Retail Space in Skokie, Illinois

Name: Van Vlissingen and Co.
Price range: $$

Van Vlissingen and Co. represents retail tenants, buyers, and landlords in Skokie, 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 Skokie.

We have operated continuously in Chicagoland commercial real estate since 1879.

What Makes Skokie Retail Different?

Skokie has 67,824 residents and 2,400 businesses, and its principal retail asset serves a trade area many times the size of the village. It is also more economically diverse than its North Shore neighbors, which changes how retail behaves here.

Old Orchard is a regional asset, not a village one

Westfield Old Orchard sits one block east of Interstate 94, the artery linking the North Shore to downtown Chicago. The Urban Land Institute’s case study of the center’s 1990s redevelopment reported a trade area population of 1.2 million. That figure is roughly thirty years old and should be treated as historical, but the geography that produced it has not changed.

Old Orchard is also unusual in a more instructive way. It is an open-air center in a climate that supposedly rules them out, and the ULI case study drew exactly that conclusion — that open-air malls are feasible even in a cold climate. Three decades on, that judgement looks better than it did, and it is the reason the property has adapted while enclosed competitors have struggled.

And it is now mid-conversion into a mixed-use district

Phase 1, expected to begin in 2025, demolishes the former Bloomingdale’s at the northwest portion of the mall and replaces it with five-story and seven-story mixed-use buildings carrying more than 400 apartments, 16,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and a new public common area and event space intended as the focal point of the center, hosting concerts and farmers markets. Phase 2 demolishes retail at the north end and adds a seven-story building with 250 residential units over retail and a parking garage, plus an eight-story building with retail, restaurant, and either a 200-key hotel or up to 125 residential units. Designated affordable units are included, although the project is not subject to Skokie’s inclusionary requirements.

Why that matters beyond Skokie

This is the fourth regional center in our coverage area converting to mixed-use with residential on the site. Hawthorn in Vernon Hills has already replaced two demolished anchors with several hundred apartments. Fox Valley in Aurora has done the same on the former Sears parcel. Arlington Park in Arlington Heights is proposed for a stadium district. Palatine did the equivalent downtown years ago and now has a decade of operating history to show for it.

For a retail owner or tenant anywhere near one of these, the implications are consistent: the co-tenancy assumptions are changing, several hundred new residents arrive inside the trade area, and construction phasing affects access and visibility in the interim. Those are all negotiable now and expensive to discover later.

Village figures per the Village of Skokie. Historical trade area and center detail per the Urban Land Institute case study. Redevelopment detail per the Village of Skokie, Patch, Evanston Now, and Focus Development. Status current as of this page’s date; confirm before relying on it.

Where Is Retail Space in Skokie?

The Old Orchard trade area — the center itself, its outparcels, and the inline and pad space along Skokie Boulevard and Golf Road. The highest traffic in the village, and now mid-redevelopment.
Downtown Skokie — the Oakton Street and Lincoln Avenue core, redeveloped with the support of a Tax Increment Financing district and anchored by the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts and the Illinois Science + Technology Park.
The Dempster Street corridor — the principal east-west retail spine, with the Village’s West Dempster improvements continuing.
Skokie Boulevard and Touhy Avenue — large-format and community retail, automotive, and service uses.
The Southeast Industrial area — renovated by the Village, with service and convenience retail supporting an industrial employment base most neighboring suburbs do not have.

These trade on different terms. Old Orchard prices on regional draw and now on redevelopment optionality. Downtown prices on its institutional and employment anchors. Dempster prices as conventional community retail. A comparable set averaged across all three describes none of them.

What Is the Skokie Employment Base?

Skokie’s economic profile is genuinely different from the North Shore communities around it, and the Village says so itself. Its Economic Development Coordinator has described Skokie as enjoying a healthy cross-section of retail establishments, office space, and — unlike most of its neighboring suburbs — industry.

That shows up in three places. The Illinois Science + Technology Park occupies the 23.4-acre former Searle and Pfizer site in downtown Skokie, a life sciences and research employment base. The Southeast Industrial area, renovated with Village support, retains genuine industrial employment. And the village holds 2,400 businesses against 24,000 households.

For retail that matters because the daytime population is not simply a residential one. Research, office, and industrial employees generate weekday lunch, service, and convenience demand concentrated around employment nodes rather than spread evenly across the village, and they do so on a schedule that differs from residential trade. A site’s proximity to those nodes is a real input.

Employment base detail per the Village of Skokie and the University of Chicago Harris case study on Skokie’s downtown redevelopment.

Retail Tenant Representation in Skokie — 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 Skokie, 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 the Old Orchard trade area, downtown, and the Dempster Street and Skokie Boulevard corridors.

Two things need particular attention. If a site sits within the Old Orchard trade area, the redevelopment is a live variable: co-tenancy is changing, several hundred residents are arriving on the site, and construction phasing will affect access and visibility. Those belong in a lease as rent abatement and co-tenancy provisions negotiated up front, not as a dispute later.

And in Cook County the real estate tax pass-through is a substantial share of occupancy cost that varies materially by property. We model occupancy on a gross effective basis and examine the assessment history of a specific building before a letter of intent, rather than comparing base rents across county lines 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 Skokie, and we tell you which side we are on before an assignment begins.

Retail Leasing, Sales & Property Management in Skokie — $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. Near Old Orchard that includes positioning against the 16,000 square feet of new restaurant and retail space coming in Phase 1 rather than pretending it is not coming. 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 Skokie and across Cook County, including 1031 exchange buyers working against identification and closing deadlines. We underwrite against comparables from transactions we negotiated, not aggregated listing data.

