CHICAGO | General Developments

[harryc]

Jan 27

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49485566141_7f9efde0a0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ioSsLe)Chicagoo | 1001 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2ioSsLe) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49485779422_fcf47608b3_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ioTyau)Chicagoo | 1001 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2ioTyau) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49485075213_d0f2f0d22b_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ioPWPX)Chicagoo | 1001 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2ioPWPX) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49485564366_448894e2ed_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ioSseC)Chicagoo | 1001 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2ioSseC) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

[SolarWind]

February 3, 2020

https://imgur.com/H5EkTzc.jpg

https://imgur.com/tj4DS8R.jpg

[SolarWind]

February 3, 2020

https://imgur.com/OvGfvm0.jpg

https://imgur.com/66b6cd4.jpg

[SolarWind]

February 3, 2020

https://imgur.com/AqRgBpb.jpg

https://imgur.com/L5ZJmcb.jpg

[moorhosj1]

Crain's: Ambitious plan for East Garfield Park lands $100 million in financing (https://www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-real-estate/ambitious-plan-east-garfield-park-lands-100-million-financing)

Looks like this might happen.

[Barrelfish]

Crain's: Ambitious plan for East Garfield Park lands $100 million in financing (https://www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-real-estate/ambitious-plan-east-garfield-park-lands-100-million-financing)

Looks like this might happen.

Exciting stuff. It is an ambitious project for someone without development experience - let's hope they get a good team and good advice so they can actually pull this off.

[SamInTheLoop]

From Alderman Dowell's February 2020 newsletter:

Anyone know anything about what was planned here?


Dowell certainly makes it sound as if the plans were presented either in a previous newsletter/ward office communication/community meeting, etc. Otherwise, it's an odd way to introduce a project. I had no idea that the site was planned to be sold to another developer with active plans to put something up. Am curious what that was.

At any rate, townhomes won't do here. What a waste of the site that would be. For me, bare minimum should be a midrise with 200-250 units. Better yet, something more dense.

[Busy Bee]

Crain's: Ambitious plan for East Garfield Park lands $100 million in financing (https://www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-real-estate/ambitious-plan-east-garfield-park-lands-100-million-financing)

Looks like this might happen.


Ambitious, yes.

Density, excellent.

Architecture, please no.

[emathias]

Ambitious, yes.

Density, excellent.

Architecture, please no.

Maybe not awesome, but the general functionality of it I'd take anywhere outside of downtown and away from the lakefront, pretty or not. Heck, I'd make it the required minimum anywhere within a half mile of an L station.

[Handro]

Foundation issued for 4 story, 84 unit building around the corner from the Lawrence Redline station. Nice to see one of the lots near there bite the dust... lots of infill needed near that station.

Currently: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9686155,-87.6576308,3a,75y,257.41h,87.13t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swVBUAcIXF5j5OrTFy41vzA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DwVBUAcIXF5j5OrTFy41vzA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D350.52686%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

EDIT: Curbed article from last May
https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/5/17/18628509/development-uptown-apartments-cedar-street

[marothisu]

Ambitious, yes.

Density, excellent.

Architecture, please no.


Sorry, but for this area and considering Garfield Park has been neglected for years I could care less how the architecture is as long as it's not absolutely horrendous. Think about it this way - it could be a catalyst for more development in that general area. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices .

[Steely Dan]

Foundation issued for 4 story, 84 unit building around the corner from the Lawrence Redline station. Nice to see one of the lots near there bite the dust... lots of infill needed near that station.


NICE!

now how about that even larger surface lot on the opposite side of the street.



swift and certain death to all surface parking lots!

[Goose Island Guru]

Sorry, but for this area and considering Garfield Park has been neglected for years I could care less how the architecture is as long as it's not absolutely horrendous. Think about it this way - it could be a catalyst for more development in that general area. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices .

This is exactly right - the area needs something. The market won't support world-class architecture so you have to take what you can get. Could be prefab modules or precast exterior. The right team can get it done well and efficiently.

[SIGSEGV]

I'd love to see stuff like that going up near the South Side Green Line stations.

[SamInTheLoop]

Ambitious, yes.

Density, excellent.

Architecture, please no.


Yeah - that's atrocious.

[SamInTheLoop]

Sorry, but for this area and considering Garfield Park has been neglected for years I could care less how the architecture is as long as it's not absolutely horrendous. Think about it this way - it could be a catalyst for more development in that general area. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices .


There's no reason the architecture needs to be bad. It's not necessary to take one for the team, design-wise to get some economic development here. This could be redesigned into something decent, or at least passable, for not a dollar more. Don't turn this into a false choice.

[SamInTheLoop]

This is exactly right - the area needs something. The market won't support world-class architecture so you have to take what you can get. Could be prefab modules or precast exterior. The right team can get it done well and efficiently.


Nobody's even talking about world-class architecture. Thank you for underlining what I mean by a false choice.

First we can simply begin by something that is not garbage. Then we can graduate to decent. Neither would require additional expense. It's a willful choice to design something this awful - there's not a rational argument (economic or otherwise) in the world to support it.

[Skyguy_7]

^Absolutely.

Red brick and black-mullion windows, like your typical west loop loft, and a few structural tweaks would be no change in cost compared to this travesty of a design.

[moorhosj1]

I'd love to see stuff like that going up near the South Side Green Line stations.

There is the Harold Ickes redevelopment (https://southbridgechicago.com/neighborhood/) on the west side of State Street, but who owns all the land on the east side of State that butts up to the "L"? It is almost completely undeveloped from Cermak to 33rd.

[w.miles2000]

What going on at 2100 south State Street

[ChiPlanner]

What going on at 2100 south State Street

If you mean 2200 South State, it's Southbridge. Financing just closed for the Illinois Housing Development Authority's part in mid-January. Construction should be in full swing shortly



https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/10/30/20940034/construction-southbridge-ickes-homes-redevelopment

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yMn5XGNjkXlIyyQpLvF3gVRnGyQ=/0x0:2860x1546/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:2860x1546):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19331649/18_1106___Southbridge_Aerial_Masterplan___Edit.png

[gebs]

I hope this doesn't drive Reggie's out. That's my favorite concert venue.

[w.miles2000]

What about the rest of the vacant lots South of 2200 S State

[ChiTownWonder]

I honestly don't mind the form of the east garfield park project, the retail base which appropriately fronts the sidewalk for the whole stretch but the residential massing broken up to avoid a hulking stretch of building. That corner is really strange however and I can see those colored panels becoming dingy and grimy really quick..

What about the rest of the vacant lots South of 2200 S State
*See post #46861*

[KWillChicago]

I hope this doesn't drive Reggie's out. That's my favorite concert venue.

Isn't Reggies north of all of this? Can someone crop that image of this site circling what construction is going to happen and what is already there. Dont travel to that area that much.

[SolarWind]

February 5, 2020

https://imgur.com/2H6Yirp.jpg

https://imgur.com/Y1Yr2wQ.jpg

[ChiPlanner]

Isn't Reggies north of all of this? Can someone crop that image of this site circling what construction is going to happen and what is already there. Dont travel to that area that much.

Everything that is in color is what is happening. The only thing between Cermak/State/Dan Ryan, Stevenson right now is the school (just above the football field in white)

As-is, there is functionally nothing being demolished for this as it is the site of the former Ikes Homes- which were all demolished by a few years ago.

[marothisu]

There's no reason the architecture needs to be bad. It's not necessary to take one for the team, design-wise to get some economic development here. This could be redesigned into something decent, or at least passable, for not a dollar more. Don't turn this into a false choice.

There's also no reason that architecture has to necessarily be good on every single project ever. Now, with a price tag like that they could probably get better architecture but I'm not going to complain if it's a catalyst for more development that way.

[w.miles2000]

Do anyone know when the Taco Bell that on the South East corner of Garfield & Princeton in Englewood going to open up

[jtown,man]

I'm gonna take a really unpopular opinion here and say that as long as the form is good, I don't care about some duds. In fact, I think the duds help make the overall urban landscape more interesting and that can be really nice, actually.

[Goose Island Guru]

^Absolutely.

Red brick and black-mullion windows, like your typical west loop loft, and a few structural tweaks would be no change in cost compared to this travesty of a design.

I don’t think you have any concept of how insanely expensive hand laid brick is. Hand laid brick is a significant cost premium on the best Class A projects and is done at the expense of other finishes on the project.

There is zero chance brick is no cost change to what was shown.

[marothisu]

I'm gonna take a really unpopular opinion here and say that as long as the form is good, I don't care about some duds. In fact, I think the duds help make the overall urban landscape more interesting and that can be really nice, actually.

