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Originally Posted by left of center
Hopefully that head tax in Seattle causes Amazon to consider the benefits of affording housing as a more important factor in their search (given they are actually searching, and they don't already have a location in mind). Chicago, with dozens of square miles of abandoned and underutilized neighborhoods, really would not have the same type of housing crunch that Seattle is experiencing with Amazon. Sure, prices will go up, but there will always be fringe neighborhoods getting redeveloped that will have cheap land and affordable rents.
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You'd likely see prices go up downtown and in the traditional popular neighborhoods, and then those priced out would likely push into Douglas Park and Little Village and Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Brighton Park, and Gage Park faster than otherwise they might because those areas have existing housing that's relatively cheap and L access. Along those lines, Mayfair and Old Irving would also see faster price pressure.
If that did happen, hopefully there'd be pressure to complete the Orange Line to Ford City to serve West Lawn, and maybe renewed interest in Mid City Line along Cicero Ave. I do think Downtown needs additional rail, probably sooner than later, but if the City could figure out finances, each of those would have merit in a world where downtown increased professional jobs by 10-20% in a decade.