^ Didn't Wolf go to SCB from Murphy/Jahn?

Interesting article, I'll just plop it in here. I never knew that Chicago magazine is the largest monthly city magazine in the country! I was sure NY had a larger monthly.

Chicago Magazine Visits the South Loop: The Hottest Neighborhood in the Country

CHICAGO, May 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Few neighborhoods in the country can
boast booming condo growth, an influx of chic restaurants and retailers
vying for presence in the area like Chicago's South Loop. This month,
Chicago magazine, the largest city monthly in the country, showcases the
people, the real-estate market and the businesses that helped to transform
what was once a gloomy enclave of warehouses and rail yards into what is
now a dynamic downtown hotspot. The June issue hits newsstands on Thursday.

"The South Loop is going through a remarkable renaissance that is
really unparalleled around the country," said Richard Babcock, Chicago's
editor. "We also track its history and how it managed to reinvent itself
into a flourishing urban community, and we talk to the people who have
moved in to get an idea of what living down there is like."

Chicago magazine's cover story, "South Loop Rising," also features two
walking tours that point out landmarks, restaurants and places of interest
in the neighborhood. Plus, read how residential properties in the South
Loop stack up against other neighborhoods in terms of price per square
foot, taxes, parking, etc.
Elsewhere in the June issue of Chicago:

-- The Wendy City: From eco-activism to politics, Wendy Abrams's roles to
date have been mostly behind the scenes. But her new city sculpture
project, Cool Globes, is already turning heads.
-- The Speech: When Barack Obama began delivering his keynote address at
the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he was still largely unknown
outside Illinois. When he finished, he had captivated the nation and
set the state for a presidential run. Senior editor David Bernstein
gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the maneuvering that led to
Obama's breakthrough moment.

Chicago editor Richard Babcock, managing editor Shane Tritsch and other
members of the magazine staff are available for on-air interviews about
stories in the June issue. Contact Michael Dizon at 312-222-3165 to
schedule an interview.

About Chicago magazine

Chicago magazine is the largest monthly city magazine in the country,
with a circulation of more than 184,000. In addition, the company publishes
a number of other titles, including Chicago HOME and Chicago Fashion
magazines. Chicago magazine has been honored with many awards, including,
in 2004, the most prestigious-the Ellie award for General Excellence in its
circulation category, bestowed by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Yes. I just looked up his Bio. He was Murphy/Jahn's airport designer among other things.

Lakeshore East Village Market Center
 

Site prep has finally begun for the Village Market Center. I was wondering when this would begin as it had been cleared out (after serving as a staging area for 340) for some time now.......I'm really looking forward to seeing this open, as it will only help future high-rise development at LSE...

Chicago Casino Talk
 

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politic...aley17.article

Daley suggests state tax hike, city casino
SPRINGFIELD SPLIT | 'Everything should be on the table'

........Daley said "everything should be on the table," including his on-again-off-again quest for a Chicago casino. But there's a caveat: It should be government-owned.

"I really believe -- and I've said this repeatedly -- that the taxpayers of Illinois should get the benefit of all the casinos. They do that in Canada very, very successful. ... A bid goes out for the management, maybe 10 or 15 percent. Then, 85 percent of the profits go back into government," Daley said.

"Maybe you can dedicate [new gambling revenues] to the growth factor of education, capital improvements, things like that you could do. Whatever you want."

Are the Parkhomes also on the rise?

Trends and some Questions
 

^ I think this downturn in the Condo market is pretty understandable. It isn't mentioned that the Apartment market could make some gains, as there are very few apartment buildings going up. The streeter II (which I think is half hotel) is the only one I know of going up (in streeterville anyway).

Also, in reference to the subways in the Deep Tunnel Project. Would any of this be able to replace parts of the ailing El downtown?

Anyone have a general idea of the likelihood of covering the tracks over in Grant Park/What it would cost?

^These people just don't get it. All numbers and no heart. 50% off clearanced crap isn't going to restore the once proud prestige of the former occupant of this building and it certainly won't bring people back. The damage has been done I'm afraid.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politic...21abla.article

Committee green lights plan for Abla Homes

May 21, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
The second phase of a $750 million plan to transform the CHA’s Abla Homes into a thriving mixed-income community was advanced by a City Council committee Monday, but not before the new sheriff in town laid down the law.

“The autocratic method of making decisions is over and the bottom-up process of making decisions is here,” newly elected Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) told the Finance Committee, delivering what sounded like a campaign stump speech.

“We should not build until the voices of our community have been heard. That’s the way things are going to be done in the 2nd Ward from now on, whether or not the special interests like it….I’m not in the business of making a few people rich.”

Last week, Fioretti held up a $15 million tax increment financing subsidy to finance acquisition, demolition, remediation and public improvements in Phase 2 of the project known as Roosevelt Square.

On Monday, Fioretti allowed the project to go through after learning that $31 million worth of expiring tax credits were hanging in the balance.

But Fioretti made it clear he would demand a series of “side letters” before Wednesday, when the full Council is expected to sign off on the project.

Fioretti wants: Minority participation well beyond the 25 percent that developers plan; a guarantee of jobs for local residents; and assurances that siding and public utilities are aesthetically pleasing to area residents.