I actually agree, as long as there's not too many duds. To be able to know what good is, you have to also know evil. Same thing here - just my opinion though.

[Skyguy_7]

I don’t think you have any concept of how insanely expensive hand laid brick is. Hand laid brick is a significant cost premium on the best Class A projects and is done at the expense of other finishes on the project.

There is zero chance brick is no cost change to what was shown.

I know hand-laid is pricey. I had something more like faux brick panels or whatever the factory-laid brick panels are called in mind. Is there a big cost difference between real and faux?

Forgive my ignorance, as I am in the HVAC industry. :haha:

[Goose Island Guru]

I know hand-laid is pricey. I had something more like faux brick panels or whatever the factory-laid brick panels are called in mind. Is there a big cost difference between real and faux?

Forgive my ignorance, as I am in the HVAC industry. :haha:

The most cost effective is casting thin brick into precast concrete panels. The problem is the corner pieces are prohibitively expensive so you end up with a lot of brick in a single plane. Having nice inset windows becomes very expensive because of these pieces so the whole thing ends up looking flat.

The cost of the corner pieces makes it such that hand laid is comparatively expensive.

[kolchak]

https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/3/4/18249999/near-north-landmark-district-preservation-post-fire-mansions

from Curbed

[UrbanLibertine]

https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/3/4/18249999/near-north-landmark-district-preservation-post-fire-mansions

from Curbed

Best news of the year so far, IMO!

[west-town-brad]

Best news of the year so far, IMO!

I was under the impression a landmark district had to be continuous to qualify, but that may be for federal landmark status only.

[killaviews]

84 Unit apartment building from the Flats is about to start construction on Lawrence:
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/02/06/cedar-street-to-begin-turning-uptown-parking-lot-near-aragon-into-84-unit-building/

56 units on Clark, south of Wilson. Hopefully the neighbors don’t block this. Almost all of the wholesalers have left this stretch of Clark – it is in need of serious help.
https://www.uptownupdate.com/2020/02/4500-block-of-clark-to-see-new.html

Proposal to knock down a very nice building that contains Jimmy’s Pizza in Lincoln Square and build some ugly apartments. Developers seem to go out of their way to earn a bad reputation. The property includes a parking lot to the east – build on the lot, and preserve the classic building.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/01/29/neighbors-worry-developer-will-force-jimmys-pizza-cafe-out-of-lincoln-square/

[Baronvonellis]

84 Unit apartment building from the Flats is about to start construction on Lawrence:
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/02/06/cedar-street-to-begin-turning-uptown-parking-lot-near-aragon-into-84-unit-building/

56 units on Clark, south of Wilson. Hopefully the neighbors don’t block this. Almost all of the wholesalers have left this stretch of Clark – it is in need of serious help.
https://www.uptownupdate.com/2020/02/4500-block-of-clark-to-see-new.html

Proposal to knock down a very nice building that contains Jimmy’s Pizza in Lincoln Square and build some ugly apartments. Developers seem to go out of their way to earn a bad reputation. The property includes a parking lot to the east – build on the lot, and preserve the classic building.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/01/29/neighbors-worry-developer-will-force-jimmys-pizza-cafe-out-of-lincoln-square/

OH NO, not Jimmy's Pizza!!! I love that place. The pizza and garlic knots are so good!

Plus, it's a great classic building with nice terra cotta ornament. The new building looks like crap, it doesn't face or hold the corner at all.
Why doesn't he tear down that crap strip mall kitty corner to Jimmy! I would be happy to see that go.
It sounds like Jimmy's will be forced out and have to move as well. And some boring Starbucks or national chain will go in there.

I live in the ward so I will write to the alderman.

[Steely Dan]

Why doesn't he tear down that crap strip mall kitty corner to Jimmy! I would be happy to see that go.

or how about redvelopment of that utterly atrocious walgreens and its massive parking lot.

how come that shit always sticks around like a plague, but the nice vintage brick commercial building with terra cotta details (and it's great little neighrborhood pizza joint) gets tossed aside.

this town is just plain old fucking retarded at times.

[Baronvonellis]

or how about redvelopment of that utterly atrocious walgreens and its massive parking lot.

how come that shit always sticks around like a plague, but the nice vintage brick commercial building with terra cotta details (and it's great little neighrborhood pizza joint) gets tossed aside.

this town is just plain old fucking retarded at times.

Just sent off an angry email to the Alderman!

Well yea redevelop the shitty Walgreens or any of the crap strip malls along Lincoln nearby!

Plus, he is going to displace a beloved local Chicago small business owner for some national chain no doubt when he jacks up the rent there. As a socialist Alderman I would think he would be concerned about that at least.

This town is messed up when it comes to preserving our historic buildings. Stuff like this is why I wanted to move to Chicago in the first place.
But we can never get rid of the god awful Walgreens.

[Handro]

Just sent off an angry email to the Alderman!

Well yea redevelop the shitty Walgreens or any of the crap strip malls along Lincoln nearby!

Plus, he is going to displace a beloved local Chicago small business owner for some national chain no doubt when he jacks up the rent there. As a socialist Alderman I would think he would be concerned about that at least.

This town is messed up when it comes to preserving our historic buildings. Stuff like this is why I wanted to move to Chicago in the first place.
But we can never get rid of the god awful Walgreens.

Is it the Alderman who owns these two properties and is proposing keeping the Walgreens and demolishing the historic building?

[west-town-brad]

From Crains, why Chicago Opportunity Zones are not attracting much investment:

After spending 18 months evaluating some 750 potential real estate developments in low-income neighborhoods around the country, Craig Bernstein is finding viable projects to bet on. Just not in Chicago.

His Washington, D.C.-based private-equity fund is backing a new $45 million mixed-use complex near an upscale shopping center in Charlottesville, Va., its first foray into opportunity zones—areas designated by a two-year-old federal program meant to revive poor communities. It's eyeing others in cities like Nashville, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; Portland; and Austin, Texas.

Bernstein has kicked the tires on deals in Chicago's opportunity zones, too. "But at this point we've been hesitant" to fund them, he says. "Our goal is to find what we believe are the best of the best."

His approach highlights a major critique of the opportunity zone program and an obstacle Chicago's most depressed neighborhoods need to overcome to take advantage of it. The incentive allows investors to defer or avoid taxes on capital gains if they redirect those profits into any of the roughly 8,700 designated zones nationwide.

Investment firms have formed more than 300 funds that have collectively raised over $7.5 billion to date to deploy into those blighted areas, according to surveys by San Francisco-based tax advisory and consulting firm Novogradac. That doesn't include money privately invested by high-net-worth individuals and corporations that could double or triple that total, the firm estimates.

But convincing those investors to funnel that money to Chicago's zones—which are mostly in areas of extreme need on the city's South and West sides—has proven to be difficult. Many funds are gravitating to other markets whose zones are in areas that don't need a tax incentive to fuel development.

"I think many investors recognize Chicago is probably at a slight disadvantage compared to some other communities across the nation," says Bob Tucker, chief operating officer of the Chicago Community Loan Fund, which provides low-cost financing to community-focused developers for affordable housing and other economic development efforts.

Many economic development advocates predicted the vast disparity among opportunity zones, which states designated based on different criteria using 2010 census data. Those figures might have shown a neighborhood that was blighted back then and qualified for the program, even if it had been gentrified since. A luxury residential tower in downtown Houston qualifies, for example, as do new offices and luxury condos in trendy downtown Portland.

[Bonsai Tree]

^^ Looking at the map of opportunity zones in the city, it makes sense that development has been so slow. However, there are two zones in particular that seem like they should have had more development or will have more development in the future. The zone above the United Center is prime real estate for the expansion of the West Loop (why have there been no residential projects here yet?). The zone around McCormick also seems like a win. I know there has been some projects in Motor Row around there but not nearly enough it seems. I guess I'm just disappointed that these zones are being underutilized.

City Map of Opportunity Zones:
http://sbf.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7bb1eb6d664a44d7a2e35ade9c6383b1

[Randomguy34]

^Regarding the area north of the United Center (Fulton Market West?) I think it's most likely because the only zoning is PMD or Planned Developments. Not much opportunity to develop any existing lot.

I know the IMD is trying to leverage their opportunity zone for a new mixed-use district. Their trying to attract life sciences and other businesses, and have been trying to rezone the area to have parking maximums.

