CHICAGO | General Developments

[jc5680]

^^ Swoop, lets go with Swoop. I figured you would be all over that

[wierdaaron]

Originally Posted by jc5680

^^ Swoop, lets go with Swoop. I figured you would be all over that

[HowardL]

For whatever reason, this has been one of the projects that I have most eagerly awaited:

From DNAinfo.com ... City Approves $13.46 Million Contract For Walter Payton College Prep Annex

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

^^^ Agree with both you and Untitled. I've tried to make the case before how wrongheaded the city's idea for these areas (such as along and especially north of Roosevelt West of the River) - to exclude residential and make them a wasteland of single use retail and this 'special service district' nonsense is - it is completely 1980s-90s era thinking, and keeps the area a shitty wasteland for many, many decades to come (folks underestimate just how long we are condemning this area to this state). It is preposterous to argue that this area is somehow far away enough from/inconvenient enough to public transportation and/or walking feasibility to justify excluding out residential from underlying zoning/not allowing PD's that include mixed-use residential, etc....

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Yeah, if anything the biggest cause of buses being unreliable in Chicago is poor city planning. The city seems obsessed with creating single use auto hell retail districts which inevitably leads to traffic clusterfucks that snarl buses in traffic and delay/bunch them. If you think buses make shitty transit just try the Chicago bus during rush hour some time. It's jammed and somehow manages to navigate the congestion on the street just fine. Then go try the North Ave Bus around 5:00 PM and prepare to sit in traffic for 30 min just to go 8 blocks.

Might I also add that the city shouldn't be in the business of capping residential development? It's as asinine as minimum parking ratios.

Originally Posted by Ryanrule

buses make for shitty transit, esp during rush hours.
i dont count them at all, subway/el minimum.
maybe once they are automated they will be better.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by harryc

Cool building on Belmont, not sure how long it has been there, new to me.

Originally Posted by george

Just opened this year & turned out well. ^ New CPS Charter HS with a great principal formerly of LaSalle II Elementary in the East Village neighborhood.
Clever shot w the building design relative to the street cross walk.

I really like this. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[Mr Downtown]

I never said the Maxwell was remote from public transit; I said it was remote from rapid transit. Some of you need to read for comprehension. When you start down the road of short walk to a bus that would eventually take you to an L station . . . well, how do you distinguish areas where high-density residential development is appropriate (I believe "completely wasted opportunity" was the phrase used) from the areas where it is not? Or in your minds, is it appropriate everywhere?

The point of restricting residential is just like a PMD: if you let all land in the central city get priced for highrise residential, you end up without anyplace for the printers, the HVAC contractors, the distribution warehouses, and the hundred other things that allow the Loop to function while employing thousands at good skilled-labor jobs. The question of whether retail should be allowed in DS zones is a similar but closer one. Retail doesn't raise land prices nearly so much, and it gives central city residents access to big stores that can't pay State Street rents.

[wierdaaron]

The problem with that area is more about its auto-centricity than its lack of residential, as we all know. The Maxwell seems to hug the curb well, but that oceanic parking lot at the grocery store and the parking deck entrance of the whole foods complex right along Roosevelt do so much damage to the pedestrian experience of that area that I don't know if one new development can fix it.

[aaron38]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

I never said the Maxwell was remote from public transit; I said it was remote from rapid transit. Some of you need to read for comprehension. When you start down the road of short walk to a bus that would eventually take you to an L station . . . well, how do you distinguish areas where high-density residential development is appropriate (I believe "completely wasted opportunity" was the phrase used) from the areas where it is not?.

This is what I don't understand. You said that it was over a half mile from rapid transit. How is half a mile remote??

I live in a very walkable suburban neighborhood. I chose my home precisely because I can easily walk to Metra, groceries, shoping, library, etc.

Metra is 1.3 miles from my house. The grocery store, which I consider to be a short enjoyable walk away, is 0.7 miles. I am not "remote"
from a grocery store, by urban or suburban standards.

Anything within 1 mile of an El stop is most certainly appropriate for high density development. There's plenty of land outside that for industrial.

[rjb001]

Source: ABC News

Looks like about half of the structure is in place!

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by aaron38

How is half a mile remote??

The usual rule of thumb in city planning circles is that folks will willingly walk a quarter-mile to a transit station before it seems like too much trouble.

I'm glad that you enjoy and have the ability to take such lengthy walks every day in all kinds of weather, but expecting everyone to live that way is just asking for disappointment.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

The usual rule of thumb in city planning circles is that folks will willingly walk a quarter-mile to a transit station before it seems like too much trouble.

I'm glad that you enjoy and have the ability to take such lengthy walks every day in all kinds of weather, but expecting everyone to live that way is just asking for disappointment.

IMO bike share has, for those who choose to embrace it, made connecting to and from transit a great deal easier. That said, it's certainly has its limitations and is not an appealing year-round solution for many people.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

The usual rule of thumb in city planning circles is that folks will willingly walk a quarter-mile to a transit station before it seems like too much trouble.

I'm glad that you enjoy and have the ability to take such lengthy walks every day in all kinds of weather, but expecting everyone to live that way is just asking for disappointment.

