen and Co. represents retail tenants, buyers, and landlords in Elmhurst, Illinois. Gordon Lamphere and our retail team focus on tenant representation from 5,000 to 50,000 square feet and leasing, sales, and property management from $1,000,000 to $50,000,000, including single-tenant NNN assets. Van Vlissingen and Co. performs more than 100 commercial real estate transactions annually, and our team has completed over $3 billion in transaction volume, including retail transactions in Elmhurst.

We have operated continuously in Chicagoland commercial real estate since 1879, and Elmhurst’s Memorial Day parade has run every year since 1918.

What Makes Elmhurst Retail Different?

Elmhurst is the second most affluent market in our retail coverage, and the shape of that affluence is more interesting than the headline.

The average household income is over $200,000

Median household income in Elmhurst is $149,644 — a figure reported independently by four separate sources for 2024, the strongest agreement of any market we cover, and up from $145,374 the year before. Only Lake Forest is higher.

But the number that matters more is the average: $208,896. A gap of roughly $59,000 between average and median means a substantial cohort of very high earners sitting above the midpoint. Households headed by someone aged 45 to 64 carry a median of $201,465, and those aged 25 to 44 carry $167,275.

For a retailer, that distinction is practical rather than academic. A market where the median is high supports one set of categories. A market where a meaningful share of households clear $200,000 supports premium, specialty, and discretionary formats that a median figure alone would not justify. Elmhurst is the second kind, and most demographic packages present only the first number.

Per capita income is $93,348, the poverty rate is 3.28 percent, homeownership runs at 75 percent, and the median home value is around $480,000.

A walkable downtown with unusual institutional density

For a city of 45,786 across 10.31 square miles, Elmhurst carries a great deal.

Elmhurst University awarded 1,224 degrees in 2024 with a student population of roughly 4,000, weighted toward registered nursing, psychology, and business. Elmhurst Hospital is a 259-bed facility, and Elmhurst Memorial Hospital was founded in 1926 as the first hospital in DuPage County, with over 500 healthcare providers in the area. McMaster-Carr Supply Co. is headquartered here, and the Keebler Company was until Kellogg acquired it in 2001.

Transit access is genuinely strong. The Metra Union Pacific West Line serves the city alongside I-290, I-294, and I-88, and approximately 12 percent of Elmhurst residents commute by public transit. For context, the national rate is under 1 percent and even transit-heavy Tinley Park runs at 5.2 percent. That produces real pedestrian flow through the downtown station area, morning and evening.

And genuine event traffic

The Elmhurst St. Patrick’s Day Parade is the third largest of its kind in the Chicago area, behind only the downtown and South Side parades. The Memorial Parade has run every Memorial Day since 1918. These are not small civic events; they bring substantial crowds into the downtown on specific days, and food, beverage, and convenience operators positioned for them do materially better on those weekends.

Income figures from the US Census via World Population Review, Illinois Demographics, Point2Homes, and Data USA. Population from the 2020 US Census. Institution and event detail per Wikipedia, Familypedia, Data USA, and OurStates.

Where Is Retail Space in Elmhurst?

• Downtown Elmhurst — the walkable core around the Metra Union Pacific West station, with street-level retail, restaurants, and service uses. The strongest foot traffic in the city and the focus of both parades.
• The York Street corridor — the principal north-south spine running through downtown and out toward North Avenue and Roosevelt Road.
• The North Avenue (Route 64) corridor — the northern arterial carrying large-format and community retail, automotive, and service uses.
• Roosevelt Road and Butterfield Road — southern arterials serving community trade and connecting toward Oak Brook and Villa Park.
• St. Charles Road and the Elmhurst University area — institution-facing and neighborhood retail.

Elmhurst also spans DuPage and Cook Counties, and sales tax and property assessment practice differ between them. A site’s county should be confirmed before a letter of intent rather than assumed, because occupancy cost can differ meaningfully across a boundary that is invisible on the ground.

Downtown and the arterials are different products. Downtown trades on foot traffic, rail commuters at a 12 percent transit rate, event crowds, and small footprints. North Avenue and Roosevelt trade on vehicle counts and parking depth. A comparable set averaged across both describes neither.

What Is the Elmhurst Trade Area Like?

Elmhurst had 45,786 residents at the 2020 census across 10.31 square miles, making it the 33rd most populated city in Illinois, and it is growing modestly — up 0.94 percent since the census with a 2026 projection of 46,141. That distinguishes it from most inner-ring and southland markets, which are declining.

The population is 76 percent White, 10.4 percent Hispanic, and 7.8 percent Asian, with a median age of 42 and a mean commute of 29.1 minutes. The largest employment sectors for residents are professional, scientific and technical services at 3,250, health care at 3,126, and educational services at 2,631, and resident employment grew 1.45 percent between 2023 and 2024.