“When I started my campaign, I said that people who live in the community I want to remain in the community. We find them jobs. This is a unique opportunity to have people within the area have jobs,” he said.

Chicago Housing Authority CEO Sharon Gist-Gilliam said the CHA has made every effort to increase minority contracting beyond the bare minimum.

But she said, “At some point, it becomes uneconomical to constantly break jobs into smaller and smaller [bites]….It would be helpful to have some larger minority firms out there and have more than two or three minority general contractors.”

Phase 2 of Roosevelt Square will have 432 units and a pricetag of $163 million. Of that number, 185 are rental units and 247 are for sale, at both market and affordable rates.

The massive project runs from Blue Island to Ashland and Taylor to 14th Street.

During Monday’s Finance Committee meeting, the last before the new Council was sworn in, Gilliam warned aldermen to get used to her appeals.

“We will be coming back to you for years on end as we march through this project. Every couple of years, we’ll be back here for approval of more tax credits, probably more TIF — assuming there’s any left to put in projects out there — and acquisition of more city-owned land,” she said.

“It’s just a very slow, very tedious and….an exceedingly expensive process to build new housing in any urban area.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It'll be interesting to have an Alderman (Fioretti) who cares so much about development in the city. Obviously it's too early to tell if it's a good or bad thing (i.e. I sure hope it doesn't lead to lots of cancellations and developers just giving up), but I'm cautiously optimistic about the level involvement he's apparently going to take with all developments.

Check out the videos on this link

http://www.thecha.org/housingdev/abla_homes.html

I personally LOVE the Roosevelt Square development. It's done on a huge scale, and I can't believe I never heard of it before today. It's seriously on par with the original public housing projects in terms of the sheer scale of development - it's a very big area of the West Side they are redeveloping.

Now... just across Ashland from the Abla complex is one of the largest vacant lots in the city, encompassing 22 completely vacant blocks, as well as a few sparsely developed blocks. Let's see what we can do over there.

Are there any plans for that huge area? It's been vacant for decades. Between those empty plots and the removal of most of ABLA, this area is quite desolate now, but that just means a clean slate. I can't wait to see it in 10-15 years when it's a fully developed neighborhood and the many thousands of units have been built and occupied (hopefully with an accompanying infill stop at Roosevelt on the Pink Line)

You mean the Circle Line, right? ;)

Isn't this all IMD land? I don't think housing is going to ever go over in that area again.

I have to say, I think Roosevelt Square is a total POS. Just NIMBYfied and VE'ed to hell, crap architecture, no vision, etc. All the typical complaints, I guess. I far preferred the planning and architecture of the original projects there. I talked just last month to one of the original City planners who worked on that project, and man, the stories I heard. What a political nightmare. Apparently, the original plan was more cutting-edge and exciting, but it tanked early on due to all of the "interested parties" involved.

And this is exactly what happens when all the parties come to the table and are given the political veto power. I am sorry but the planning department and the architects of the project need more legislative authority over stuff like this. These people know what good development potential is and how to move forward with it. All these other parties be it community groups or whatever water down so many good designs into crap and I for one am really getting tired of it. Roosevelt Square also has no retail along that entire frontage of Roosevelt Road, just cookie cutter stuff on a setback and mid-rises with blank walls covering up the ground floor parking. So, Roosevelt now is one giant suburbanized fuck up from Canal to all the way past Damen, with very little to enguage pedestrian activity. May as well just add some express lanes at this point, perhaps then the #12 bus would actually run on time.

^ Precisely. Design by Committee is a proven road to failure. The dpd needs to have more power, the aldermen (and thus neighborhood nimbys and other "community" groups), less!!

Yeah, Roosevelt Road is basically a disaster for about its entire length in the city. At this point, though, the recent developments along that stretch (big box to the east, and to the west strip malls, FBI, Juvie court, Med Center) basically dictate that the rest of the development will have to be auto-oriented as well; it doesn't make sense to have one ped-friendly block when the rest of the neighborhood can go blocks at a time without passing the entrace to a residence or shop....street frontage is all walls for insular developments, or parking lots. Perhaps a few ped-friendly basic services like dry cleaners or a bodega could be tucked into part of the housing development. But given the location and development pattern, everyone's going to be driving. Might as well get it built and get the units and their residents on the tax rolls instead of these embarassing decaying lots.

All the retail will be along Taylor and, to some degree, along Ashland, per the plan. I'm not really sure what the problem is with that. Roosevelt is already a wide road whose purpose is largely to accommodate traffic, so what's the problem? I guess I just don't see the need to feel so strongly about this

That's one of the many advantages of being nearly 1 thousand miles away. You can't get all worked up about something you really don't know about.

The Roosevelt Square residential buildings are fine. They're not overly PoMo. Just standard issue Chicago architecture. Certainly not something to get overly concerned about. The CHA redevelopment areas are not ideal for experimenting. First, the area needs to appeal to the masses (aka nimbys) so they don't have another reason not to relocate there. Seeing as that they will already be hesitent about living in a "mixed income" development. Second, the city is not in a position to take on the risk of constructing cutting edge architecture. Third, keep in mind that the "tower in the park" design of the original project homes was a the time a development trend. THe last thing we want is for the city to do something like that again. Follow a trend that's not time tested and that will flop.