Brian J. Rogal

Brian J. Rogal is a lifelong Chicagoan if you count a childhood spent in the suburbs. The Bucktown resident is a graduate of DePaul University and then spent several years as an investigative reporter with The Chicago Reporter, mostly writing about the CHA’s transformation. He has covered commercial real estate full-time since 2013.

Empty streets at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive during the Tuesday evening rush hour, March 17, 2020, in Chicago's Loop. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Downtown office buildings emptied out by the pandemic are being scooped up and refurbished with new amenities

April 7, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

The spiffed-up properties mean employees who commute downtown — even just a couple of days a week — could find new workspace amenities like tenant lounges and rooftop terraces.

Amtrak’s 14th Street Coach Yard operates on March 18, 2026, along the South Branch of the Chicago River south of Roosevelt Road, across from The 78 development. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Justin Ishbia poised to buy rail yard, fueling speculation it could become part of White Sox stadium site

March 18, 2026 at 6:58 p.m.

Billionaire investor Justin Ishbia is on the verge of buying an Amtrak rail yard just across the Chicago River from The 78, a new mixed-use development still eyed as a...

Cantor Shelly Drucker Friedman, center, talks with Emanuel Congregation members following a Shabbat service in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, Feb. 20, 2026. The congregation is launching a plan to develop a massive new apartment project with the synagogue occupying the bottom portion of the building.(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

North Side synagogue asks Edgewater neighbors to support new Sheridan Road apartment complex

March 2, 2026 at 12:07 p.m.

A North Side synagogue is asking Edgewater residents to support a plan that would transform its lakefront site into a 12-story apartment complex with hundreds of units and a new,...

Builder DLG Development plans to create 188 units, including 38 affordable apartments, at 3611 N. Halsted St., and transform an adjacent alley into a public park. (Studio Dwell Architects)

Chicago Plan Commission approves Lakeview tower and hundreds of Fulton Market apartments

February 19, 2026 at 5:52 p.m.

Builder DLG Development plans to create 188 units, including 38 affordable apartments, at 3611 N. Halsted St., and transform an adjacent alley into a public park.

Shenita Muse, left, of the Hope Center Foundation, and Jeff Bartow, of the Southwest Organizing Project, navigate security fencing surrounding a plot of land in the 7400 block of South Talman Avenue, Feb. 12, 2026, in Chicago. They are part of an umbrella organization called United Power for Action and Justice, whose initiative, Reclaiming Chicago, was awarded the Pritzker Traubert Foundation's Chicago Prize, which will help fund the development of a 125-unit affordable living community on the vacant property. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Initiative to boost affordable homeownership on South and West sides wins Chicago Prize

February 17, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Instead of building individual homes on scattered sites, Reclaiming Chicago aims to transform whole neighborhoods at once, taking over large vacant lots and planting groups of more than 100 affordable...

A customer walks down a winding stairway along a wall featuring women’s bras at the opening of the newest flagship location for Kim Kardashian’s Skims on Chicago's Rush Street on Feb. 6, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Kim Kardashian’s Skims opens store in Chicago’s Gold Coast retail district

February 6, 2026 at 12:18 p.m.

Kim Kardashian’s clothing boutique Skims opened a two-level flagship store Friday at the corner of Rush and Oak streets in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, bolstering an already-strong retail district.

JDL Development has won Chicago Plan Commission approval for a new development on the former Lincoln Yards site. (JDL)

Chicago Plan Commission approves new vision for mixed-use community on former Lincoln Yards site

January 15, 2026 at 5:59 p.m.

The Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday approved a plan to transform the northern half of the former Lincoln Yards development site into a mixed-use community with more than 3,000 residences,...

A woman walks out of Indian Trails Apartments, an affordable housing development that a developer plans to rehabilitate, in West Pullman, Jan. 12, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Troubled West Pullman housing complex has new owners, and will get a complete rehab

January 12, 2026 at 5:01 p.m.

California-based Transcend Development Group bought the 180-unit property at 221 E. 121st St. in West Pullman in a $53 million deal.

People walk through an open hall at the Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood on Dec. 10, 2025, which aims to serve as a hub for entrepreneurs and startups in Kenosha. The facility is located on the former grounds of Chrysler factories shuttered in 1988. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Kenosha, hit hard by factory shutdowns, is reinventing itself. But questions of affordability loom large.

January 12, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

“I’ve always said we’re a blue-collar, shot-and-beer kind of town, but we’re becoming more of a white wine and spritzer town," said Ald. Anthony Kennedy.

A T.J. Maxx store in New Hampshire on Aug. 14, 2025. T.J. Maxx signed a lease for a prominent retail corridor in Lincoln Park, and will open a street-level store by the third quarter of 2026. (Charles Krupa/AP)

New T.J. Maxx coming to refurbished Lincoln Park tower

January 8, 2026 at 6:00 a.m.

T.J. Maxx signed a lease for 26,000 square feet on a prominent retail corridor in Lincoln Park, and will open a street-level store by the third quarter of 2026.

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