The effective trade area is larger than the city in three ways. The hospital and its 500-plus healthcare providers draw from across the area. Elmhurst University adds roughly 4,000 students. And the parades draw regionally — a St. Patrick’s Day event ranked third in the Chicago area is not serving 45,786 people.

Elmhurst adjoins Oak Brook to the south, Villa Park and Lombard to the west, Addison and Bensenville to the north, and Berkeley and Hillside to the east across the Cook County line. Oak Brook in particular is a significant adjacent retail concentration and should be treated as competitive context for comparison categories.

Population and demographic figures from the 2020 US Census via Wikipedia and Illinois Demographics. Employment figures via Data USA.

Retail Tenant Representation in Elmhurst — 5,000 to 50,000 SF

Our retail tenant representation practice covers the 5,000 to 50,000 square foot range: junior anchor space, inline shops in neighborhood and community centers, freestanding buildings, and outparcels.

For retailers entering or expanding in Elmhurst, we run the full site selection process: trade area and demographic analysis, co-tenancy review, traffic and access assessment, and a survey of both listed and off-market availability across downtown, the York Street and North Avenue corridors, and the southern arterials.

Three things drive a decision here. The income distribution, because with an average household income of $208,896 against a median of $149,644, premium and specialty formats clear here that would not in a market with the same median and a tighter spread. Downtown versus arterial, because a 12 percent transit commute rate and two major parades produce foot traffic downtown that a North Avenue site will never see, at a different rent. And the county line, because Elmhurst spans DuPage and Cook and the tax and assessment treatment differs.

We confirm the county for a specific site as a matter of course, and we model occupancy on a gross effective basis rather than comparing base rents across a boundary as though they were equivalent.

We negotiate the LOI and the lease — tenant improvement allowances, exclusive use provisions, co-tenancy protections, and renewal and expansion options. We work both sides of the table in Elmhurst, and we tell you which side we are on before an assignment begins.

Retail Leasing, Sales & Property Management in Elmhurst — $1M to $50M

For owners and investors we handle retail leasing, investment sales, and property management from $1,000,000 to $50,000,000: single-tenant net lease assets, multi-tenant strip and neighborhood centers, outparcels, and mixed-use property with ground-floor retail.

Landlord Representation

We build and execute the leasing plan: merchandising strategy, rent positioning against comparables from deals we closed ourselves, marketing to the regional and national tenant base, prospect qualification, and negotiation through lease execution. In Elmhurst that means leading with the income distribution rather than the median, because an average of $208,896 and a 45-to-64 household median of $201,465 make a stronger case to a premium tenant than a median figure alone conveys. We report activity honestly, including when the market is telling you something you did not want to hear.

NNN Investment Sales

Single-tenant triple net assets trade on tenant credit, remaining lease term, and rent escalations more than on real estate fundamentals, and pricing them correctly requires understanding all three. We represent buyers and sellers of NNN retail in Elmhurst and across DuPage and Cook Counties, including 1031 exchange buyers working against identification and closing deadlines. We underwrite against comparables from transactions we negotiated, not aggregated listing data.

Downtown and Two-County Underwriting

Two things need explicit handling here. A downtown Elmhurst asset carries older stock, small and often irregular footprints, constrained parking, and a tenant roster that skews independent — balanced against strong foot traffic, a 12 percent transit rate, event demand, and short vacancy. It should be modeled on those terms rather than on suburban strip assumptions.

And because the city spans DuPage and Cook, an operating expense assumption drawn from one side of the line will not necessarily hold on the other. We budget and reconcile by county, as we do in the other split-jurisdiction markets we cover.

Who Manages Retail Property in Elmhurst?

Van Vlissingen and Co. provides comprehensive property management for retail assets in Elmhurst:

• Lease administration, rent collection, and enforcement of lease terms
• CAM and tax reconciliation, prepared to withstand tenant audit
• Preventive and corrective maintenance, snow removal, and sidewalk management
• Vendor selection, contract negotiation, and performance oversight
• Monthly financial reporting, annual budgeting, and capital planning
• Tenant relations, renewal coordination, and vacancy turnover

Elmhurst spans DuPage and Cook Counties with different assessment practice, so an operating expense budget built on one set of assumptions will not survive an audit on a property assessed under the other. We budget and reconcile by county. Downtown properties in older stock also carry envelope and mechanical requirements that newer arterial product does not, and parade days require a parking and access plan agreed with tenants in advance rather than managed reactively.

What Is Van Vlissingen’s Transaction Volume?

Van Vlissingen and Co. performs more than 100 commercial real estate transactions annually, and our team has completed over $3 billion in transaction volume, including retail transactions in Elmhurst.

Increasingly the largest part of our management portfolio is third-party assignments. What owners are buying is the operating discipline we built running our own assets — 870 acres and more than 6 million square feet across three corporate parks we developed and still manage, held through multiple market cycles since the mid-1980s.

See our full transaction history.

