Yeah, it may do that. It would be very funny but great if CPS could pick up the GEMS building (K-8 and/or HS buildings) on a fire sale. I hope they're kicking the tires on it as the Loop has no public neighborhood school and only charters or private schools.

South Loop and Ogden are just too far for any families in the Loop proper, which is part of the reason why there aren't many such families in the first place. Everyone knows there's a problem but it's politically too hard to spend money on well-off downtown families when the South and West Sides are struggling... but a vacant school building up for sale could force the issue.

It may be time to bury this talking point. The drop in violence has accelerated as the weather has warmed up. Even the violence cheerleaders at heyjackass have started acknowledging the drop.

The year-to-date murder count is down 32%, and July 2025 was down 39% from July 2024. It was the least violent July in at least 10 years.

That's good news. . . the "sun's out, guns out" trope would be a fine thing to bury. . . I've noticed a lot less general riff-raff around as well - which I attribute to drug dealing and all the cottage industries that revolve around it (panhandling). . . so perhaps there's a more concerted effort to crack down on that type of behavior. . . I dunno. . . I also don't spend a whole lot of time in areas that are hard hit with gun violence such as the south and west sides, so take my anecdotal observation for what it is. . .

Anyone know what's being proposed at 4404-4414 S. Greenwood Avenue? There is a map amendment notice posted on the property. Thanks

9 four-story SFHs....at least they can be converted into 4-flats in the future

https://i.imgur.com/vTmW06d.png

Thank you!

Does anyone know what’s going in the space where the Under Armour store used to be? It looks like something is happening with the scaffolding going up.

Uniqlo

Oh cool. Should be a popular spot for shopping when it’s open. Would’ve liked to see a Nintendo store/pokemon/super Mario store open up there instead.

USNWR 2026 university rankings came out.

As always, take these with a large grain of salt. Individual ordering isn't as relevant here as the overall gist.

Here's how Chicago's major universities stack up against the best of the Midwest's "National Universities".


#6. University of Chicago - chicago
#7. Northwestern University - evanston
#20. University of Michigan - ann arbor
#20. University of Notre Dame - south bend
#20. Washington University - st. louis

#36. University of Illinois - champaign
#36. University of Wisconsin - madison
#41. Ohio State University - columbus
#46. Purdue University - west lafayette
#51. Case Western Reserve University - cleveland

#59. University of Minnesota - minneapolis
#64. Michigan State University - east lansing
#73. Indiana University - bloomington
#84. University of Illinois Chicago - chicago
#88. Marquette University - milwaukee

#102. University of Iowa - iowa city
#102. St. Louis University - st. louis
#102. University of Missouri - columbia
#117. Creighton University - omaha
#117. Illinois Institute of Technology - chicago

#117. Iowa State University - ames
#132. Loyola University Chicago - chicago
#143. University of Dayton - dayton
#143. University of Kansas - lawrence
#143. Miami University - oxford

#158. University of Cincinnati - cincinnati
#158. Kansas State University - manhattan
#158. Michigan Technological University - houghton
#158. University of Nebraska - lincoln
#158. University of St. Thomas - st. paul

#169. Depaul University - chicago
#179. Wayne State University - detroit
#183. University of Detroit - detroit
#183. Drake University - des moines
#183. Bradley University - peoria

#192. Indiana University Indianapolis - indianapolis
#192. Missouri University of Science and Technology - rolla
#198. Ohio University - athens
#198. Valparaiso University - valparaiso
#208. Xavier University - cincinnati

Link?

Edit: nevermind, I think I found it: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges...tDirection=asc

Here you go:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges...tDirection=asc

The website now forces you to create an account before you can see all of the data :(

Obviously the most attention goes to where UChicago and Northwestern stand, but I'd be curious to see UIC's rankings over the years.

IIRC, when I went there it was around 150 or even 200 on this list. It's climbed significantly in the last decade or so, which is great as it provides a strong value for the city relative to its private peers.

^ Google says it ranked #149 10 years ago in 2015, so yeah, UIC has seen a meaningful rise in its academic cred on this ranking over the past decade. I mean, it's now ranked in the same general tier as state flagship universities like IndianaU, UIowa, and UMissouri. Who would've foreseen that back in the '50s when circle was first being planned?

What's more, UIC ranked #9 nationally on social mobility, which tracks the acceptance and graduation rates of pell grant students. Over the decades, It's been one hell of a factory for churning out middle class and up adults from the sons and daughters of the working/lower classes. It has become one hell of a valuable asset for Chicago. Easily one of the best legacy outcomes out of all of King Richard I's accomplishments. His vision to build a large prestigious public university in Chicago totally worked!

And with a total student body of 33,500 students, UIC is a fair bit larger than either NU (22,800) or UofC (19,300). Only the state flagship UofI down in Champaign (59,200) has more students in Illinois.

As an alumnus, it’s very exciting and satisfying seeing UIC grow/expand, not just in terms of number of students, but also in terms of stature. The recent (and very successful) U of I System endowment fundraising effort netted about $800 million for this campus alone, which is huge, and will allow the school to keep growing for years to come. It’s a phenomenal value as a state university, as well as a vital part of Chicago’s educational ecosystem.

Here are the total student populations of Chicago's 6 major research universities:

UIC: 33,500
NU: 22,800
DePaul: 21,300
UChicago: 19,300
Loyola: 17,400
Illinois Tech: 7,000

Total: 121,300


To put that number into perspective, Boston's 8 major research universities combine for a total of 158,600 students. That gap is smaller than I (and I assume most others) would have guessed. Granted, most of Boston's schools do rank a fair bit higher, other than NU and UChicago.