[glowrock]

^^ Looking at the map of opportunity zones in the city, it makes sense that development has been so slow. However, there are two zones in particular that seem like they should have had more development or will have more development in the future. The zone above the United Center is prime real estate for the expansion of the West Loop (why have there been no residential projects here yet?). The zone around McCormick also seems like a win. I know there has been some projects in Motor Row around there but not nearly enough it seems. I guess I'm just disappointed that these zones are being underutilized.

City Map of Opportunity Zones:
http://sbf.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7bb1eb6d664a44d7a2e35ade9c6383b1

Gotta love it when opportunity zones are legitimately in areas that desperately need development here in Chicago, but are essentially in the growing, hippest parts of many other cities. What gives? Perhaps major overhauls to these zones nationwide need to be made using upcoming 2020 census data?

Aaron (Glowrock)

[harryc]

Jan 27

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508085318_1d09858fe9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqRSVU)Chicago | 1040 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqRSVU) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508585906_85c904a476_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqUrJJ)Chicago | 1040 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqUrJJ) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508820817_2504e62546_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqVDyV)Chicago | 1040 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqVDyV) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508095208_e5c3ff452a_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqRVSq)Chicago | 1040 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqRVSq) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

[harryc]

Spet 2019

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508654081_b0736959af_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqUN1a)Chicago | 1043 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqUN1a) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

Feb 2020

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508153283_c3c5bf56f9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqSe8H)Chicago | 1043 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqSe8H) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

[harryc]

Jan 27

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508941677_e588106992_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqWguH)Chicago | 1100 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqWguH) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508215348_58e3538e83_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqSxzN)Chicago | 1100 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqSxzN) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508952092_78a06a1c47_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqWjAh)Chicago | 1100 W Fulton (https://flic.kr/p/2iqWjAh) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

[harryc]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49508283598_b1c037ecb8_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iqSTSw)Chicago | Fulton Market (https://flic.kr/p/2iqSTSw) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

[marothisu]

Good news. There's a proposal to Tear down the Cole Taylor bank drive thru and parking lot at Armitage & Western iacross from Margie's Candies n Logan Square and replace it with a new 4 story, 21 unit building with retail and 11 parking spaces (garage).

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9176411,-87.6874948,3a,75y,301.64h,81.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCavkkjYUb8uq9jRsPjBJig!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[harryc]

Jan 27

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49511519526_c40ab625ee_b.jpg

Feb 4

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49511727647_9218180980_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49511490001_5481177c63_b.jpg

[harryc]

Feb 1

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49512618718_a522dc181e_b.jpg

[pip]

https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/3/4/18249999/near-north-landmark-district-preservation-post-fire-mansions

from Curbed

Glad this is being preserved but too little and too late. This neighborhood could have been Chicago's Beacon Hill.

[ChiTownWonder]

^^ Looking at the map of opportunity zones in the city, it makes sense that development has been so slow. However, there are two zones in particular that seem like they should have had more development or will have more development in the future. The zone above the United Center is prime real estate for the expansion of the West Loop (why have there been no residential projects here yet?). The zone around McCormick also seems like a win. I know there has been some projects in Motor Row around there but not nearly enough it seems. I guess I'm just disappointed that these zones are being underutilized.

City Map of Opportunity Zones:
http://sbf.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7bb1eb6d664a44d7a2e35ade9c6383b1

I might be getting slightly political here but I don't believe the process of choosing opportunity zones was very fair in every state. Chicago's makes sense while here in New Orleans, freret street (an already gentrifying neighborhood corridor) and the entire CBD are in opportunity zones... areas of cancer alley along the Mississippi are in them as well, seemingly to promote more industrial development. While Illinois may have chose appropriate census tracts for the opportunity zones I personally believe that our neighborhoods are loosing out because of inappropriate selection of opportunity zones in gentrified and already sustained neighborhoods in other states... I'm not sure what can be done at the local level but personally I'm already happy seeing promised investment in the form of projects like south bridge, that new east Garfield park proposal and Garfield Green. The next step is the see the city/ developers follow through.

[aaron38]

Good news. There's a proposal to Tear down the Cole Taylor bank drive thru and parking lot at Armitage & Western iacross from Margie's Candies n Logan Square and replace it with a new 4 story, 21 unit building with retail and 11 parking spaces (garage).

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9176411,-87.6874948,3a,75y,301.64h,81.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCavkkjYUb8uq9jRsPjBJig!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Great! That will add to the pressure to replace the McDonalds and Walgreens.

[west-town-brad]

Great! That will add to the pressure to replace the McDonalds and Walgreens.

and the numerous vacant lots that do not have thriving businesses on them.

[emathias]

I might be getting slightly political here but I don't believe the process of choosing opportunity zones was very fair in every state. Chicago's makes sense while here in New Orleans, freret street (an already gentrifying neighborhood corridor) and the entire CBD are in opportunity zones... areas of cancer alley along the Mississippi are in them as well, seemingly to promote more industrial development. While Illinois may have chose appropriate census tracts for the opportunity zones I personally believe that our neighborhoods are loosing out because of inappropriate selection of opportunity zones in gentrified and already sustained neighborhoods in other states... I'm not sure what can be done at the local level but personally I'm already happy seeing promised investment in the form of projects like south bridge, that new east Garfield park proposal and Garfield Green. The next step is the see the city/ developers follow through.

I'm sure they're imperfect processes, especially since no one really knows what should go into an opportunity zone. "The market" isn't necessarily good at identifying how to utilize a disadvantaged resource, even if the resource is granted a special status. Contrary to the beliefs of certain conservatives and neo-liberals, taxes are usually a minor consideration for businesses choosing where to locate, so merely offering them a generic reduction in taxes might get them to put a place on a list of places to consider but it doesn't magically solve infrastructure or workforce issues. I don't think opportunity zones are necessarily that helpful unless they're places that need investment and then government actually seeds them with infrastructure investment to make them more viable for businesses.

Someone else talked about the zone just north of the United Center and that it hasn't had much happen in it. It will, and the Damen stop on the Green Line might help some, even if the Ashland stop hasn't really helped. When I first moved to Chicago in 1995, I lived at Madison and Morgan for a while, as a student living in staff quarters at a residential rehab program. There were some nice restaurants on Randolph already, and a couple early condo projects were just getting started, and a few fancy hair stylist places had opened up, but it was still an area where I'd get offered what I'll phrase as "oral pleasure" for $5 from crackheads of all genders. Since then you've seen what the area has become, and it's become generally safe to visit any part of the West Side to at least Western, whereas going west of Halsted was questionable unless you were going to Oprah's or UIC for a long time, and then Racine and then Ashland and now Western or maybe even California. And it's pretty obvious it will be "safe enough" all the way to Kedzie soon enough. The west side of Garfield Park (the actual park) will still be sketchy for decades, but east of there will likely fully gentrify by 2030 or, at the latest, 2040, as long as Chicago's core keeps growing. So it's really just a matter of time before that Opportunity zone north of the United Center becomes popular, but it won't because of its designation that it does so, it will be because its in the path of inevitable progress.

[IrishIllini]

By the time you hit Damen you’re pretty far west. Even with the new L station, I don’t see anything but moderate density residential/neighborhood commercial taking off there, so it’ll likely be a slow process.

The southwest Loop (city should rebrand this area as University Village East or something) and the north branch seem to be next in line for a makeover.

[ardecila]

By the time you hit Damen you’re pretty far west. Even with the new L station, I don’t see anything but moderate density residential/neighborhood commercial taking off there, so it’ll likely be a slow process.

The southwest Loop (city should rebrand this area as University Village East or something) and the north branch seem to be next in line for a makeover.

Funny you mention this. The parcel at the NW corner of Damen/Lake went up for sale in June, but as of this Saturday, the sign on-site indicated that it's already been sold.

https://www.crexi.com/properties/222030/illinois-2000-w-lake-street-chicago-il

I wonder if some developer is planning a more intensive development there? $16M is a pretty high price to pay if you're just gonna lease out a few single-story bow truss buildings... with the PMD zoning there, though, you can only do office.

Also, CTA just edited the routing of the California bus so folks in Logan and Humboldt can now ride to a direct Green Line connection instead of going to the Blue Line. That should throw a little more fuel on the fire of the Lake St/Fulton corridor...

[marothisu]

The caterer we used for our wedding has their office at Damen & Lake. Had not been over there in a long time but we had our tasting there in the late spring before the wedding. Things in that area looked a bit nicer than the last time I had been there. Definitely was being upgraded. After the tasting, we had walked over to the Goose Island Taproom and noticed a handful of other breweries over there as well as a distillery nearby. Was surprised how busy these places were on a Friday at 5pm in that area. It reminded us a little bit of a less built up version of where we currently live in Long Island City in NYC (Queens - close to Brooklyn). Our block is all luxury high rise apartments and condos, but a block away turns pretty industrial and there are still those businesses that operate there who haven't been priced out yet somehow. We have a few breweries pretty close too as well as art stuff (not mainstream commercial galleries) operating. The industrial part of this area in Chicago reminds me of the industrial part of a block or two from where we live except the part in Chicago has even more breweries.

