Quote:
Originally Posted by moorhosj
This is spot on, but I just wanted to add that Grand has heated up lately as well. Makes sense as a convergence of West Town, River West and West Loop development.
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^^^ The moral of this story is that the vast vast majority of Chicago was built and then never redeveloped since. That is a function of the unique rapid construction of Chicago out of nothing and the unique disruptive circumstances of World Wars and the implementation of technologies and capital from those wars en masse. This circumstance is not the long term status quo for cities and Chicago (along with multiple other rust belt American cities) are historically unique.
This is not London, New York, Paris, or Rome. Rome wasn't built in a day, neither were these other cities, but most of Chicago was. What I constantly find striking in Chicago is not only what once was and lost, but what wasn't. You drive by vacant lots and think "gee there must have been something beautiful there which was torn down", but the vast majority of times, outside of a few specific areas, vacant lots have always been that, or at most some low level retail or industrial use.
Chicago is still new, still green. There are a lot of holes created in the era of decline, but there have always been a lot of holes prior to that as well. That's because this city is not complete in the way that those older cities are. We are just now creating truly mature neighborhoods with a balance of old, middle age, and new buildings. Most areas of the city, up until the last few decades, were simply built all at once, maybe over 10 years, and then left to gradually decay. The most beautiful thing about this boom has been a widespread flowering of this trend across huge swaths of the city.
We still have a lot, and I mean a lot (plural, as is many lots, lol), to fill in. But finally true headway is being made. We are approaching a tipping point where enough of the old industrial and urban renewal scars have healed that the scabbing becomes exponential. Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and the rest of the north side has become developed to the point of running out of new sites. This combined with a general trend of relocation to the central area has caused an organic explosion of growth across huge areas of the city which is self reinforcing as neighborhoods make themselves increasingly more desirable. And what is more desirable than being in a nice area like Lincoln Park? Being in a nice area like Lincoln Park surrounded by other nice areas each with their own character or usefulness to you (yes this even includes auto hells like North and Clyborn which is invariably better than vacant lots, gas stations, and a bunch of projects which is what once inhabited that area).
I envy those who moved here after the fire for being able to see and participate in the construction of an entire city in a day, but I relish being alive to see the maturation of an entire city in a day far more. It has only just begun too, the changes we will see in the next 40 years will make the last 5 look cute.