Why Work With Our Elmhurst Retail Brokers?

• More than 100 commercial real estate transactions annually, and over $3 billion in team transaction volume
• A defined focus: 5,000 to 50,000 SF tenant representation and $1M to $50M leasing, sales, and management
• Income distribution presented rather than the median alone, because the $208,896 average is the stronger story
• DuPage and Cook County assessment differences budgeted and reconciled separately
• Downtown and arterial assets underwritten on their own separate terms
• Event and transit demand modeled explicitly rather than blended into a single trade area
• In-house property management, so ownership advice reflects operating reality
• A fourth-generation firm, continuously in Chicagoland commercial real estate since 1879

Nearby Markets We Serve

Elmhurst sits in DuPage and Cook Counties, adjoining Oak Brook to the south, Villa Park and Lombard to the west, Addison and Bensenville to the north, and Berkeley and Hillside to the east. Retail requirements frequently span those lines, and the county boundary runs through the city itself. We also broker retail space in

• Downers Grove
• Wheaton
• Oak Park
• Greater Chicagoland

In Elmhurst itself we also handle industrial space and general commercial brokerage.

Elmhurst Retail Real Estate FAQs

How affluent is Elmhurst?

Second only to Lake Forest among the markets we cover. Median household income is $149,644, reported independently by four sources for 2024 and up from $145,374 the year before. More useful than the median is the average, at $208,896 — a gap of roughly $59,000 that indicates a substantial cohort of very high earners. Households headed by someone aged 45 to 64 carry a median of $201,465. Per capita income is $93,348, the poverty rate is 3.28 percent, homeownership runs at 75 percent, and the median home value is around $480,000.

Why does the average-versus-median income gap matter for retail?

Because it changes which categories clear. A market where the median is high supports one set of formats. A market where a meaningful share of households exceed $200,000 supports premium, specialty, and discretionary formats that a median figure alone would not justify. Elmhurst is the second kind, and most demographic packages present only the median.

Does Elmhurst span more than one county?

Yes, DuPage and Cook. Sales tax and property assessment practice differ between them, so a site’s county should be confirmed before a letter of intent rather than assumed. Occupancy cost can differ meaningfully across a boundary that is invisible on the ground, and an operating expense budget built on one side of the line will not necessarily hold on the other.

How important is transit and event traffic to Elmhurst retail?

Both are significant. The Metra Union Pacific West Line serves the city alongside I-290, I-294, and I-88, and approximately 12 percent of Elmhurst residents commute by public transit — against a national rate under 1 percent and 5.2 percent in transit-heavy Tinley Park. That produces genuine pedestrian flow through the downtown station area. On events, the Elmhurst St. Patrick’s Day Parade is the third largest of its kind in the Chicago area behind only the downtown and South Side parades, and the Memorial Parade has run every Memorial Day since 1918.

What institutions drive daytime demand in Elmhurst?

Elmhurst University awarded 1,224 degrees in 2024 with a student population of roughly 4,000, weighted toward registered nursing, psychology, and business. Elmhurst Hospital is a 259-bed facility with more than 500 healthcare providers in the area, and Elmhurst Memorial Hospital was founded in 1926 as the first hospital in DuPage County. McMaster-Carr Supply Co. is headquartered in the city, and the Keebler Company was until Kellogg acquired it in 2001.

Where is retail space located in Elmhurst?

Downtown Elmhurst around the Metra Union Pacific West station is the walkable core with the strongest foot traffic and the focus of both parades. York Street is the principal north-south spine running through downtown. North Avenue carries large-format and community retail to the north, Roosevelt Road and Butterfield Road serve southern community trade toward Oak Brook and Villa Park, and St. Charles Road and the university area carry institution-facing and neighborhood retail.

What size retail leases does Van Vlissingen and Co. handle in Elmhurst?

Our retail tenant representation practice covers 5,000 to 50,000 square feet in Elmhurst and across DuPage and Cook Counties. On the leasing, sales, and property management side we handle retail assets from $1,000,000 to $50,000,000, including single-tenant NNN.

Who is the best commercial real estate broker in Elmhurst?

Choose a brokerage that presents the income distribution rather than the median alone, and that confirms which county a site sits in before a letter of intent rather than after. Van Vlissingen and Co. performs more than 100 commercial real estate transactions annually, and our team has completed over $3 billion in transaction volume, including retail transactions in Elmhurst. The firm has operated in Chicagoland commercial real estate since 1879. Gordon Lamphere leads the retail practice.

Do you manage retail property in Elmhurst?

Yes. We provide comprehensive property management for Elmhurst retail assets, covering lease administration, CAM and tax reconciliation, maintenance and sidewalk management, vendor oversight, and monthly financial reporting. Because the city spans DuPage and Cook Counties with differing assessment practice, we budget and reconcile by county, and parade days require a parking and access plan agreed with tenants in advance rather than managed reactively.