CHICAGO | General Developments

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

If your data pans out, that means that central area population growth has dramatically accelerated (more than double the 2000-2010 pace), which is, on the ground, what I would expect.

The percentage growth will naturally decline as the region becomes more populated. Thanks for sharing

It's not doubled. At least per year the growth from 2000 to 2010 was average of +4091 people per year. From 2010 to 2017 if you compare ACS to ACS then it's +6770 people per year, which 65.5% higher. If you compare 2010 Census to 2017 ACS then it's +3605 people per year which is slightly lower than 2000 to 2010.

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by BuildThemTaller

People say retail is dying, but it's more like retail is transitioning. Tesla's model is to have a showroom downtown and then to sell you a car direct from the factory. Volvo is going this route as well. You can't even buy their new wagons at a dealership; it has to be ordered from the factory (as a die-hard Volvo wagon lover, this pains me). So I think we are going to see more of this model. That's good for Chicago as the Mag Mile and State Street are destinations for Midwest shoppers. This kind of retail space that serves as a showroom for online deliveries is going to be great for the Windy City.

I was just talking about Bed Bath and Beyond with my wife the other day. It's basically a junk store... that seems to keep doing well even in the face of amazon and the "death of retail".

[west-town-brad]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/pi...ction-project/

glad to see the church rehabed and more density added.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/pi...ction-project/

glad to see the church rehabed and more density added.

its a pretty ham fisted design but more affordable housing is a plus

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

I was just talking about Bed Bath and Beyond with my wife the other day. It's basically a junk store... that seems to keep doing well even in the face of amazon and the "death of retail".

I used to think this too, but then we registered there for our wedding. BBB has a lot of junk, but they also carry a lot of premium appliances and lines of goods. We got almost everything on our registry from there including beautiful Noritake colorwave stoneware.

The think BBB has going for it is that it has literally everything and functions more or less as a showroom. The "junk" component of it is raw convenience for little stuff you need around the house. If you need a potato peeler or something like that, BBB is the fastest place to go where you know you will have something of a selection.

[10023]

Originally Posted by PKDickman

Catalog showrooms are nothing new. Who remembers Service Merchandise?
Only the catalogs have changed.

Oh god, yeah.

[Rizzo]

That and BEST stores which had interesting or frightening facades

[the urban politician]

So this has become the Department store discussion thread. Got it

zzzzzzz.......

[ChickeNES]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I used to think this too, but then we registered there for our wedding. BBB has a lot of junk, but they also carry a lot of premium appliances and lines of goods. We got almost everything on our registry from there including beautiful Noritake colorwave stoneware.

The think BBB has going for it is that it has literally everything and functions more or less as a showroom. The "junk" component of it is raw convenience for little stuff you need around the house. If you need a potato peeler or something like that, BBB is the fastest place to go where you know you will have something of a selection.

I dunno though, the one at Roosevelt/Clinton is going out of business..

[ChickeNES]

Originally Posted by Chicagoguy

I recently read and article that Dave and Buster's was looking to lease about 14,000sf inside of Water Tower Place. I think that an urban Ikea store would be a much better fit for the "Mag Mile". But I am sure there are plenty of other retail spaces available for lease. Is anything currently going happening with the old Apple Store on Michigan Avenue?

Huh, whatever happened to Dave and Buster's moving to Block 37? That was announced a long time ago, maybe around the time the AMC or Latincity opened. Speaking of which, Block 37 would be a fantastic location for a small urban IKEA, lots of parking and direct connections to the Red and Blue would make getting furniture home a breeze.

[the urban politician]

Large parts of Pilsen given preliminary Landmark status as per Crains today

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by ChickeNES

Huh, whatever happened to Dave and Buster's moving to Block 37? That was announced a long time ago, maybe around the time the AMC or Latincity opened. Speaking of which, Block 37 would be a fantastic location for a small urban IKEA, lots of parking and direct connections to the Red and Blue would make getting furniture home a breeze.

Many peoples purchases from IKEA barely fit in their SUV's. You are going to see them lug their to-be-assembled boxes onto the L up and down escalators?

A good place may have been the Old Post Office but I think we are getting a better deal with the present rehab. Perhaps one of the big empty or low use lots near the Jane Adams however.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

Many peoples purchases from IKEA barely fit in their SUV's. You are going to see them lug their to-be-assembled boxes onto the L up and down escalators?

A good place may have been the Old Post Office but I think we are getting a better deal with the present rehab. Perhaps one of the big empty or low use lots near the Jane Adams however.

The urban IKEAs (one being rolled out in NY with locations to follow in Chicago, DC, SF and LA) won't be giant retail centers like the suburban locations. They are more like large showrooms that allow customers to view items before purchasing for delivery.

