The old saying, "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" comes to mind.

Those of us who run UNIX cost a good deal more than the kids that use the glorified PCs that MicroSoft calls servers.

Yes but when it fails it creates a really nice kind of spontaneous modern art like this...

https://www.energymanagertoday.com/t...dings-0178190/


The 5 US Cities With the Most Green Office Buildings

August 23, 2018 by Emily Holbrook


Chicago ranks number one for green office space with 265 green buildings, according to CBRE’s US Green Building Adoption Index.



The nation’s largest cities are getting even greener, according to the fifth annual US Green Building Adoption Index by CBRE and Maastricht University. Researchers have found green certified office space across America’s 30 largest metros has reached 41% of market totals – the highest in the index’s history.

“Green” office buildings in the US are defined as those that hold either an EPA ENERGY STAR label, USGBC LEED certification or both. According to the report, 11.5% of all buildings surveyed are ENERGY STAR labeled, while 5.2% of buildings are LEED certified, both at all-time highs for the five-year study.

Chicago again claimed the top spot with nearly 70% of its space green certified. In addition to defending its title as the nation’s greenest city, Chicago saw a difference of nearly 6% with second-place San Francisco, the largest spread ever recorded in the Green Building Adoption Index. Atlanta maintained the third spot with more than 58% of all space green certified, while a surging Los Angeles claimed fourth – up from sixth last year. Minneapolis rounds out the top five with 55% of office space certified.

“From moving to 100% renewable energy in our public buildings, to supporting our private partners as they work to reduce emissions, Chicago is showcasing to the world the impact that cities can have on climate change for their residents and for people around the world,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “This national recognition is a testament to the progress and success of our efforts to improve our environment while bettering communities across Chicago.”

RANK MARKET TOTAL # OF BUILDINGS TOTAL SQ. FT. TOTAL # GREEN BUILDINGS % OF MARKET CERTIFIED GREEN

1 Chicago 1,435 236,516,240 265 69.8%
2 San Francisco 1,386 120,434,025 286 64%
3 Atlanta 908 132,828,235 251 58.4%
4 Los Angeles 1,664 206,051,367 363 56.3%
5 Minneapolis 476 69,950,658 102 55%


...

Speaking of work...I am considering a career change within Commercial R.E, and am always curious what my fellow posters do professionally. I'm not sure if this is allowed, but I would welcome any private messages detailing what you do. I am fairly young and every conversation I have helps me narrow my focus, thanks!

Mods, apologies if this is prohibited.

I don't think there is any harm in your request other than it might be a bit off topic (then again I'm still learning the rules) but I will say this. A great way to spur a career change is locating people on linkedin that have a career that you are interested in. By sending a well thought-out, sincere direct message about having an interest in their craft and wanting to learn more via either a quick phone call or buying them lunch or a cup of coffee is a great way to network. Most successful people love mentoring people that are genuine and willing to work to change their lives. Very best of luck to you!

Now let's hope over the weekend we get some great news about this beauty of a tower! Cheers everyone!

Keep reading and participating on these boards, I learned a ton of what I know just from keeping up religiously with Chicago development and construction news. Commercial RE is one of the most opaque and cliquey industries in the world, it's not easy to break in. Building your knowledge and reaching out to people as Pittsburgh said is key.

Here's a list of commerical real estate meetups in chicago - https://www.meetup.com/topics/commer...duI8uN-8bl31JA

Make us proud bgsrand!

Deliver us the first 2000 footer by 2025!

Not to go too far off topic, but where might the best possible site for a two thousand footer be taking into consideration all the possible variables for success, demand, and skyline impact? The Thompson Center? North or South of the city's core?

^ The Loop or anywhere near L lines or Metra stations. Of course, this is simply considering the sustainability of such a huge building. Probably would be mixed use, and you wouldn't want half the building dedicated to a garage for residents and office workers. So the less those workers/residents need to drive, the better.

My answer would be the same from a skyline aesthetics perspective as well. Chicago's supertalls are either north of the river (JHC, TTC) or on the periphery of the Loop (Aon and Vista to the north and east, Sears and Franklin Center to the southwest.). Something in the central Loop would really help balance things out, IMHO. The site of the Thompson Center would do nicely be all metrics.