To be quite honest, I could totally see that area filling in as long as those breweries and a few of the other businesses aren't priced out. I think that is a big draw to some people as well as having a small music venue like Cobra Lounge pretty close and a good restaurant like Eden right there. Other great restaurants like Elske and Loyalist are close too with other places like Kaiser Tiger. The area in a way kind of has conditions you'd see in "freshly up and coming parts of Brooklyn" to it. You have a handful of breweries and a few art organizations, and attract people to live close by because of that. I could see it at first attracting people in their 30s who aren't going out all the time, but want some options around - and the green line stop will make it easy for people to just go to Halsted pretty quickly if they don't want to hop in a car (uber, lyft, or otherwise)

Will be interesting to see what happens but with the West Loop/Fulton Market boom pushing west and filling in to Ashland, there's no reason that it can't continue to Damen. The area already has things that would attract some more people to live there IMO.The green line station will just make it much easier IMO, but things will probably fill in around Ashland first.

[Steely Dan]

* Moderator Edit *

Aon Center discussion moved to the Aon Center thread: https://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=154966

[west-town-brad]

Will be interesting to see what happens but with the West Loop/Fulton Market boom pushing west and filling in to Ashland, there's no reason that it can't continue to Damen. The area already has things that would attract some more people to live there IMO.The green line station will just make it much easier IMO, but things will probably fill in around Ashland first.

I think the breweries over there are trying to brand themselves as the Brewer's District or some such. Which is kinda cool.

One big reason the development will be constrained in the area is that it's a very large PMD. Breweries allowed, residential is not aside from the limited grandfathered buildings that exist.

[west-town-brad]

the western ave development boom continues, as reported by Block 'Development' Club Chicago:

https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/02/11/car-town-on-western-avenue-slated-for-demolition-iconic-neon-sign-headed-to-california/

[harryc]

the western ave development boom continues, as reported by Block 'Development' Club Chicago:

https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/02/11/car-town-on-western-avenue-slated-for-demolition-iconic-neon-sign-headed-to-california/

https://live.staticflickr.com/7921/32630323308_2fe41ceb50_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/RHqWib)Car Town Inc (https://flic.kr/p/RHqWib) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/7867/32630321168_d734d33bc3_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/RHqVEh)Car Town Inc (https://flic.kr/p/RHqVEh) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

[Skyguy_7]

^Somebody call Mike with American Pickers to save that sign! :yes:

[IrishIllini]

Funny you mention this. The parcel at the NW corner of Damen/Lake went up for sale in June, but as of this Saturday, the sign on-site indicated that it's already been sold.

https://www.crexi.com/properties/222030/illinois-2000-w-lake-street-chicago-il

I wonder if some developer is planning a more intensive development there? $16M is a pretty high price to pay if you're just gonna lease out a few single-story bow truss buildings... with the PMD zoning there, though, you can only do office.

Also, CTA just edited the routing of the California bus so folks in Logan and Humboldt can now ride to a direct Green Line connection instead of going to the Blue Line. That should throw a little more fuel on the fire of the Lake St/Fulton corridor...

Interesting. The asking price does seem high...big site though. I agree doesn’t seem like they intend on keeping the existing buildings. If office can survive this far west it’d mean great things are happening in Chicago.

The downtown office market is centralizing around the river though. Not sure how viable of an office market this is in the short term, even for start-ups/tech companies. Even with the Damen station up and running (hopefully) next year, it’s still very isolated.

[ardecila]

Interesting. The asking price does seem high...big site though. I agree doesn’t seem like they intend on keeping the existing buildings. If office can survive this far west it’d mean great things are happening in Chicago.

The downtown office market is centralizing around the river though. Not sure how viable of an office market this is in the short term, even for start-ups/tech companies. Even with the Damen station up and running (hopefully) next year, it’s still very isolated.

totally not scientific, but I have noticed a LOT more people exiting at the Morgan station in the mornings - not from the outbound platform, which would suggest downtown residents or North Siders, but from the inbound platform - residents of Pilsen, LV, and the Near West Side. It bodes well for future growth at Damen.

I think Ashland/Lake is an even stronger location for office since it has two train lines instead of one, plus Ashland bus to the North Side, and the new revisions to the PMD include a carveout for new midrises at that exact spot.

[VivaLFuego]

I think Ashland/Lake is an even stronger location for office since it has two train lines instead of one, plus Ashland bus to the North Side, and the new revisions to the PMD include a carveout for new midrises at that exact spot.

Flashback about 17 years or so, but the idea of a secondary office district along Ashland from Lake to the Ike/Medical District basically summarizes the more compelling vision of the Circle Line as an integrated land use and transportation initiative (as opposed to the "avoid riding all the way downtown with the ease of only transferring at least twice" pitch that ended up guiding the weak demand modeling and project descriptions). The whole thing only worked as something more than just a CTA project, seeing as the full value of the concept only becomes feasible with Metra connections (both UP branches, MD, BNSF, RI) making the Ashland corridor a two-seat ride from the entire region along with, of course, supportive zoning from the municipality.

[Busy Bee]

^Somebody call Mike with American Pickers to save that sign! :yes:

There's no doubt somebody is saving that sign. No way something like that gets thrown in a scrap heap in 2020.

[ardecila]

Flashback about 17 years or so, but the idea of a secondary office district along Ashland from Lake to the Ike/Medical District basically summarizes the more compelling vision of the Circle Line as an integrated land use and transportation initiative (as opposed to the "avoid riding all the way downtown with the ease of only transferring at least twice" pitch that ended up guiding the weak demand modeling and project descriptions). The whole thing only worked as something more than just a CTA project, seeing as the full value of the concept only becomes feasible with Metra connections (both UP branches, MD, BNSF, RI) making the Ashland corridor a two-seat ride from the entire region along with, of course, supportive zoning from the municipality.

Yes, the idea that you could "bypass downtown" on a Circle Line and head back out only makes sense to people who've never had to make a rail transfer in other cities. I think a lot of us recognized back then that for the new line to make sense as an investment, we'd have to do some serious upzoning along the corridor - which seemed crazy.

Now, of course, it doesn't seem so crazy that professionals might live and work in dense nodes outside of downtown.

[Ned.B]

There's no doubt somebody is saving that sign. No way something like that gets thrown in a scrap heap in 2020.

Eric Nordstrom at Urban Remains posted that he was over there documenting the building yesterday. Parts of the sign has already been pulled down allegedly for restoration. There's been conflicting information as to whether the sign would remain local or end up in a collection in another state.

[maru2501]

Eric Nordstrom at Urban Remains posted that he was over there documenting the building yesterday. Parts of the sign has already been pulled down allegedly for restoration. There's been conflicting information as to whether the sign would remain local or end up in a collection in another state.

a good chunk of it was sold to a restaurant in California

[SoLoop]

There was a soil testing rig on the parking lot at the southeast corner of Dearborn and Harrison yesterday. The middle portion of this parking lot was sold in 2018 for $2,000,000.

[ChiTownWonder]

a good chunk of it was sold to a restaurant in California

Boooo how dare they boast a temperate climate AND steal our charm you can't have it all Cali!

[IrishIllini]

I genuinely hate the circle line.

[emathias]

Yes, the idea that you could "bypass downtown" on a Circle Line and head back out only makes sense to people who've never had to make a rail transfer in other cities. I think a lot of us recognized back then that for the new line to make sense as an investment, we'd have to do some serious upzoning along the corridor - which seemed crazy.

Now, of course, it doesn't seem so crazy that professionals might live and work in dense nodes outside of downtown.

