Over the past five years, the construction of numerous high-rise office buildings has transformed the character of Chicago's Loop by significantly diminishing street-level retail activity. More than half (52 percent) of the retail stores in buildings torn down to make way for the current building boom have not relocated and have gone out of business. In addition, those that have relocated were pushed from the prime retail area to more peripheral locations. The proportion of businesses located in non-prime areas has risen from 20 to 45 percent of the total.