An estimate from a Northwestern professor suggests if 20% of the city's office stock was converted to residential, it could net 60,000 units. I assume most of which will likely be in the Loop and Streeterville: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/opin...rdable-housing

I hope the Loop retains as much office space as possible. The city's rail infrastructure is literally built to move the city's population in and out of the Loop. CTA and Metra work best with the Loop remaining a big employment center.

Streeterville is not nearly as easy to get to, especially from the suburbs. I would wager a larger percentage of workers drive to their offices there vs. the Loop. It would probably be better from a city planning standpoint to have older offices there converted to residential than east Loop office buildings, for instance.

You're not wrong, but obsolete historic office buildings don't have many good choices. And the east loop is not particularly easy to get to from the suburbs except from the South and Indiana.

Plus these historic office buildings have botched commercial renovations, and awful drop ceilings with bulkheads covering up a third of the windows. Modernizing them to current office tastes with high ceilings and open floorplans requires an insane amount of mechanical alterations. Some buildings have beautiful original inter-communicating stairs of stone and marble just walled off because some small firm that moved in didn’t need it or was a code issue. A conversion to hotel or residential is the only way these buildings will be restored to their original grandeur

I remember when it was thought the London guarantee building couldn’t be renovated into a hotel. It lacked continuous exit stairs and was reliant on exterior fire escapes. The floorplans were non-conducive to anything but office. Well they made it happen and now it’s probably one of the best hotels to stay at in downtown Chicago.

I keep seeing more and more license plates on the South Side from Florida and Georgia. Either we're all running into the exact same person (galleryfox is that you?), or more people from down south are moving to the city

Haha, my car is collecting cobwebs in the garage, so not me.

But I definitely think Chicagoans underestimate the potential for migration from the Southern states, especially as their housing markets have become much more expensive compared to wages.

It's probably people who moved south coming back to visit family in the summer? Agreed about the potential for migration from the south, though.

It's definitely a good theory, but given the distance to drive and more importantly the cost of gas, I would think more people would lean towards flying.

LOL. Well on the north side I've seen at times like 5 of them go thru a few stop lights from FL alone. It's a noticeable amount- people are definitely moving here of late from all over the place. Whether they moved from Chicago to those areas and now back is another story. No idea.

Enjoy auto racing for the next few years.

https://theathletic.com/news/chicago.../5vZTrBugWvxE/

I'm not a NASCAR fan, but I'm kinda excited to see how this will unfold.

While I hate the event draws attention to the fact our streets are wide enough for racing, I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of interested in watching this event.

On the positive side, having these races would be a nice economic boost, akin to having a large convention in town several consecutive years.

Looks like it might happen...

https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/07...e-report-says/

Wow, today they officially announced it. Marothisu, you sir are legit!:tup:

LOL this was an easy permit to track down. Just saw it on ig from one user..who I assume is associated with them.

A bit fun, but silly news

Chicago is officially the 2nd best city in the world

https://www.timeout.com/chicago/news...e-world-071222

I feel like it's weird to rank these things. I don't have a problem with top 50 or top 100 lists but just leave it at that and list cities without a ranking.

Yea that makes way more sense and would be much more realistic.

NASCAR and an IMSA race.


https://sportscar365.com/imsa/imsa-t...OdVddaYvL9Kdos

I was really hoping the route would be longer and go up/down LSD, but I also don't watch NASCAR, so I really have no clue how long these routes realistically are. Still happy to see this though.