CHICAGO | General Developments

[BonoboZill4]

I love these apartment + library combos. A few more of these should be put up around the city, especially near transit

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by BonoboZill4

I love these apartment + library combos. A few more of these should be put up around the city, especially near transit

They look great, but I've heard that they were extremely difficult to cobble together the financing due to costs. The apartments are affordable, so income is restricted.

[Skyguy_7]

Originally Posted by Investing In Chicago

Anyone know what's going up at Elston and Irving Park? On Elston, North of Irving, there is a 5 or 6 story building under construction, i've been watching go up for 6 months going to the airport every week.

Edit: Library and Apartments?

That one is officially known as "Independence Library and Apartments". A sister to the Northtown project, pictured above. There are four of these combos finishing up around the city.

They're nice, but nothing much more than a taxpayer-funded vote-getter for Da Mayre and now whoever he's endorsing. In fact, the completion date for the library portion of these buildings is just weeks before the Mayoral election. They're slated to be polling places.

What's interesting is that several large, private real estate firms own the land these are being built on. CPL and CHA are leasing the land for cheap, which means the "C" owes the RE firms some favors. The Chicago Way.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Skyguy_7

That one is officially known as "Independence Library and Apartments". A sister to the Northtown project, pictured above. There are four of these combos finishing up around the city.

They're nice, but nothing much more than a taxpayer-funded vote-getter for Da Mayre and now whoever he's endorsing. In fact, the completion date for the library portion of these buildings is just weeks before the Mayoral election. They're slated to be polling places.

What's interesting is that several large, Dr private real estate firms own the land these are being built on. CPL and CHA are leasing the land for cheap, which means the "C" owes the RE firms some favors. The Chicago Way.

Nothing unusual about most of what you wrote. Many of housing authorities around the country ground lease land to private developers in order to encourage development of affordable housing. There are CHA units in these buildings.

[BonoboZill4]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

They look great, but I've heard that they were extremely difficult to cobble together the financing due to costs. The apartments are affordable, so income is restricted.

That's a good thing. The people who need libraries the most should be the ones living above them

[BVictor1]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...207-story.html


Column: This could be the year of the megadevelopment. These 6 sites could alter Chicago’s skyline forever

Ryan OriContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune

Almost a decade into a real estate development boom, commercial property owners face some obstacles that could derail this year’s momentum.

Nationally, there are signs of economic uncertainty, including a wobbly stock market.

Locally there also is political uncertainty, with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on the way out.

Yet the city appears on the verge of having multiple megadevelopments under construction. Those multibillion-dollar projects once again have the potential to alter Chicago’s skyline, particularly along the Chicago River.

[SamInTheLoop]

^ I found it an odd choice to talk about 2019 being ‘the year’ re that list of mega projects (some or even most of which won’t likely begin for years - or at least this cycle - but omit Southbank and Riverline (in Southbank’s case already has begun, and I would think Riverline not far behind)....

[SamInTheLoop]

That P+W project is fantastic....hadn’t seen that one before....

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Curious news considering SamintheLoop already established that the West Loop is a terrible location for office and that all this construction is just a big fad...

Oh - I forgot about the new green line stop. Fulton market makes perfect sense now for larger scale office with that phenomenonal commuter transit infrastructure now in place....truly great planning at work. Another great corporate decision....

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

Oh - I forgot about the new green line stop. Fulton market makes perfect sense now for larger scale office with that phenomenonal commuter transit infrastructure now in place....truly great planning at work. Another great corporate decision....

Not sure if there is some sarcasm here, but I will say this:

The West Loop as an office submarket is here to stay, but I do think that it's becoming a bit fad-y (is that a word?) the further west you go.

Portions further east where you are still not far from the Metra stations will probably remain solid for years to come, and even perhaps grow denser. But the stuff way out near Ashland? I don't see that playing out long term.

[tjp]

Yeah, I generally agree it's bad planning. But if having a big supply of cool, warehouse'y office space is what it's going to take to attract new employers to the central area, so be it, I guess.

[k1052]

People looking at commuter rail as an explanation as to why Fulton Market should not rationally be an attractive office market are entirely missing the point. These companies aren't moving to the city to hire people who live in St. Charles.

[Sohcatoah]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this type of question, but does anyone know what the construction is going on on the east side of 2 n Riverside plaza? Just maintenance work or are they constructing something?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by k1052

People looking at commuter rail as an explanation as to why Fulton Market should not rationally be an attractive office market are entirely missing the point. These companies aren't moving to the city to hire people who live in St. Charles.

It's about access to the largest possible workforce.

When you have an office on top of Ogilvie, you have access to everyone everywhere, pretty much

[JK47]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Portions further east where you are still not far from the Metra stations will probably remain solid for years to come, and even perhaps grow denser. But the stuff way out near Ashland? I don't see that playing out long term.

I think it's great. Put offices in places that aren't accessible to suburban commuter rail to help discourage workers from leaving the city. Plus it's a nice turnabout for suburbs for isolating commuter rail stops from the major offices and providing little (if any) shuttle or bus service to those offices.

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by k1052

People looking at commuter rail as an explanation as to why Fulton Market should not rationally be an attractive office market are entirely missing the point. These companies aren't moving to the city to hire people who live in St. Charles.

amazing that this even needs to be said

[k1052]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

It's about access to the largest possible workforce.

When you have an office on top of Ogilvie, you have access to everyone everywhere, pretty much

Which brings me to my 2nd point....say you are a legacy company in the suburbs that wants to turnover a good chunk of your workforce and entice older employees to take buyouts. What would be a good move to accomplish that and have ready access to younger city living talent?

Hmmmm....

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by k1052

Which brings me to my 2nd point....say you are a legacy company in the suburbs that wants to turnover a good chunk of your workforce and entice older employees to take buyouts. What would be a good move to accomplish that and have ready access to younger city living talent?

Hmmmm....

You gotta wonder if there is a happy middle ground, though. You don't want to limit your talent pool by only being accessible to people who can easily get to the west part of the West Loop (I'm thinking around Ashland, for example), even if you are trying to shake off a mostly suburban workforce.

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

You gotta wonder if there is a happy middle ground, though. You don't want to limit your talent pool by only being accessible to people who can easily get to the west part of the West Loop (I'm thinking around Ashland, for example), even if you are trying to shake off a mostly suburban workforce.

Guys.

They already have private shuttle busses from Olgilvie to the the eastern side of the Loop. No reason they can't have shuttle busses go west.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Not sure if there is some sarcasm here, but I will say this:

The West Loop as an office submarket is here to stay, but I do think that it's becoming a bit fad-y (is that a word?) the further west you go.

Portions further east where you are still not far from the Metra stations will probably remain solid for years to come, and even perhaps grow denser. But the stuff way out near Ashland? I don't see that playing out long term.

Will try to make my sarcasm more transparent going forward.