One place that I think could support a supertall is Congress and Clark. Although having a jail as a neighbor is probably not ideal (even if it's a really cool looking jail).

i hate the jail building. i hope it's eventually torn down and replaced with a supertall :D

Is there any structural reason why Chicago apartments don't have underground parking? Or is it just to save money?Here in Toronto virtually every condo has like 4 floors underground.

This building looks great otherwise! Issa beast and very Chicago

Most Chicago highrises are built within a mile of Lake Michigan, where the water table is pretty close to the surface. Putting parking more than about 15 feet below ground starts to get very expensive.

In Canada, you probably have sensible regulations for that. Here we let developers create eyesores so they can maximize profits.

^ Let me educate you. Here, the people are more free. Freedom to maximize profits = more skyscrapers.

Freedom creates skylines like NYC, LA, Chicago, Houston, Philly, Miami, etc. Canada has Vancouver and Toronto.

Lesson over.

^How absurd. Good developers and architects can and will work within almost any reasonable regulations, and there's a school of thought (I'm a member) that believes architecture is improved by needing to work within limits, instead of just indulging every narcissistic impulse.

The difference between Toronto and Chicago regulations is simply not that extreme—far less than the difference between New York and Houston, for example.

Do some homework before offering any more lessons.

The US has like 9-10 times the population of Canada.

Huh?

That makes no sense. Toronto and Vancouver have way the hell more highrises than Houston and LA

Yes. "Free" Houston with its 1.33 parking spaces per bedroom requirement. Though that regulation is loosened some for efficiencies, which only need 1.25 parking spaces per unit.

Just wanted to drop a quick note, forgot to do so earlier.
The new LED lighting, at least on Belmont, is just horrible. The lights are too high, far too much glare. Everything looks washed out and grey. I thought the areas with the new lights immediately looked run down, dirty, even "scary" the way trash strewn urban streets were shown in 80s movies.

I have seen beautiful warm glare free LED lighting. I don't know who's choosing these lights, but they don't have a damn clue as to what they're doing.

I dunno, they did my entire quadrant of Little Village and East of Douglas Park almost immediately after the program started and I don't even notice the lighting anymore, it just seems more daylightish to me now than bright. I think it's just a "brain getting used to it" thing to a certain extent.

Oh and the most noticeable thing from inside the building is that it looks darker outside from the building than it used to. Before there used to be a "glow" in the apartments when the lights were out, now it seems basically black if the lights are off.

I do think they attract more bugs than the older lamps, I've noticed that the ones I installed on the back of my buildings attract huge swarms of bugs sometimes. The tenants actually bought one of those bug zapper lamps there were so many this summer. Has anyone else noticed this with LED?

Question for all knowledgeable folks around here.

My 9 unit condo building HOA has been receiving letters of interest from developers wanting to deconvert back to apartments. The building is about a block and a half from a CTA station in an area experiencing rapid new construction and deconversion. Zoned RS-3. Building is an “avenue apartment” style 3.5 stories at over 100 y/o and totally gutted to the shell and renovated a few years ago.

1. How common is this in Chicago?
2. Is there a formula for minimum asking price per unit
3. How common are leasebacks?

1. Very common nowadays
2. Depends on market rents, interest rates, whether units need to be remodeled, etc
3. Very common. You can probably even negotiate a leaseback of a minimal amount of time with the seller as a part of the sale

Interesting, the lighting on Foster is fantastic. So much cleaner and clearer. Makes riding a bike at night a lot more comfortable.

More common than it used to be. I wouldn't say it's super-common, though.

Condo associations that do this tend to be associations with a low rate of owner-occupancy, or where assessments are unusually high. Both of those things put downward pressure on sales value. Low owner-occupancy can limit certain kinds of mortgages, especially Federally-backed ones, and also tend to be less popular with people who actually want to live in the unit because part of the allure of a condo over an apartment is generally having more mature neighbors who are less likely to be noisy or otherwise obnoxious (not that there aren't obnoxious condo owners, it's just that there are more obnoxious renters in most cases).

