BUILDING UP AND OUT. NAI Commonweal's annual market overview report offers succinct insight into the Eau Claire area's real estate market as it relates to development – across office and industrial spaces to retail and housing.

The growth of Eau Claire continues to be a talking point among local residents and community leaders alike. As it relates to development, NAI Commonweal’s annual market report offers insight into where that growth is likely to lead next – and for the first time this year, also considers neighboring city Chippewa Falls.

Last year’s report from NAI Commonweal – the leading commercial real estate brokerage of western Wisconsin – found the Eau Claire area offered a strong market across four identified sectors: office, industrial, retail and multifamily.

This year’s overall tune is similar, though a deeper dive into the past year of development shows notable emerging trends across the market.

While multifamily dwellings construction will continue into 2026, an increase in the market’s vacancy rate – due to significant development efforts over the past few years – indicates “a balancing of the market,” Ryan Erickson, director of brokerage services, said.

The report's coverage area, now including the city of Chippewa Falls.

Since last year’s report, over 700 units have been added to the Eau Claire market – contributing to the vacancy rate's 2% jump, from 3.18% to 5.18% – with numerous residential projects still underway. The increase of units is likely to fuel the vacancy rate’s continued increase over the next several years.

“Demand continues to grow for all apartment types, but supply has increased faster than demand, particularly the supply of apartments in larger scale projects,” Erickson told Volume One.

“Looking at the vacancy rate specific to downtown, it did increase around 2% in 2025, suggesting we are starting to see an oversupply of housing in that area. Our report does not include the new projects that were delivered in 2025 or those under construction,” he continued.

Eau Claire’s industrial vacancy rate in 2024 was significantly influenced by the former HTI/TDK property, a large site that has since been purchased by TTM Technologies. That purchase impacted the notable decrease in available square footage; low industrial vacancy rates indicate a strong market, the report notes.

Eau Claire’s industrial sector now shows a vacancy rate of just 2.10%, down significantly from last year’s report of 7.30%.

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LOOKING AHEAD, THE NINE-PAGE REPORT NOTES ALTOONA'S RIVER PRAIRIE AREA WILL SEE ITS "FEW REMAINING DEVELOPMENT SITES" FILL IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

As Erickson explained, River Prairie has become "one of the hottest and most sought-after developments."

Vacancy in Eau Claire’s office sector is also down a few percentage points – even with Hoeft Builders’ new 29,000-square-foot office building on the south side of town – from 2024’s 12.35% to 2025’s 8.83%. The report noted growth in the healthcare sphere as one contributing factor.

In the retail sector, Eau Claire saw a slight decrease in vacancy – from 8.48% to 8.11% – with the north side and Lake Hallie areas continuing to have the lowest vacancy. The downtown area has the highest vacancy rate – a continuing trend – at 14.33%. Notably, that is almost a full percentage point less than last year, when downtown vacancy sat at 15.30%.

“(Downtown’s decreased vacancy rate) is a good indicator,” Erickson said, “but downtown still has some issues that are pushing businesses to look at relocation outside of the downtown area.

“With all the work that has been put into getting downtown Eau Claire revitalized, we need to work to keep that momentum going and find ways to stop it from getting stalled,” he added.

While all of the city’s Mega Holiday locations have closed, Circle K has begun reopening at those locations – something NAI Commonweal says will continue into 2026.

NAI Commonweal’s annual market report does not include quick-service restaurants (QSR) in its data, though Eau Claire has seen a number of QSRs join the community over the past few years (Chick-fil-A, 7 Brew, Raising Canes, etc.).

Looking ahead, the nine-page report notes Altoona’s River Prairie area will see its “few remaining development sites” fill in the near future. As Erickson explained, River Prairie has become “one of the hottest and most sought-after developments.”

Just one two-acre lot remains available in River Prairie, Erickson said, with “expected activity” from another national restaurant alongside the potential for other restaurant and office users.

Chippewa Falls

For the first time in the report’s roughly 20 years, Chippewa Falls’ office and retail sectors were also analyzed (the multifamily and industrial sectors are not yet included).

NAI Commonweal added Chippewa Falls to its annual market overview report due to notable growth, Erickson said.

“When we started doing the market report, we had limited resources,” he explained. “Chippewa Falls is an important part of the overall Chippewa Valley and adding it helps give us a better snapshot of how the overall market is doing.”

Graphic, published in NAI Commonweal's report, displaying industrial vacancy data.

The city’s office sector has a reported vacancy rate of 9.51% and a retail vacancy rate of 4.03%. According to a graph in the report, Chippewa Falls makes up about 19% of the combined region’s industrial square-footage vacancy of 15,316,389 square feet.

Both former Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) hospital sites in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls will continue seeing activity, the report stated – including Clear Sky Health’s construction along Bullis Farm Rd. in Eau Claire and Aspirus Health’s development in Chippewa Falls.

This year’s Chippewa Falls market reporting will act as a baseline for NAI Commonweal, and emerging trends will be identified in the years to come.

View NAI Commonweal's full 2025 market overview report online at www.naicommonweal.com.