Streets where buildings must be up against the sidewalk, and any parking must be in the rear.

And Sam, I admit that it can create a problem of not knowing where to put the entrance or having to move the entrance from the back to the front if the market shifts from drivers to walkers. But moving an entrance seems like an easier problem than moving the whole building.

40 unit affordable housing on a vacant lot at 17th and Damen in PIlsen was issued a building permit yesterday

Refresher: http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2...17th-damen.php

Parking-in-front is already prohibited in most of the city. The result, for strip malls built since 2004, has been that the merchants lock the sidewalk doors and post this sign: enter from parking lot.

Show me proof of this.

Also, if this is true why is a strip mall currently being built on N Broadway in Edgewater? With front parking, no less..

Then how is Chody building a new strip mall at Foster/Broadway?

EDIT: got whooshed by TUP...

I'm very happy to see this start to get moving.

As an owner in Pilsen, I'd rather see vacant lots disappear and replaced with active uses. And while I'm not a fan of Government-owned and operated subsidized housing, I have no problem with it if it is done by non for profits like this one.

Now if only those huge lots on the north side of 18th (just a few blocks west of Halsted) could get developed. They are a true eyesore.

You're thinking of Michigan Ave in Dearborne Mi. very surreal, haven't seen that done in this great city.

Keller Center (UoC Harris School)
 

Formerly the New Graduate Residence Hall, designed by Edward Durell Stone
Current
https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6063/...db2c5182_z.jpg
University of Chicago - New Graduate Residence Hall by cerdsp, on Flickr
Future
http://i57.tinypic.com/9znf4p.jpg

If you are going to build a strip mall you better do it like this one at Armitage and California:

http://goo.gl/maps/Uko3i

I pass by this building all the time and think it actually benefits pedestrians in some ways. People are always cutting through the lot like it's a street which benefits the tenants as well by increasing their exposure to pedestrian traffic. The I beams even continue from the corner holding bank branch to the main retail buildings over the entrances to the lot which at least creates the illusion of a full streetwall.

^ Lipstick on a pig.

No, that strip mall is truly a cut above. The PNC Bank holds the corner nicely and the steel beams and garden walls produce some of the psychological effects of a building along the street. That's a busy bus transfer corner too, so there's always pedestrian activity. The 7-11 in the strip mall, most of the traffic is easily walk-ins.

There's also a gate to the alley in the back corner, presumably for stores to take out their trash, but neighborhood residents use it as a shortcut to the bus stops.

Whether by accident or design, this is one of the better and more urban-friendly strip malls in the city. I would still trade it for a nice midrise with a retail base but it's nice for what it is.

it's certainly an improvement....still an awful under-use of the land...but these are property rights....

speaking of holding corners, i keep noticing intersections that are really, really degraded by either BP or Shell....seems they came through and really snapped up prime corners all around town at some point....while convenient at times, seems a bit much for a city with such great transit.

anybody know of a gas station that has closed in the last few years and been re-developed?

New Chinatown Library
 

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5606/...41919855_c.jpg
New Chinatown Chicago Public Library Branch Under Construction by Zol87, on Flickr

A noteworthy one that immediately comes to mind is that condo project on North Ave in Wicker Park

British School finally gets some class. Er, glass.

http://i.imgur.com/LONlYOel.jpg

Here's the huge staircase the people get to climb to get to their public park:

http://i.imgur.com/MrbEPQbl.jpg

Oof, that staircase... the Spanish Steps it is not.

-1611 Hermitage as TUP mentioned; 4 story 17 unit condo building w/ retail. Almost finished.

-Apple Store at North/Clyborn

-30 West Erie (was already closed for a while, now a 13 story condo tower)

-LaSalle/Grand-NW corner; closed for a long time (about 15 years), waiting redevelopment.

-Harlem/57th, not torn down, but renovated into a Potbelly's.


I'm pretty sure there is another example out there, but I can't think of it.

^ thank you...very glad to see this is happening, bit by bit.

hold the corner baby!!

1550 N Bosworth
 

Just stumbled across these renderings for Sedgwick Properties new 30 unit building at 1550 N Bosworth.

https://www.facebook.com/pd987/timel...=page_internal

^ I had no idea there was something in the works for that lot. It will be really nice to see that lot developed. Sort of a "gateway" from the east to Wicker Park, certainly better than a weedy lot.