[PittsburghPA]

I know this project has received some criticism on here in the past but holy hell did it turn out nice. A great tribute to the majestic Gold Coast row houses of old with high quality materials used and finishes. If it's not piercing the skyline then I wouldn't mind more developments like this one. Also it looks phenomenal in person.

https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/12/5...awani-pritzker

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Large parts of Pilsen given preliminary Landmark status as per Crains today

Hmm... I agree with this in principle, Pilsen is a treasure trove of c. 1900 architecture, with ornate designs in brick and limestone. But the boundaries don't make sense. 18th St should be landmarked only to Wood, but instead it goes another four blocks to Leavitt. Meanwhile actual neighborhood landmarks like St Adalbert and the Plsensky Sokol on Ashland are left with no protection.

But of course, this district was never about historic preservation, it was merely about punishing developers who choose to build anything new in the trendy area of Pilsen. Of course, it will do exactly the opposite. Landmarking a district comes with huge compliance costs. This will only punish independent landlords, many of them Latino, and push them to sell to larger investor-driven landlords with the resources to manage Landmarks compliance. Those landlords will demand greater returns, which means higher rents for everyone.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by emathias

They considered going in on Elston not far from where Lincoln Yards is a decade ago, but ended up with a second suburban location instead. Being near Roosevelt and Canal or back near Elston seem most likely, although there are tons of other areas they could go. If they were willing to go under an apartment or office tower, even more places become possible.

It'll be interesting to see. Manhattan is admittedly sort of a unique location, they may choose to do a more conventional furniture store format ala Crate & Barrel for the other cities. That is, large furniture available only by order, with smaller housewares available to take home.

IKEA in NY has two locations about 10-15 miles from the city on the NJ side, plus a Red Hook location right in Brooklyn. For any NY residents with a car, IKEA is already very accessible. In Chicago, both stores are easily 20 miles away... there is definitely an unmet demand for IKEA in the city and inner suburbs that can't necessarily be filled by a delivery-only store, or even delivery plus housewares. Ideally we would get a full-fledged store along the I-55 corridor somewhere in Pilsen or Bridgeport.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ardecila

It'll be interesting to see. Manhattan is admittedly sort of a unique location, they may choose to do a more conventional furniture store format ala Crate & Barrel for the other cities. That is, large furniture available only by order, with smaller housewares available to take home.

IKEA in NY has two locations about 10-15 miles from the city on the NJ side, plus a Red Hook location right in Brooklyn. For any NY residents with a car, IKEA is already very accessible. In Chicago, both stores are easily 20 miles away... there is definitely an unmet demand for IKEA in the city and inner suburbs that can't necessarily be filled by a delivery-only store, or even delivery plus housewares. Ideally we would get a full-fledged store along the I-55 corridor somewhere in Pilsen or Bridgeport.

Just because you have a car doesn't mean it's so accessible. I've been to the Brooklyn Ikea, it's still 15 miles from me and even if I had a car, then it might not be as accessible as just going downtown and taking the ferry over. And you have to remember that a lot higher percentage of people in NY don't have cars, so it's kind of apples to oranges anyway.

Ikea opening in the city of Chicago could be interesting. My guess is that it would be a bit smaller, but still curious as to where they could go. Of course, if they wanted to do big/big-ish box then they could do OPO and that would be rather interesting. In that case, they should do what they do in NY and offer free water taxi between 2 locations

[ardecila]

There are still 4 million New Yorkers with access to a car. Those folks have easier access to an IKEA, already, than Chicagoans with a car. We really should have a conventional store closer to the city... maybe not at a prime downtown spot like The 78 (where it was originally proposed) but certainly in an industrial corridor somewhere.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ardecila

There are still 4 million New Yorkers with access to a car. Those folks have easier access to an IKEA, already, than Chicagoans with a car. We really should have a conventional store closer to the city... maybe not at a prime downtown spot like The 78 (where it was originally proposed) but certainly in an industrial corridor somewhere.

Just because it's in the same city doesn't mean it's more convenient by any mode of transit, including a car, to anywhere in Chicago. Red Hook is more central than what the Chicago area has, sure, but it doesn't mean much depending on where you're coming from. If you were living in the middle of the Bronx (say by the Bronx Zoo), that's still over a 17 mile journey by car, except the way you'd get there is definitely worse traffic than from a NW neighborhood to Schaumburg or a south side area to Naperville. Even living straight east somewhere like Jamaica or nearby is still 17 or 18 miles, but the route to get there via highways is actually worse and much longer (25 miles at that point if you wanted to go a route like that). The first time we went there, we got a regular uber back and my fiancee was living in Astoria (Queens) at the time. It's about 10 miles, but the car ride itself was over an hour on a Saturday afternoon around 3pm. No special events were going on - this is just normal.

Anyway, putting something in the 78 or OPO or downtown or whatever will be more central, but it's still not going to be convenient for everyone. You'll have the same problem as in NY.

[west-town-brad]

this past summer there was an IKEA popup store on Damen Ave in Bucktown - the old Marc Jacobs. it was just like a mini version of the showroom portion of their giant stores.