I rented a condo unit in 159 W Goethe, a vintage building in Old Town, for a couple years starting in 1999. By coincidence, the exact unit I'd rented ended up being used as a comp (comparable) for the appraisal when I bought my current condo. Several years ago it was in the press that the condo association at 159 W Goethe sold out to be converted to apartments. At the time, the articles said that it was sold because over half of the units were not owner-occupied. The price paid seemed low, but based on my experience living there, it probably required a fair bit of renovation by the developer. If someone had just moved in, I'm sure they'd have been really irritated, but hopefully the developer would, at the very least, make them whole even if it meant paying them a bit more than other owners. Legally, though, I don't think they're required to as long as 75% of owners vote to sell en masse. Pricing, though, is just like any other real estate deal, in that it's negotiable. An association could be willing to sell in principle, but unable to negotiate a price good enough that 75% will take it. In the case of 159 W Goethe, a lot of the owners had bought in the mid-1990s when prices were as low as 1/3 of what their offer was, so even though individual owners might have made a little more selling on their own, the fact that so many were investment units at that point and they'd mostly bought in at a very low price anyway, made it easier for the developer to get the needed votes.

Sometimes investors who want to own a bunch of condos will take a long view, too, and just start buying individual units until they control enough votes to swing a sale of the rest. Or they can make it impossible for other owners to vote to sell to another developer, if the investor wants to keep them. That sort of move can be very controversial and anger other owners, though, and can provoke lawsuits, such as for 540 N Lake Shore Drive.

Thanks for the info. In our case, 8/9 units are owner-occupied. The units have always been purchased at or above asking and no unit remained on the market more than 2 days. HOA dues are $120-160, reserves are well funded and most everything is new.

I just though it was strange we are getting inquires since our building is unlike the reasons emathias mentioned.

It costs an investor next to nothing to inquire, so it's probably just a fishing expedition. Sometimes public information doesn't tell the whole story so they figure it can't hurt to ask. Even if your association didn't sell, it could prompt an owner of other properties to maybe consider it for other associations they own in.

There are small condo buildings like yours that are actually marketing themselves as conversions. There is one that I was aware of a few months ago in the Humboldt Park area, I believe. Probably 2/3 of the units were owner occupied and many of the owners were interested in a leaseback.

One of the reasons this is appealing is that owners tend to take better care of their places than renters. So you can buy into a building that is otherwise well maintained and probably doesn't need any money put into a rehab. All that really needs to get done is a bunch of legal maneuvering to convert back to a rental, which includes combining all of the PINs which usually reduces the property taxes.

Art on the Mart is cool, but I was just down there last night and it was dark... What days and hours is it supposed to be operating?

We’re #3: Has the DC-Baltimore region’s population surpassed Chicago’s?
Greater Greater Washington
DEMOGRAPHICS By Payton Chung (Editorial Board) October 4, 20187

I left DC for Chicago and I’d still rather be here even if the DC area is attracting more people. Cost of living is better here (my 2 bed/2 bath top floor condo here cost less than a crappy studio in DC or a boring suburb), I appreciate the setting here along Lake Michigan (I live 2 blocks from Marine Drive/Lincoln Park/Lakefront) as opposed to the Potomac, and the city and it’s skyscrapers feels much larger & vastly more bustling than downtown DC ever will. I enjoyed my 7 years in DC, but my quality of life is much better here than there.

^ Well, it's easy to add population by simply adding nearby towns and cities and saying "they are a part of our region now", which is essentially what DC and SF are doing.

Chicago doesn't have any new significant towns to add, unless at some point in the future the Milwaukee region is added as a part of Chicagoland. But that isn't going to happen any time soon.