That seems completely silly considering the vast majority of Chicago is further than 1/4 mile from the train and seems to do just fine. In my experience people will gladly walk 1/2 mile or more to the train if it takes them fairly directly to their job (which all the transit lines in Chicago do for most people).

This site isn't even 1/2 mile from the Clinton Blue Line stop to begin with, it's like just under 2,000'. If people are not willing to walk 2000' to get on a train that will take them 2 or 3 stops to the heart of the Loop, then Chicago may as well dissolve as a municipality right now and relegate itself to the junk heap of failed experiments in urban planning.

[aaron38]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

The usual rule of thumb in city planning circles is that folks will willingly walk a quarter-mile to a transit station before it seems like too much trouble.

I'm glad that you enjoy and have the ability to take such lengthy walks every day in all kinds of weather, but expecting everyone to live that way is just asking for disappointment.

I'm not asking everyone to live that way. Those who don't want to walk half a mile can live in the burbs, or the auto friendly parts of the city like Norwood Park. But there are plenty of people who do, who will fill up development around the El stops.

But if half a mile is too far to walk, do all the loop workers know that? When I've had jury duty at the Daley Center, I take Metra to Ogilvie.
Google tells me that's 0.7 miles, and I had plenty of company on that walk. How would Metra stay in business if no one would walk over a quarter mile?

[jc5680]

Huron/Sedwick



Looks like they are demoing just the interior of Scoozi at the moment, but the building to the east looks pretty moved out too.

Also, there is some construction equipment and fencing up around the lot about a block east, just behind green door. Anyone know what is happening there?

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

I never said the Maxwell was remote from public transit; I said it was remote from rapid transit. Some of you need to read for comprehension. When you start down the road of short walk to a bus that would eventually take you to an L station . . . well, how do you distinguish areas where high-density residential development is appropriate (I believe "completely wasted opportunity" was the phrase used) from the areas where it is not? Or in your minds, is it appropriate everywhere?

The point of restricting residential is just like a PMD: if you let all land in the central city get priced for highrise residential, you end up without anyplace for the printers, the HVAC contractors, the distribution warehouses, and the hundred other things that allow the Loop to function while employing thousands at good skilled-labor jobs. The question of whether retail should be allowed in DS zones is a similar but closer one. Retail doesn't raise land prices nearly so much, and it gives central city residents access to big stores that can't pay State Street rents.

I think you just don't get it. (we all know the difference between public and rapid btw) The density for the residential proposed at the Maxwell was appropriate for the area - this was not a cluster of several 500 unit towers on a similar sized parcel. You keep holding onto this view that these DS zones are somehow necessary. They are simply not. One problem that Chicago does not remotely have is being exorbitantly expensive - not even close. If these big box, and or service businesses that support the Greater Loop get 'priced out' through rising land values, the impact within the Loop and surrounds would probably be imperceptable. Would it perhaps make various services a little more expensive - yes that's possible - but only a little. It's not going to disrupt the way of life in the core or anything like that - necessary businesses and whatever support services are necessary will find ways to not only survive but many of them to thrive - the economy and various industries are quite adaptable.......and big box stores - or whatever size box, will pay what they need to, and change their store concept/store size/layout to access the dense urban populations that they absolutely need to to continue to grow and satisfy Wall St, or whoever their equity investors/owners are.

It's funny too that you mention PMDs. They also - certainly any PMDs within a few miles of the Loop - are also anachronistic and should be repealed as well...........

Your thinking on this DS/PMD stuff is very 1970s-1990s-urban planning-based (ie outdated). It is not 21st century global city-based, where it needs to be.......

All of this DS, PMD, big

[ardecila]

The crazy thing is that we're not even close to running out of land near the CBD. There are still massive swaths of land along both branches of the river, huge land tracts in the IMD, blocks and blocks of parking lots around the United Center, most of the Fulton Corridor is underutilized with one-story buildings, etc. Not to mention the huge land still available in Riverside Park, potential railyard decking, etc.

At a further radius, there are places like the Stockyards/Central Mfg District, the Belt Railway corridor, and the Lake Street corridor that are unlikely to see residential demand for decades, but are perfect for downtown service.

To be honest, though, I see this as an argument to keep restricting development but to do it more carefully. The TOD ordinance is a step in the right direction, but the radius needs to be tripled. Boundaries of PMDs should be redrawn to accommodate residential and mixed-use development near CTA and Metra stops. Why is Clybourn on Metra or Ashland/Lake on the Green Line so hobbled by PMD zoning when these locations offer such great access to downtown?

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The TOD ordinance is a step in the right direction, but the radius needs to be tripled.

We can't have that, the TOD ordinance allows development within 1200 Feet on P Streets, 3600 feet would violate a "rule of thumb"! No one should ever build anything beyond 2,500 feet from a train station.

[the urban politician]

I've read that the retail center at 3301 N Ashland is under construction and has financing. Does anybody have a rendering of this?

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

That seems completely silly considering the vast majority of Chicago is further than 1/4 mile from the train and seems to do just fine.

But the "vast majority" of Chicago drives. Everywhere.

[george]

Denver-Based Punch Bowl Social Bringing Four Floors of Food, Drinks and Games to Wicker Park.

http://chicago.eater.com/2014/10/7/6...al-wicker-park