Harper Court office tower growing
http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/1...2100146411.jpg
Harper Court/ Facebook

New Harper Court restaurants:
Ja' Grill Restaurant & Lounge (from Lincoln Park)
Flavor restaurant (Flossmoor)
Park Tavern (Rosemont)

Other:
Not so exciting but Papa John's is opening in the Dorchester Commons strip mall (1418 E 53rd)

A restaurant called South Side Shrimp plans to open this month in the restored Del Prado Apartments at 53rd and South Hyde Park. Speaking of which, according to the Herald, nearly all of the apartments have been leased.
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/2...e7b0e59673.jpg

More subsidies for Harper Court. The Trib has the story.

Did no one else notice the facade panel?

Harper Court yesterday:
http://image.shotsharing.com/photo/5...r,-Chicago.jpg

Harper Court two hours ago:

http://image.shotsharing.com/photo/6...r,-Chicago.jpg http://picture.shotsharing.com/photo...r,-Chicago.jpg

And Earl Shapiro Hall on June 15:
http://image.shotsharing.com/photo/1...l,-Chicago.jpg

Guess they are on a 5 day pour cycle? If so we should see this top out around the end of July.

^Great shots, Dan. I wonder what the University has planned for the Facilities Services building next door.

One more from yesterday:
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/9...8295469132.jpg
Harper Court/ Facebook

Demolition work on the old Borders building/ Akira
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/7032/93797460.jpg
53rd Street Blog

I've previously heard of plans to redo the area south of 53rd Street including:

• Turning the little street (pictured above) in between Borders and the Hyde Park Bank into a pedestrian alley
• Building a parking garage south of the bank with retail facing the new alley
• Building another retail building on the southern portion of Borders' parking lot

This is sooo exciting for Hyde Park! I'm late to the dance. I would like to know if the high rises will actually be built?

Which high-rise? The Harper Court one might take a while unless they switch to rentals. I'm not sure if City Hyde Park will be built in one phase or if the larger tower will come later, but read on:

http://hpherald.com/

Antheus seeks own TIF for City HP
By Sam Cholke & Lindsay Welbers

On July 9, a committee of Hyde Park residents approved supporting the redevelopment of the Village Shopping Center with property tax dollars through the creation of a new taxing district.

Hyde Park has committed most of its available tax incentives to the redevelopment of Harper Court. To avoid ending up in line behind Harper Court, the developers of the Village Center are proposing creating a new line for taxpayer support — with them at the front.

The Silliman Group is planning to replace the 1531 E. Hyde Park Blvd. shopping center with a $140 million development with a Whole Foods grocery store and 182 apartments. Silliman is hoping to partially close a $25 million hole in the project budget with local property tax revenue by establishing a new tax-increment financing district in Hyde Park.

Construction update
 

Office tower
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/143...5105382437.jpg
Harper Court/ Facebook

Retail podium
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/650...6438716639.jpg
Harper Court/ Facebook


Meanwhile, things are starting to happen with City Hyde Park. The existing tenants are already relocating and must vacate by the end of October. Antheus is planning to demolish the buildings in November, according to the Herald.

Harper Court - 9/6 - Office tower appears to have topped-out (or very close to it).

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...21728619_n.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...3557063&type=1

Whoo. Can't wait for the glass to start showing up. I love this scale of building for Hyde Park. It's the next step towards developing HP into a bonafide secondary downtown, like Evanston or Flushing or something.

Next step: useful rail service to the Loop.

New restaurant/entertainment venue planned for the Borders building: The Promontory

http://articles.redeyechicago.com/20...oint-hyde-park

The Promontory coming to Hyde Park
Owners of Empty Bottle, Longman & Eagle and Evanston's Space team up for restaurant with live music

Empty Bottle’s Bruce Finkelman and Craig Golden, of Space in Evanston, are currently prepping their newest venture, The Promontory (1539 E. 53rd St.), for an early 2013 opening.

...He did confirm that the owners are currently renovating the building and the space will offer live music events and food.

The team behind The Promontory—named after Hyde Park’s nearby Promontory Point lakefront area, which in 1933-1934 housed Chicago’s second World’s Fair—will also include Longman & Eagle chef Jared Wentworth.

Huh? The Century of Progress only went to 39th Street.

A few questions for those of you following Chicago more closely than I can from afar. My wife and I are looking to move back to Chicago and Hyde Park is a natural location for us. It's close to UC, the lake and it's not as infested with national chains like some other neighborhoods are.

Is solstice dead? And what about these new developments like the Village Center; is it on track to be built and will they include condos or will it just be apartments?

Some snapshots from Twitter user @ChrisDillon, retweeted from the @HarperCourt account.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A4yVbDyCcAAbqD9.jpg
Office tower, looking east.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A4yVJkuCIAAGHCN.jpg
Hotel

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A4yU-FICAAA62o5.jpg

Sources:
https://twitter.com/ChrisDillion/sta.../photo/1/large
https://twitter.com/ChrisDillion/sta.../photo/1/large
https://twitter.com/ChrisDillion/sta.../photo/1/large

Today's Crain's article about the TIF proposal for City Hyde Park mentions that the project might also have a T.J. Maxx and Michaels in addition to Whole Foods. Not exactly high-end but about what I was expecting and probably what Hyde Park needs. A City Target would be great, though.

Both Michaels and TJX seem to be on expansion sprees. I guess scrapbooking is more lucrative than I thought.

Solstice is on indefinite hold. City Hyde Park will be apartments, and its developer is comfortable holding them as apartments (i.e., that's what they usually do). New condo developments are very difficult to finance these days, since the Chicago condo market has been soft for several years; only in the past few months have prices started to turn around. New-ish condos in Hyde Park can be had for great prices (try a few blocks west on 53rd), and vintage? Oh, wow. Huge spaces in beautiful buildings for a song. I'd ask your realtor to take you through some of those co-ops in Indian Village/Chicago Beach just for a peek at how the 1% lived during the Gilded Age.

More eateries on 53rd
 

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/20...-hyde-park.php

Matthias Merges Opening Two Restaurants in Hyde Park, Including a Scaled-Down Yusho, in 2013
Friday, October 12, 2012, by Ari Bendersky

Last month word came that the team behind Longman & Eagle would open the Promontory in Hyde Park. Now the South Side restaurant expansion continues with news that former Charlie Trotter's chef de cuisine and owner of celebrated Logan Square spot Yusho Matthias Merges will open not one, but two restaurants in Hyde Park in 2013, including a scaled-down version of Yusho...


1466 E. 53rd - new "European based" concept
1301 E. 53rd - scaled down version of Yusho

Ulta Beauty confirmed for Harper Court
 

http://www.harpercourtchicago.com/node/33

ULTA Beauty to Join Harper Court

ULTA Beauty, the largest beauty retailer of its kind in the United States, will open in Harper Court in 2013. Harper Court Partners, LLC, a joint venture between Vermilion Development and JFJ Development Company, recently executed the lease with ULTA Beauty for 8,890 square feet on the project’s first floor.