[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Roosevelt Road attracts Black/brown shoppers from the South and West Sides (especially West) much more so than North/Clybourn, and prevents their sales tax dollars from being lost to the suburbs.

There is a long tradition of Black shoppers visiting Roosevelt Road, dating back to the days when it was largely a Jewish-owned shopping district around Maxwell St and people arrived by streetcar. This is despite the fact that the Roosevelt district is quite far from, say, North Lawndale or Auburn-Gresham.

Roosevelt is ALSO perfectly positioned to capture wealthier shoppers from gentrified areas like South Loop, West Loop, and Little Italy/Tri-Taylor, so national retailers are very comfortable opening there because the trade area demographics are strong. It's really a way for the city to address the retail needs of two very different communities at once. Letting in residential or mixed-use would complicate the continued development of the area as a regional shopping district... right now there are zero residents nearby to complain about semi truck deliveries or increased traffic.

I agree that there's a benefit to having a retail district around Roosevelt/Canal. I'm thinking more of the region North of Taylor. If you've ever taken a Megabus picking up on Polk, it really feels like a weirdly underutilized area.