So don't worry about it. Chicago is still the second city for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with population. And there are other "second cities" in the US. This debate will go on forever, the only thing that's not debatable is what America's "first city" is.

the CSA is a regional measure.

an interesting and relevant metric for sure, but not the end-all be-all.

the urban area measure is a more accurate way to gauge the size of individual cities (without regard to municipal boundaries) because it looks at the finer-grain census tract level, instead of just mashing entire counties together as the MSA and CSA definitions do.

in terms of urban areas, chicago is still solidly in 3rd place, with a roughly 3 million person lead over 4th place miami (8.6M vs. 5.5M as of 2010).

list of US urban areas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...es_urban_areas

They do a terrible job of publishing an actual schedule. I have seen reports of either four or five nights a week for ten months out of the year, with it starting "at dusk," which is really annoyingly vague. I think Wednesday through Sunday is the schedule, "at dusk"and running for two hours.

Edit: they finally added days to their website. Still listed as "at dusk" ...
https://www.artonthemart.com

And I think they only run it for two hours, so sunset today is 6:27, so if they start shortly after 6:30, it would only last until 8:30ish.

Aren't the Chicago and Milwaukee CSA's contiguous? If you give us those extra 2 million people, we'll be back in front.

Milwaukee might not count now, but I can see that changing over the next couple of decades with massive job growth in the 94 corridor. With companies like Foxconn setting up there it might not be long until the metros become more economically linked. Though the key to that would be HSR for a 45 min trip between downtown MKE and Union Station. Any such train would draw massive ridership as I imagine a ton of people working in the Loop may opt to live in downtown Milwaukee where you can get a way higher quality of life for less money.

Chicago's CSA will expand geographically at some point.

I could see Rockford coming into Chicago CSA. tons of cross regional employment & commuting.

More curious about the potential of Berrien County, MI which includes Benton Harbor and New Buffalo. The western Michigan shore is dominated by Chicagoans during the summer months, New Buffalo condo ownership by Illinoisan's has to be 40%. New Buffalo & Niles have 4 outbound and 3 inbound daily Amtrak trains, Benton Harbor has another 2. Berrian County abuts LaPorte County which is in Chicago CSA. There is a casino on both sides of the state line. Four Winds in New Buffalo and Blue Chip in Michigan City. Must be alot of cross employment and dollars spent. Both casinos market heavily on Chicago media and no doubt get a high percentage of overnight guest from Chicagoland.

Berrien County is part of Niles/Benton Harbor MSA which is part of South Bend CSA.

That is the real potential merger. South Bend has 7 daily roundtrips on the South Shore commuter and plans more with double track expansion under way. Amtrak makes 2 inbound 2 outbound stops in South Bend and Elkhart. South Bend Airport has more arrivals/departures to Chicago than any other city - 8 total, next is Atlanta with 6. Chicago's Notre Dame Alumni Club claims more than 20,000 members, 2nd largest alumni base and Chicagoland sent the 2nd largest 2018 freshman entering class-after NY. Notre Dame offers and Executive MBA in DT Chicago. ST Joe County also abuts LaPort County(Chicago CSA)so other cross regional economic activity should be high.

This is more observational than statistical. I would be interested in a county level look at the economic dependencies of Berrien county and South Bend.

WGN already includes Benton Harbor on their weather map, that's all the evidence I need (Note: they also show Rockford).

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

Chicago's MSA and CSA include Kenosha Co. Racine could and should be added in the CSA rather soon IMO. Esp when the gigantic Foxconn plant is up and running. There will be a lot of employees from Illinois trust me. That said there are way more people that commute to Illinois than the other way. The site is on every southern end of Racine County bordering Kenosha co. One day I do believe Milwaukee can be added to the CSA at some point. It will likely need more trains to do it. Metra is one way, just take it all the way to downtown Milwaukee and a stop at Mitchel Airport and a stop in Racine before the Kenosha stop. But as long as Wisconsin has a republican governor don't expect that plan to happen any time soon.

Here is the map of the current MSA. Racine is pretty close, closer than some Indiana ones.

http://midwest.chicagofedblogs.org/c..._map-thumb.PNG

Kenosha is a pretty narrow county. the City of Racine is 18 miles to the Illinois boarder. The Foxconn plant literally boarders Kenosha county.

https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.town...3023.image.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...-9PmHk6QmY10LA


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racine_County,_Wisconsin

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...County.svg.png

Interestingly the Milwaukee MSA does not include Racine county. But its CSA does.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwau...ropolitan_area

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...litan_Area.png

The Milwaukee CSA is greater than two million people. 2,048,007. 2014 est. Its more populous now.