I, for one, didn't think it seemed crazy then. Chicago used to predict the future and build for it. Sometimes the future changed by the time we were done building (Deep Tunnel/TARP, I'm looking at you), but we took the "make no small plans" thing pretty seriously. Today it seems like everyone is afraid to make big proposals in the public sphere. We get a few ambitious private plans (The 78, Lincoln Yards) or "public/private partnership" things (Millennium Park, that nonsense between Soldier Field and the South Loop), but when's the last time the City really aggressively pursued a generationally big infrastructure project? CREATE might meet the definition, but it seems to move so slowly. It's known to be needed, and needed to help maintain Chicago's dominance in transshipment and rail, two things we need and want to keep around, but for an amount that's relatively affordable for what it gives us, it's just slowly being done piecemeal. Rebuilding the Pink Line, Green Line, and Dan Ryan branch, extending the Brown Line platforms, the Red Line extension to 130th, and the Belmont Flyover are all important and add value, but aren't really fundamentally changing anything about how Chicago works. The Circle Line would have fundamentally changed Chicago's concept of the Central Area. But a truly grand plan would be even bigger than that. Chicago hasn't had a truly revolutionary transit plan since the 1968 plan that included moving the Loop into a subway and adding subways under Monroe and between Streeterville and McCormick Place. At the time that was proposed, the City saw the future - they saw a time when the West Loop, Streeterville and the South Loop were all going to be big, active parts of greater downtown and need better-than-bus connectivity. But then Chicago lost its mojo for a while and hasn't really gotten it fully back.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad that the City has still focused on maintaining what we have and making incremental improvements. While smaller and less extensive, pound for pound, I think the CTA rail system is better than New York's.

And I know budgets are tight and pensions at the City and State level are threatening to turn everything in the state into a budgetary nuclear winter.

But. Still.

Chicago still needs that Monroe/Streeterville/McCormick Place plan - now more than ever. Current plans in Chicago would really benefit from the Circle Line, too. The West Loop Transportation Center was proposed and then promptly shelved as unviable politically and economically, basically also pulling a Clinton Street subway off the table. Electrification of additional Metra lines gets mumbled about occasionally but generally ignored, despite the fact it would really help improve air quality downtown if we stopped running dozens and dozens of huge diesel engines in and out of downtown every day. The City built out a station under Block 37 but their only idea for the connection was a train to O'Hare and without that the station sits wastefully vacant despite the fact that connecting the Red and Blue Lines opens up some potentially interesting routing options. The Dearborn Subway also still has a stub at Lake Street to accommodate a Lake Street subway - that could be activated to send the Green Line underground under the Loop and to the State Street subway and then back up south of Roosevelt, freeing up space on the Loop. There are also portals next to the Blue Line's Congress subway portals at Halsted that could be put to use.

Ultimately, I'd love to see the City say, "Hey, our downtown is growing like crazy. To accommodate what has happened, and facilitate even greater future growth, we're going to:"

1) Change the Orange Line connection to the Loop by building tracks north through the 78 to connect to the Loop at Wells/VanBuren, with new stations at Cermak, Roosevelt and 18th and one in between. $350 million

2) Extend Lower Michigan Ave from Grand Ave to Lake Shore Drive at Oak Street. Do this as part of the LSD rebuild and lakeshore reconstruction being planned. Create a Lower Chicago Ave from just west of Orleans to just west of Fairbanks and implement real BRT for Chicago Ave west of the River to Kedzie. And turn both into bus-only. $225 million (if done as part of an LSD/Lakefront rebuild project)

3) Turn Carroll Street into a proper transitway, connecting to Lower Michigan and making some collection of streets between the east end of Carroll to Navy Pier transit-only, while making transitways in downtown all for dedicated electric buses. Connect the Carroll street transitway to a "bus subway" level in the West Loop Transportation Center, and make parts of Kingsbury bus-only, with dedicated (and enforced) lanes in segments with shared traffic. I want to make these rail streetcars, but unless we can make it a dedicated ROW the whole way, they are useless if they get stuck in traffic. $75 million.

4) Build the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick Place circulator subway from the Medical district (Ogden/Western) and extend the Streeterville branch from the Hancock west to Clark, then initially north to Armitage but eventually with the goal of going north to Wilson under Broadway, and the south branch extending to 35th Street along the Lake. Can place a yard on railyard land near Western/Ogden. It's 11.5 miles of subway for Ogden/Western, Clark/Armitage, 35th/lakefront routings and roughly 23 stations. Initial cost for those segments, $6.75 billion. Extension to Wilson, $2 billion.

5) Build the West Loop Transportation Center, specifically including a Clinton Street Subway under Halsted from Clybourn to Division then under Kingsbury to Larrabee, then jogging over the Clinton. Then that jogs west to Halsted south of Congress, continuing to 40th, with future plans to extend it east eventually joining Woodlawn to serve Hyde Park, terminating at 63rd. And a subway busway for buses as originally proposed. Initial WLTC plus Clinton Subway going from Halsted/Clybourn to Halsted/40th and a rail yard at 40th: $7.25 billion. Extension east and south to Hyde Park $3.25 billion.

6) Build the Circle Line with the north end far enough north to serve Lincoln Yards (Cortland and Elston) then going east under Armitage Ave to join the north Branch of the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick lines, and the southwest edge not joining the Orange Line, but following Bubbly Creek to 35th, then a subway to the Lakefront, joining the south end of the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick subway. So piggy-backing off the circulator. $5 billion.

7) Extend Brown Line to Blue Line. Transfer only, no interlining. $1.5 billion

8) Elevate Brown Line from Western to west of Kedzie, then transition to subway for extension to Blue. Expand yard. $750 million

8) Stations no further apart than 1 mile - 1/2 mile being the target distance for each line - and then DX-16 zoning within 1/4 mile of every station and some sort of at least -4 zoning within 1/4 and 1/2 mile, and an outright ban on new SFH construction within a mile of any new station (or a $1 million tax on any new SFH within a mile of new stations so the really rich can have their cake if they want, while helping pay for the subways). Create a transit-TIF. Free to pass the laws.

Total additions to the system:
~71 stations over ~38 miles (2 stations on existing track, so average of about 1 new station per 1/2 mile of new track)

Total initial costs, without ultimate extensions, rounded up to nearest billion:
$21.9 billion

Total extensions:
$5.25 billion

Financing cost 66.7% financed for 30 years @3%: $9.375 billion

Total long-term costs:
$36.525 billion

Land area within 1/4 mile of new stations (38 stations*.125 square miles):
4.75 square miles

Land area within 1/2 mile of new stations, net of the area 1/4 mile (38 stations *(.5-.125) square miles):
14.25 square miles

Revenue:
Estimated homes within 1/2 mile of new stations, pre-investment: 120,000. Post-investment: 180,000

Estimated increase in property tax revenue from existing homes via appreciation and/or special district: $500
Estimated increase in property tax revenue from new homes: $3,000

Annual property tax residential revenue: (120,000*$500)+(60,000*$3,000)= $240 million per year
Annual retail/commercial property tax revenue (estimated 38 million square feet of space, retail, office, warehouse, etc): $450 million

Total new revenue per year, at completion: $690 million

35-year collection: $24.15 billion
Estimated State contribution: 20% of total $27.15 billion = $5.43 billion
Estimated Federal contribution: 20% of total $27.15 billion = $5.43 billion

Total state, Federal, and property tax collections @35 years:
$35.01 billion

Net unfinanced cost to come from other sources: $1.515 billion or, over 35 years, $43.29 million per year in unfinanced cost.

So for lack of less than $50 million/year, the CTA is making little plans.

[jc5680]

318 carpenter

http://www.j-carlson.com/share/318carp_feb12.jpg

[DCCliff]

I love emathias's, "But. Still. . . . . . ." Well thought out and expressed; and I agree with most of it, including the current efforts directed at good repair, station expansion, etc. But I also realize that most of the rest of what's suggested is beyond fiscal and political reality. But, as a transit person for a good chunk of my career, it would be interesting to know to what degree planning agencies and the RTA/CTA are adequately funded and honestly, seriously examining the future of the city and its transit vs. the rather tame info we get that generally trickles out from them.

[Via Chicago]

https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/02/13/shuttered-little-village-library-would-be-turned-into-community-center-under-nonprofits-plan/

https://i.postimg.cc/mgt0Sw-dp/Latinos-Progresando-SD-FINAL.jpg

LITTLE VILLAGE — After raising $2 million over the last year and a half, a Little Village-based nonprofit is on track with its plan to convert an abandoned library into an office and community space on Cermak Road.

Latinos Progresando, a nonprofit that provides legal aid for immigrants, has raised 80 percent of the funding for a planned adaptive reuse of the old Marshall Square Library building at 2724 W. Cermak Rd.

The community development group, which works on a range of issues including immigration, health, peace and education, wants to convert the former library into a new office, with space for their legal services and the community by next year.

As part of the plan, the 10,000 square foot area will have legal services on the first floor, with offices for the organizations’ various initiatives as part of the Marshall Square Resource Network. The second floor will include conference rooms and a larger space for “community-wide programming,” Gutierrez said.

