Last month, Aetna Insurance Company announced it is leaving the Insurance Capital of the World in Hartford, Connecticut for New York City. McDonald’s moved from Oak Brook, Illinois, its home for decades, to Chicago’s West Loop. More corporations, including Motorola, General Electric and more have decided to go downtown instead of staying in the suburbs where they have been headquartered for many years. What gives?

“It’s all about one thing: talent,”  said Urban Land Institute senior resident fellow Tom Murphy. Simply, corporations, in search of millennials entering the workforce, are headed to the downtown areas, where many of these young recruits are living.

Surburban office parks are no longer attractive to millennials entering the workforce. Rather, the walkability and options offered by the cities are drawing them in, and, in search of younger talent, several corporations are moving to bigger cities, too.

But are the corporations’ decisions to move too hasty? “Despite the hype of urban living, will millennials eventually return to the suburbs when they start families, search for good schools and track down affordable homes, with corporations to follow?” Curbed.com asks. Maybe. “Some developers and planners believe that, while cities are and will continue to be a big draw, millennials…[will] simply demand more walkable, transit-friendly, city-like suburbs.”

Tell us what you think. Will the downtown trend continue forever or will corporations go back to the suburbs?

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