More official proof of the Berrien County and South Bend ties to Chicago.
NFL Team fan base: Bears are fan favorite in Berrien & Niles MI as well as St Joe IN. 2014 stillshows Rams in STL, but their move to LA will only increase Bears pawprint in So Ill. and would have no effect in NWI, SWM.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/s...-shows-_1.jpeg

MLB Team fan base: Cubs clearly dominate northern half of Indiana AND Berrien County MI.
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/s...l%201%20BB.jpg

And Notre Dame is Chicagolands favorite NCAA Football team
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/s...nois/NCAA.jpeg

I guess I don’t really know how much I care about this whole CSA thing. On some level, I don’t like the idea of not being a part of the top three. But it doesn’t really bother me as much as I thought. I sort of feel like it’s an antiquated way of looking at the country. When I was growing up in the 1980’s, there were several big cities. But it felt like NY, LA, and Chicago were clearly dominate. Other cities just didn’t really seem to have the same level of gravitas.

I think the country is different now. There are several “major” US cities and metro areas. And I wouldn’t say one having a larger population makes it necessarily climb to a higher degree of civic pedigree. But maybe that’s just my own perception. And I’m not saying that to lessen the blow or anything. It’s an inevitability that we’re not going to be the top 3 for much longer in CSA, MSA, and city population. Each of those will fall in my personal lifetime.

But that being said, it’s hard to argue that Chicago isn’t evolving into a much better city (crime in bad neighborhoods aside) than the one I grew up in. We’re evolving into a really cool, more highly educated, more urban version of ourselves. And if anything, our pull and significance will continue to increase. Next Detroit, we are not.

So quit worrying about which stupid little towns we can drag into our CSA. If you still want bragging rights, MSA is probably more important anyway. That’s what a google search directs you to. But remember. That too will someday be overtaken. So be more concerned with where our city is heading. We have some headwinds to be sure, but it’s undeniable that Chicago is heading in the right direction, and will remain one of the most important cities in the US until all of us exit god’s green earth.

^ To be sure, Im am just having fun with the maps. I find it interesting to see fan bases and other economic influences. SSP Chicago thread in general is hyper focused on center city with a bullseye. I get it- but it is fun to look at the ripple of the City's influence.

I don't think it's about bragging rights, it's a very real discussion about how the built environment is changing. When I was a kid I-94 was 2 lanes each way between Chicago and Milwaukee. Now it's an outright monster superhighway drag strip (and getting moreso now that they are eliminating the last 3 lane sections). When I started going to school in Chicago, that entire stretch was farm fields, 12 years later is almost entirely industrial warehouses including some of the largest around. It's an extremely interesting thing to watch happen in real time over the years. Two large cities are slowly merging and it's only a matter of time before it's non-stop urbanized area from Ozaukee County to Michigan.

I actually know people who own much of the remaining farm land around the Foxconn and Amazon plants (literally picked up like 250 acres dirt cheap in the recession as part of a foreclosed portfolio that included some juicy properties in Chicago, talk about lucky) and they plan medium density mixed use redevelopment on every last acre once the plant opens. It hasn't settled in for most people yet that once you inject tens of thousands more workers into that corridor it's basically going to be denser than Chicago's Northern suburbs and it's going to happen almost overnight.

I had a friend from NYC refer to the West Loop as a "less douchey Meatpacking District". To Chicagoans, West Loop is considered probably the second douchey-est place behind Wrigleyville.

The similarities to Chelsea might be driving some of that investment.

I have some skepticism about the true employment size and impact of Foxconn when all is said and done. I fell similarly about Amazon's "50,000 jobs" claim.

Absolutely, and that's how I describe West Loop to people here. It's like meatpacking was before is just as it was becoming douchey. Nyc investors definitely see this..I think I read an interview with an investor who said it. In 5 to 10 years it'll be full on River North. It'll be interesting after that to see what the next big area will be.

Also, maybe 3rd douchiest. River North is worse :) But in 5 years time....they'll be the same.