Esperanza Health System will provide mental health services and work with nearby schools, while the Lincoln Park Zoo will expand its nature-based educational work at nearby schools on the Southwest Sides. Gutierrez said he believes the project will enhance and “deepen their programming” in the neighborhood.

Currently located at 3047 W. Cermak Road, the nonprofit expects to move its offices into the new building dubbed the Latinos Progresando Community Center by spring 2021.



Latinos Progresando is working with Canopy / Architecture + Design.

[SamInTheLoop]

I might be getting slightly political here but I don't believe the process of choosing opportunity zones was very fair in every state. Chicago's makes sense while here in New Orleans, freret street (an already gentrifying neighborhood corridor) and the entire CBD are in opportunity zones... areas of cancer alley along the Mississippi are in them as well, seemingly to promote more industrial development. While Illinois may have chose appropriate census tracts for the opportunity zones I personally believe that our neighborhoods are loosing out because of inappropriate selection of opportunity zones in gentrified and already sustained neighborhoods in other states... I'm not sure what can be done at the local level but personally I'm already happy seeing promised investment in the form of projects like south bridge, that new east Garfield park proposal and Garfield Green. The next step is the see the city/ developers follow through.


You're completely correct here, and no - you're not being political, but rather analytical. Glowrock gets it as well.

The Opportunity Zone program is nothing but a boondoggle throughout much of the country.

It's no wonder that capital being raised for Opportunity Zone funds are being directed toward designated opportunity zones that already had real estate capital freely flowing in without the existence of this tax expenditure. Go figure. Such largesse. It's free money from the developer's point of view. You can continue to invest in an area that has established pro-formas and risk premia. And get the tax give-away to further juice your return. Or you can jump into a new area without the benchmarks.....much more unknown risk.

So of course areas/states that rigorously applied standards to ensure truly low income areas of need that may very well not otherwise receive these investment dollars are at a distinct disadvantage to those that did not.

I think that funds will flow into Chicago's Opportunity Zones - it will just take more time to gain momentum than other states/metros.

[SolarWind]

February 10, 2020

https://imgur.com/xXRKdcF.jpg

[SolarWind]

February 12, 2020

https://imgur.com/GYsVYAi.jpg

[jtown,man]

I, for one, didn't think it seemed crazy then. Chicago used to predict the future and build for it. Sometimes the future changed by the time we were done building (Deep Tunnel/TARP, I'm looking at you), but we took the "make no small plans" thing pretty seriously. Today it seems like everyone is afraid to make big proposals in the public sphere. We get a few ambitious private plans (The 78, Lincoln Yards) or "public/private partnership" things (Millennium Park, that nonsense between Soldier Field and the South Loop), but when's the last time the City really aggressively pursued a generationally big infrastructure project? CREATE might meet the definition, but it seems to move so slowly. It's known to be needed, and needed to help maintain Chicago's dominance in transshipment and rail, two things we need and want to keep around, but for an amount that's relatively affordable for what it gives us, it's just slowly being done piecemeal. Rebuilding the Pink Line, Green Line, and Dan Ryan branch, extending the Brown Line platforms, the Red Line extension to 130th, and the Belmont Flyover are all important and add value, but aren't really fundamentally changing anything about how Chicago works. The Circle Line would have fundamentally changed Chicago's concept of the Central Area. But a truly grand plan would be even bigger than that. Chicago hasn't had a truly revolutionary transit plan since the 1968 plan that included moving the Loop into a subway and adding subways under Monroe and between Streeterville and McCormick Place. At the time that was proposed, the City saw the future - they saw a time when the West Loop, Streeterville and the South Loop were all going to be big, active parts of greater downtown and need better-than-bus connectivity. But then Chicago lost its mojo for a while and hasn't really gotten it fully back.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad that the City has still focused on maintaining what we have and making incremental improvements. While smaller and less extensive, pound for pound, I think the CTA rail system is better than New York's.

And I know budgets are tight and pensions at the City and State level are threatening to turn everything in the state into a budgetary nuclear winter.

But. Still.

Chicago still needs that Monroe/Streeterville/McCormick Place plan - now more than ever. Current plans in Chicago would really benefit from the Circle Line, too. The West Loop Transportation Center was proposed and then promptly shelved as unviable politically and economically, basically also pulling a Clinton Street subway off the table. Electrification of additional Metra lines gets mumbled about occasionally but generally ignored, despite the fact it would really help improve air quality downtown if we stopped running dozens and dozens of huge diesel engines in and out of downtown every day. The City built out a station under Block 37 but their only idea for the connection was a train to O'Hare and without that the station sits wastefully vacant despite the fact that connecting the Red and Blue Lines opens up some potentially interesting routing options. The Dearborn Subway also still has a stub at Lake Street to accommodate a Lake Street subway - that could be activated to send the Green Line underground under the Loop and to the State Street subway and then back up south of Roosevelt, freeing up space on the Loop. There are also portals next to the Blue Line's Congress subway portals at Halsted that could be put to use.

Ultimately, I'd love to see the City say, "Hey, our downtown is growing like crazy. To accommodate what has happened, and facilitate even greater future growth, we're going to:"

1) Change the Orange Line connection to the Loop by building tracks north through the 78 to connect to the Loop at Wells/VanBuren, with new stations at Cermak, Roosevelt and 18th and one in between. $350 million

2) Extend Lower Michigan Ave from Grand Ave to Lake Shore Drive at Oak Street. Do this as part of the LSD rebuild and lakeshore reconstruction being planned. Create a Lower Chicago Ave from just west of Orleans to just west of Fairbanks and implement real BRT for Chicago Ave west of the River to Kedzie. And turn both into bus-only. $225 million (if done as part of an LSD/Lakefront rebuild project)

3) Turn Carroll Street into a proper transitway, connecting to Lower Michigan and making some collection of streets between the east end of Carroll to Navy Pier transit-only, while making transitways in downtown all for dedicated electric buses. Connect the Carroll street transitway to a "bus subway" level in the West Loop Transportation Center, and make parts of Kingsbury bus-only, with dedicated (and enforced) lanes in segments with shared traffic. I want to make these rail streetcars, but unless we can make it a dedicated ROW the whole way, they are useless if they get stuck in traffic. $75 million.

4) Build the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick Place circulator subway from the Medical district (Ogden/Western) and extend the Streeterville branch from the Hancock west to Clark, then initially north to Armitage but eventually with the goal of going north to Wilson under Broadway, and the south branch extending to 35th Street along the Lake. Can place a yard on railyard land near Western/Ogden. It's 11.5 miles of subway for Ogden/Western, Clark/Armitage, 35th/lakefront routings and roughly 23 stations. Initial cost for those segments, $6.75 billion. Extension to Wilson, $2 billion.

5) Build the West Loop Transportation Center, specifically including a Clinton Street Subway under Halsted from Clybourn to Division then under Kingsbury to Larrabee, then jogging over the Clinton. Then that jogs west to Halsted south of Congress, continuing to 40th, with future plans to extend it east eventually joining Woodlawn to serve Hyde Park, terminating at 63rd. And a subway busway for buses as originally proposed. Initial WLTC plus Clinton Subway going from Halsted/Clybourn to Halsted/40th and a rail yard at 40th: $7.25 billion. Extension east and south to Hyde Park $3.25 billion.

6) Build the Circle Line with the north end far enough north to serve Lincoln Yards (Cortland and Elston) then going east under Armitage Ave to join the north Branch of the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick lines, and the southwest edge not joining the Orange Line, but following Bubbly Creek to 35th, then a subway to the Lakefront, joining the south end of the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick subway. So piggy-backing off the circulator. $5 billion.

7) Extend Brown Line to Blue Line. Transfer only, no interlining. $1.5 billion

8) Elevate Brown Line from Western to west of Kedzie, then transition to subway for extension to Blue. Expand yard. $750 million

8) Stations no further apart than 1 mile - 1/2 mile being the target distance for each line - and then DX-16 zoning within 1/4 mile of every station and some sort of at least -4 zoning within 1/4 and 1/2 mile, and an outright ban on new SFH construction within a mile of any new station (or a $1 million tax on any new SFH within a mile of new stations so the really rich can have their cake if they want, while helping pay for the subways). Create a transit-TIF. Free to pass the laws.

