Howard Conant

Long before River North became a center of tech offices and nightlife, its future was being worked out inside decaying industrial lofts.

While other developers went after glass-and-steel towers, Conant turned brick-and-timber warehouses into premium workspaces, setting the blueprint for the neighborhood’s creative office spaces. 

Founded in 1978 with his mother, the late Doris Conant, Urban Innovations has grown from a single adaptive reuse project into a major player in the city’s loft office market, managing over 1 million square feet of commercial space.

In 2025, the firm completed and leased space in its newest River North office building at 311 West Huron Street. By midyear, the firm’s 11-building portfolio was 93 percent leased — a notable figure in an office environment that’s seeing much higher vacancy rates on average.

In recent years, Urban Innovations has expanded its portfolio beyond historic loft conversions to include ground‑up office projects and continued stewardship of long‑held properties.

Beyond commercial real estate, Conant maintains a significant footprint in affordable housing,managing subsidized housing properties across five states — a business that aligns with his family’s long history of social justice activism.