Underwriting Around the Old Orchard Redevelopment

An asset near Old Orchard carries both upside and exposure, and they should be modeled separately. More than 750 residential units arriving on the site is a genuine addition to the trade area. New retail and restaurant space on the site is a genuine competitive addition. Multi-year construction phasing is a genuine drag on access in the interim. We build the base case on today’s income, show the redevelopment scenario alongside it clearly separated, and price on the former. A project approved in October 2024 is considerably more certain than one still seeking legislation, but approved is not built.

Who Manages Retail Property in Skokie?

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

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 parking lot management
Vendor selection, contract negotiation, and performance oversight
Monthly financial reporting, annual budgeting, and capital planning
Tenant relations, renewal coordination, and vacancy turnover

Cook County real estate tax pass-throughs are large enough that a reconciliation error becomes a material dispute rather than a rounding one. Where a property sits within a redevelopment impact area, tenant relations also carry more weight than usual: an operator absorbing construction disruption will remember how the situation was handled when the renewal comes up.

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 Skokie.

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 Skokie 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
Active coverage of four regional center redevelopments across Chicagoland, so the Old Orchard conversion is read in context rather than in isolation
Redevelopment exposure modeled as a separate scenario rather than priced into a base case
Occupancy modeled on a gross effective basis, because in Cook County the tax line is a substantial share of total cost
Comparables from deals we negotiated ourselves
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

Skokie sits in northern Cook County adjoining Evanston to the east, Wilmette and Glenview to the north, Niles and Morton Grove to the west, and Lincolnwood and Chicago to the south. Retail requirements frequently span those lines, and the Old Orchard trade area reaches well beyond the village. We also broker retail space in

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

Skokie Retail Real Estate FAQs

What is happening with the Old Orchard redevelopment?

In October 2024 the Skokie Village Board approved a redevelopment costing more than $100 million, proposed by landlord Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield with Chicago-based developer Focus, adding more than 750 residential units across two phases. Phase 1, expected to begin in 2025, demolishes the former Bloomingdale’s at the northwest portion of the mall and builds five-story and seven-story mixed-use buildings with more than 400 apartments, 16,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and a new public common area and event space. Phase 2 adds a seven-story building with 250 residential units over retail and a parking garage, plus an eight-story building with retail, restaurant, and either a 200-key hotel or up to 125 residential units. Confirm current status before relying on this.

How large is the Old Orchard trade area?

The Urban Land Institute’s case study of the center’s 1990s redevelopment reported a trade area population of 1.2 million. That figure is roughly thirty years old and should be treated as historical rather than current, but the geography behind it has not changed: Old Orchard sits one block east of Interstate 94, the artery linking the North Shore to downtown Chicago, and it draws from well beyond Skokie’s own 67,824 residents.

How should I underwrite a retail asset near Old Orchard?

With the redevelopment modeled as a separate scenario rather than priced into the base case. More than 750 residential units arriving on the site is a genuine addition to the trade area, new retail and restaurant space on the site is a genuine competitive addition, and multi-year construction phasing is a genuine drag on access in the interim. We build the base case on today’s income and show the redevelopment scenario clearly separated. A project approved in October 2024 is considerably more certain than one still seeking legislation, but approved is not built.

What is different about Skokie’s economy?

It is more diverse than most North Shore communities, and the Village says so directly: its Economic Development Coordinator has described Skokie as having a healthy cross-section of retail, office space, and, unlike most of its neighboring suburbs, industry. The Illinois Science + Technology Park occupies the 23.4-acre former Searle and Pfizer site in downtown Skokie, the Southeast Industrial area has been renovated with Village support, and the village holds 2,400 businesses against 24,000 households. That produces weekday daytime demand concentrated around employment nodes rather than spread evenly across the village.

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

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

Do you handle retail investment sales in Skokie?

Yes. We broker retail investment sales from $1,000,000 to $50,000,000 in Skokie, including single-tenant NNN assets, multi-tenant strip and neighborhood centers, outparcels, and mixed-use property with ground-floor retail. We work with 1031 exchange buyers on deadline. In Cook County the real estate tax line is the largest single variable in an underwriting, and we examine assessment history on the specific property rather than applying a county-wide assumption.

Where is retail space located in Skokie?

The Old Orchard trade area carries the highest traffic in the village, along Skokie Boulevard and Golf Road. Downtown Skokie, around Oakton Street and Lincoln Avenue, was redeveloped with Tax Increment Financing support and is anchored by the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts and the Illinois Science + Technology Park. The Dempster Street corridor is the principal east-west retail spine, Skokie Boulevard and Touhy Avenue carry large-format and community retail, and the renovated Southeast Industrial area supports service and convenience retail around an industrial employment base.

Who is the best commercial real estate broker in Skokie?

Choose a brokerage that reads the Old Orchard conversion in context rather than in isolation, and that models occupancy on a gross effective basis in a county where the tax pass-through is substantial. 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 Skokie. We actively cover four regional center redevelopments across Chicagoland. The firm has operated in Chicagoland commercial real estate since 1879. Gordon Lamphere leads the retail practice.

Do you manage retail property in Skokie?

Yes. We provide comprehensive property management for Skokie retail assets, covering lease administration, CAM and tax reconciliation, maintenance and parking lot management, vendor oversight, and monthly financial reporting. Cook County tax pass-throughs are large enough that a reconciliation error becomes a material dispute, and where a property sits within a redevelopment impact area, tenant relations carry more weight than usual.