Total additions to the system:
~71 stations over ~38 miles (2 stations on existing track, so average of about 1 new station per 1/2 mile of new track)

Total initial costs, without ultimate extensions, rounded up to nearest billion:
$21.9 billion

Total extensions:
$5.25 billion

Financing cost 66.7% financed for 30 years @3%: $9.375 billion

Total long-term costs:
$36.525 billion

Land area within 1/4 mile of new stations (38 stations*.125 square miles):
4.75 square miles

Land area within 1/2 mile of new stations, net of the area 1/4 mile (38 stations *(.5-.125) square miles):
14.25 square miles

Revenue:
Estimated homes within 1/2 mile of new stations, pre-investment: 120,000. Post-investment: 180,000

Estimated increase in property tax revenue from existing homes via appreciation and/or special district: $500
Estimated increase in property tax revenue from new homes: $3,000

Annual property tax residential revenue: (120,000*$500)+(60,000*$3,000)= $240 million per year
Annual retail/commercial property tax revenue (estimated 38 million square feet of space, retail, office, warehouse, etc): $450 million

Total new revenue per year, at completion: $690 million

35-year collection: $24.15 billion
Estimated State contribution: 20% of total $27.15 billion = $5.43 billion
Estimated Federal contribution: 20% of total $27.15 billion = $5.43 billion

Total state, Federal, and property tax collections @35 years:
$35.01 billion

Net unfinanced cost to come from other sources: $1.515 billion or, over 35 years, $43.29 million per year in unfinanced cost.

So for lack of less than $50 million/year, the CTA is making little plans.

Awesome post man. How long did that take to produce?

[SolarWind]

February 14, 2020

https://imgur.com/azxGuIN.jpg

https://imgur.com/inqjTrl.jpg

[Goose Island Guru]

I, for one, didn't think it seemed crazy then. Chicago used to predict the future and build for it. Sometimes the future changed by the time we were done building (Deep Tunnel/TARP, I'm looking at you), but we took the "make no small plans" thing pretty seriously. Today it seems like everyone is afraid to make big proposals in the public sphere. We get a few ambitious private plans (The 78, Lincoln Yards) or "public/private partnership" things (Millennium Park, that nonsense between Soldier Field and the South Loop), but when's the last time the City really aggressively pursued a generationally big infrastructure project? CREATE might meet the definition, but it seems to move so slowly. It's known to be needed, and needed to help maintain Chicago's dominance in transshipment and rail, two things we need and want to keep around, but for an amount that's relatively affordable for what it gives us, it's just slowly being done piecemeal. Rebuilding the Pink Line, Green Line, and Dan Ryan branch, extending the Brown Line platforms, the Red Line extension to 130th, and the Belmont Flyover are all important and add value, but aren't really fundamentally changing anything about how Chicago works. The Circle Line would have fundamentally changed Chicago's concept of the Central Area. But a truly grand plan would be even bigger than that. Chicago hasn't had a truly revolutionary transit plan since the 1968 plan that included moving the Loop into a subway and adding subways under Monroe and between Streeterville and McCormick Place. At the time that was proposed, the City saw the future - they saw a time when the West Loop, Streeterville and the South Loop were all going to be big, active parts of greater downtown and need better-than-bus connectivity. But then Chicago lost its mojo for a while and hasn't really gotten it fully back.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad that the City has still focused on maintaining what we have and making incremental improvements. While smaller and less extensive, pound for pound, I think the CTA rail system is better than New York's.

And I know budgets are tight and pensions at the City and State level are threatening to turn everything in the state into a budgetary nuclear winter.

But. Still.

Chicago still needs that Monroe/Streeterville/McCormick Place plan - now more than ever. Current plans in Chicago would really benefit from the Circle Line, too. The West Loop Transportation Center was proposed and then promptly shelved as unviable politically and economically, basically also pulling a Clinton Street subway off the table. Electrification of additional Metra lines gets mumbled about occasionally but generally ignored, despite the fact it would really help improve air quality downtown if we stopped running dozens and dozens of huge diesel engines in and out of downtown every day. The City built out a station under Block 37 but their only idea for the connection was a train to O'Hare and without that the station sits wastefully vacant despite the fact that connecting the Red and Blue Lines opens up some potentially interesting routing options. The Dearborn Subway also still has a stub at Lake Street to accommodate a Lake Street subway - that could be activated to send the Green Line underground under the Loop and to the State Street subway and then back up south of Roosevelt, freeing up space on the Loop. There are also portals next to the Blue Line's Congress subway portals at Halsted that could be put to use.

Ultimately, I'd love to see the City say, "Hey, our downtown is growing like crazy. To accommodate what has happened, and facilitate even greater future growth, we're going to:"

1) Change the Orange Line connection to the Loop by building tracks north through the 78 to connect to the Loop at Wells/VanBuren, with new stations at Cermak, Roosevelt and 18th and one in between. $350 million

2) Extend Lower Michigan Ave from Grand Ave to Lake Shore Drive at Oak Street. Do this as part of the LSD rebuild and lakeshore reconstruction being planned. Create a Lower Chicago Ave from just west of Orleans to just west of Fairbanks and implement real BRT for Chicago Ave west of the River to Kedzie. And turn both into bus-only. $225 million (if done as part of an LSD/Lakefront rebuild project)

3) Turn Carroll Street into a proper transitway, connecting to Lower Michigan and making some collection of streets between the east end of Carroll to Navy Pier transit-only, while making transitways in downtown all for dedicated electric buses. Connect the Carroll street transitway to a "bus subway" level in the West Loop Transportation Center, and make parts of Kingsbury bus-only, with dedicated (and enforced) lanes in segments with shared traffic. I want to make these rail streetcars, but unless we can make it a dedicated ROW the whole way, they are useless if they get stuck in traffic. $75 million.

4) Build the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick Place circulator subway from the Medical district (Ogden/Western) and extend the Streeterville branch from the Hancock west to Clark, then initially north to Armitage but eventually with the goal of going north to Wilson under Broadway, and the south branch extending to 35th Street along the Lake. Can place a yard on railyard land near Western/Ogden. It's 11.5 miles of subway for Ogden/Western, Clark/Armitage, 35th/lakefront routings and roughly 23 stations. Initial cost for those segments, $6.75 billion. Extension to Wilson, $2 billion.

5) Build the West Loop Transportation Center, specifically including a Clinton Street Subway under Halsted from Clybourn to Division then under Kingsbury to Larrabee, then jogging over the Clinton. Then that jogs west to Halsted south of Congress, continuing to 40th, with future plans to extend it east eventually joining Woodlawn to serve Hyde Park, terminating at 63rd. And a subway busway for buses as originally proposed. Initial WLTC plus Clinton Subway going from Halsted/Clybourn to Halsted/40th and a rail yard at 40th: $7.25 billion. Extension east and south to Hyde Park $3.25 billion.

6) Build the Circle Line with the north end far enough north to serve Lincoln Yards (Cortland and Elston) then going east under Armitage Ave to join the north Branch of the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick lines, and the southwest edge not joining the Orange Line, but following Bubbly Creek to 35th, then a subway to the Lakefront, joining the south end of the West Loop/Streeterville/McCormick subway. So piggy-backing off the circulator. $5 billion.

7) Extend Brown Line to Blue Line. Transfer only, no interlining. $1.5 billion

8) Elevate Brown Line from Western to west of Kedzie, then transition to subway for extension to Blue. Expand yard. $750 million

8) Stations no further apart than 1 mile - 1/2 mile being the target distance for each line - and then DX-16 zoning within 1/4 mile of every station and some sort of at least -4 zoning within 1/4 and 1/2 mile, and an outright ban on new SFH construction within a mile of any new station (or a $1 million tax on any new SFH within a mile of new stations so the really rich can have their cake if they want, while helping pay for the subways). Create a transit-TIF. Free to pass the laws.

Total additions to the system:
~71 stations over ~38 miles (2 stations on existing track, so average of about 1 new station per 1/2 mile of new track)

Total initial costs, without ultimate extensions, rounded up to nearest billion:
$21.9 billion

Total extensions:
$5.25 billion

Financing cost 66.7% financed for 30 years @3%: $9.375 billion

Total long-term costs:
$36.525 billion

Land area within 1/4 mile of new stations (38 stations*.125 square miles):
4.75 square miles

Land area within 1/2 mile of new stations, net of the area 1/4 mile (38 stations *(.5-.125) square miles):
14.25 square miles

Revenue:
Estimated homes within 1/2 mile of new stations, pre-investment: 120,000. Post-investment: 180,000

Estimated increase in property tax revenue from existing homes via appreciation and/or special district: $500
Estimated increase in property tax revenue from new homes: $3,000

Annual property tax residential revenue: (120,000*$500)+(60,000*$3,000)= $240 million per year
Annual retail/commercial property tax revenue (estimated 38 million square feet of space, retail, office, warehouse, etc): $450 million

Total new revenue per year, at completion: $690 million

35-year collection: $24.15 billion
Estimated State contribution: 20% of total $27.15 billion = $5.43 billion
Estimated Federal contribution: 20% of total $27.15 billion = $5.43 billion

Total state, Federal, and property tax collections @35 years:
$35.01 billion

Net unfinanced cost to come from other sources: $1.515 billion or, over 35 years, $43.29 million per year in unfinanced cost.

So for lack of less than $50 million/year, the CTA is making little plans.

If I decide to run for mayor, I'm shamelessly taking this as my platform.

[w.miles2000]

What the updates on the cta green line Damen/Lake station do anyone know when are CDOT going to start construction

[harryc]

Feb 12

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49550065942_2ffb4d9890_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iuz3iL)Chicago | 306 W Erie (https://flic.kr/p/2iuz3iL) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49549336583_97e7f7cfe0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iuviuB)Chicago | 306 W Erie (https://flic.kr/p/2iuviuB) by Harry Carmichael (https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryrcarmichael/), on Flickr

[ardecila]

The Rosie (aka Pilsen Gateway) - 15th & Blue Island
February 13, 2020

https://i.imgur.com/vpiZi3N.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rLkwjXj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bUuHVwp.jpg

[ardecila]

Roosevelt Square Community Center
February 15, 2020

notice the cross-lam timber construction!

https://i.imgur.com/ejYoKXF.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/eHO0JkQ.jpg

[marothisu]

Zoning application is up to convert the building at 1050 W Wilson into the future home of Double Door music venue (you know the one that used to be in Wicker Park..)

[Rooster slayer]

Zoning application is up to convert the building at 1050 W Wilson into the future home of Double Door music venue (you know the one that used to be in Wicker Park..)


Yup....good to hear. :cheers:

[marothisu]

Alright here's another big development from Chinese developers. A new zoning application is up to build on the big (not good looking) parcel of land bounded by 18th street, Stewart, Canal, and 17th street. This is diagonally across the street from 18th from Chicago Oriental Wholesale.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.857738,-87.637856,3a,75y,295.67h,86.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjdI8QtKKTzHdV9G8T7RDWQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Plans call for a new 59 foot tall building with retail and restaurant uses. Total space will be 159,396 sq ft and a total of 168 parking spaces. Reminder that a bit south of there at 2105 S Jefferson, a warehouse was quietly converted into a mall by Chinese developers. I have "uncovered" plans for a new hot pot restaurant to open there in March. Across from that another Chinese developer is planning to build 7 new buildings and just as much retail space with over 200 new residential units. And of course on Cermak not far from there currently a warehouse is being converted into a new hotel, big Chinese market, Chinese restaurants, etc.

Application: https://chicago.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4335565&GUID=EB6B526A-4392-4456-B934-0939410034A6&Options=Advanced&Search=

[brandon03]

Looks like the West Loop has finally made it! \s

160 N Morgan
http://i.imgur.com/Y3pCARlh.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/Y3pCARl.jpg)

Nothing like a garishly painted repurposed drive-through bank to make a neighborhood feel complete.

Sorry to disappoint those hoping the scaffolding was in preparation for demo. Looks like this will have to wait at least until Gucci is done with their pop-up.

[Handro]

Alright here's another big development from Chinese developers. A new zoning application is up to build on the big (not good looking) parcel of land bounded by 18th street, Stewart, Canal, and 17th street. This is diagonally across the street from 18th from Chicago Oriental Wholesale.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.857738,-87.637856,3a,75y,295.67h,86.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjdI8QtKKTzHdV9G8T7RDWQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Plans call for a new 59 foot tall building with retail and restaurant uses. Total space will be 159,396 sq ft and a total of 168 parking spaces. Reminder that a bit south of there at 2105 S Jefferson, a warehouse was quietly converted into a mall by Chinese developers. I have "uncovered" plans for a new hot pot restaurant to open there in March. Across from that another Chinese developer is planning to build 7 new buildings and just as much retail space with over 200 new residential units. And of course on Cermak not far from there currently a warehouse is being converted into a new hotel, big Chinese market, Chinese restaurants, etc.

Application: https://chicago.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4335565&GUID=EB6B526A-4392-4456-B934-0939410034A6&Options=Advanced&Search=

Great news! Between all the Chinatown/Pilsen development and The 78 (ugh, that name), BMO Tower, OPO, Riverline... can't wait to see the south loop/near south side in 10 years.

[ardecila]

Looks like the West Loop has finally made it! \s

Nothing like a garishly painted repurposed drive-through bank to make a neighborhood feel complete.

Sorry to disappoint those hoping the scaffolding was in preparation for demo. Looks like this will have to wait at least until Gucci is done with their pop-up.

I mean, this seems like a smart strategy. If the stars haven't aligned for a total redevelopment, they can make some income from the property, and everything is on short-term leases so they can easily redevelop when the opportunity arrives. Retailers are gaga for this location, and don't seem to care that it looks like a bank so long as they can customize it for their brand. I went there when it was a Burrow popup. Since they're probably not doing much sales volume, I assume this all comes out of a marketing budget.

[BrinChi]

I mean, this seems like a smart strategy. If the stars haven't aligned for a total redevelopment, they can make some income from the property, and everything is on short-term leases so they can easily redevelop when the opportunity arrives. Retailers are gaga for this location, and don't seem to care that it looks like a bank so long as they can customize it for their brand. I went there when it was a Burrow popup. Since they're probably not doing much sales volume, I assume this all comes out of a marketing budget.

Agreed. For something short term I think this is awesome! For better or worse, stuff like this is what the average person (non building nerds) will notice and feel cool about being in the hip part of town.

[jc5680]

Sorry to disappoint those hoping the scaffolding was in preparation for demo. Looks like this will have to wait at least until Gucci is done with their pop-up.

It's an absurd spectacle, and that is great. It's transient, no reason to be disappointed.

[SamInTheLoop]

Alright here's another big development from Chinese developers. A new zoning application is up to build on the big (not good looking) parcel of land bounded by 18th street, Stewart, Canal, and 17th street. This is diagonally across the street from 18th from Chicago Oriental Wholesale.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.857738,-87.637856,3a,75y,295.67h,86.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjdI8QtKKTzHdV9G8T7RDWQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Plans call for a new 59 foot tall building with retail and restaurant uses. Total space will be 159,396 sq ft and a total of 168 parking spaces. Reminder that a bit south of there at 2105 S Jefferson, a warehouse was quietly converted into a mall by Chinese developers. I have "uncovered" plans for a new hot pot restaurant to open there in March. Across from that another Chinese developer is planning to build 7 new buildings and just as much retail space with over 200 new residential units. And of course on Cermak not far from there currently a warehouse is being converted into a new hotel, big Chinese market, Chinese restaurants, etc.

Application: https://chicago.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4335565&GUID=EB6B526A-4392-4456-B934-0939410034A6&Options=Advanced&Search=


So if recent experience of other substantial Chinatown developments are a guide, this may be due to open in.....2037? 2045?? That might be optimistic.....probably looking at well into the second half of the 21st century....

I think it's likely that we're looking at some overbuilding of retail and restaurant space in and around Chinatown.....based on what's been built recently/under construction now/and in the pipeline - in light of macro retail trends - that's the key.

Don't get me wrong - I'm certainly pro-retail development. It's just that the demand likely won't be there for as much space as is in the works.

[marothisu]

So if recent experience of other substantial Chinatown developments are a guide, this may be due to open in.....2037? 2045?? That might be optimistic.....probably looking at well into the second half of the 21st century....

I think it's likely that we're looking at some overbuilding of retail and restaurant space in and around Chinatown.....based on what's been built recently/under construction now/and in the pipeline - in light of macro retail trends - that's the key.

Don't get me wrong - I'm certainly pro-retail development. It's just that the demand likely won't be there for as much space as is in the works.

Not so sure about it. Keep in mind that the Chicago MSA has added almost 20K people born in China between 2010 and 2018. There is a demand for new retail and restaurants. Additionally, with the 78 phase 1 happening, it should add some more demand.

I think also that many people who dont know how China is underestimate this stuff. I cant stress enough how much demand there is for restaurants even in truly small towns in China or little areas. Idk if we'll see all of this but won't be surprised if it all does happen sometime. There's much more demand per person than people might realize in this community. There is also a bit of interest from chains from China in Chicago opening up. Multiple in the pipeline for this year.

Speaking of Chinatown, anyone have a report on how the new hotel on Wentworth is going and the warehouse on Cermak converting to a new hotel, restaurants, etc?