CHICAGO | General Developments

[harryc]

May 10

[harryc]

May 10

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by ChiPlanner

CEDARst Plans Development Near Lawrence & Winthrop





Someone noted seeing soil testing here a few weeks back- looks like Cedar Street is going all-in in Uptown. Pretty ugly if you ask me, but decent density right by Lawrence Red Line.

https://www.uptownupdate.com/2019/05...-lawrence.html

I looked at the floor plans and there’s too much parking. It’s right next to a train station

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

OMA wins that design competition for the new building at UIC:

https://archpaper.com/2019/05/univer...lery-0-slide-0

That's pretty neat. A lot of nice low-rises and mid-rises for the city happening. Quite the activity.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Rizzo

I looked at the floor plans and there’s too much parking. It’s right next to a train station

There are currently 60 or so spaces in the existing parking lot. Sure, it'd be great to have zero spaces, but I'll take a reduction of nearly 50% over existing spaces. At least some of the new spaces will no doubt be for the commercial units.

Personally, I'm much more disappointed to see them not maximizing the number of residential units next to a train station.

Originally Posted by ardecila

For the caliber of entertainment they're looking at for the Uptown, they may decide they need to build a parking structure on that lot next to the Red Line, once the CTA finishes rebuilding the station. The Millennials going to see shows at the Aragon and the Riv may be willing to Uber or take CTA, but the Boomers going to classic-rock and comedy acts at the Uptown will want to drive.

My father turns 74 this year and I was just talking to him within the past week about driving versus taking transit. Despite the fact that most of his life he's lived in semi-rural areas where transit isn't even an option, he spent about a decade long-distance commuting from Boise to the Bay Area. And, of course, he's visited me here in Chicago where I don't even own a car, and my youngest brother in Seattle, and my middle brother and I have both travelled in Europe with him, mostly using transit when there in London, Paris, Oslo, Stockholm, and other European cities.

He said he much prefers transit to driving. In fact, he said that until he's physically unable to do the walking associated with transit, he will strongly prefer to take transit (even over Uber/Lyft/taxis) to events whenever available as an option because then he doesn't have to fight traffic or pay through the nose to be driven (and, no, he's not low-income in his retirement), plus he likes feeling part of the city when using transit and being able to see things along the way.

Like my brothers and I, my dad isn't the stereotypical American in many ways, but he's still a "car guy," and in many ways embedded into American car culture yet he still not only is okay taking transit but prefers it. So, I think you may underestimate the ability and willingness of Boomers to take transit when properly motivated and/or it's the best option. Plus, Uber/Lyft/taxis will always still be available and more convenient than self-driving in many ways anyway.

[ardecila]

IMO Uptown is just an inconvenient place for the kind of shows that the promoters seem to want. Classic rock acts and big-name comedians will pull from a wide region and, unlike the acts playing the Aragon or Riv, that region is not disproportionately weighted to Chicago’s North Side.

Basically you have the same audience, regional draw and transportation challenges as Wrigley Field, but without any of the gameday traditions that get fans to make the trip.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by emathias

There are currently 60 or so spaces in the existing parking lot. Sure, it'd be great to have zero spaces, but I'll take a reduction of nearly 50% over existing spaces. At least some of the new spaces will no doubt be for the commercial units.

Personally, I'm much more disappointed to see them not maximizing the number of residential units next to a train station.



My father turns 74 this year and I was just talking to him within the past week about driving versus taking transit. Despite the fact that most of his life he's lived in semi-rural areas where transit isn't even an option, he spent about a decade long-distance commuting from Boise to the Bay Area. And, of course, he's visited me here in Chicago where I don't even own a car, and my youngest brother in Seattle, and my middle brother and I have both travelled in Europe with him, mostly using transit when there in London, Paris, Oslo, Stockholm, and other European cities.

He said he much prefers transit to driving. In fact, he said that until he's physically unable to do the walking associated with transit, he will strongly prefer to take transit (even over Uber/Lyft/taxis) to events whenever available as an option because then he doesn't have to fight traffic or pay through the nose to be driven (and, no, he's not low-income in his retirement), plus he likes feeling part of the city when using transit and being able to see things along the way.

Like my brothers and I, my dad isn't the stereotypical American in many ways, but he's still a "car guy," and in many ways embedded into American car culture yet he still not only is okay taking transit but prefers it. So, I think you may underestimate the ability and willingness of Boomers to take transit when properly motivated and/or it's the best option. Plus, Uber/Lyft/taxis will always still be available and more convenient than self-driving in many ways anyway.

That's interesting and you are probably right about underestimating. My dad grew up in LA in the 50s through early 70s (left after college) which is very car oriented, but he's basically the same way. IMO it comes down to the hassle of everything associated with the journey for some. He for example has no problem driving, but he also hates sitting in traffic and having to actively look for parking for more than just a few minutes. As someone who lived in a more stereotypical post war suburban place before with a car with minimal public transit options, I never didn't like driving unless (a) finding parking sucked or (b) there was a lot of traffic and I'd just be sitting in it forever. I actually like the act of driving a car when it's not too stressful, but driving yourself in a crowded city sucks and especially when you have to keep driving around numerous blocks looking for something like street parking, and dealing with zone permitting and all that. With that being said, I haven't had a car in over a decade and the only times I rent one is when visiting car centric cities when there's not many other options. Now the weird thing with me personally is that ever since moving to NYC, I've taken way more Uber/lyft than I did in Chicago LOL

But I'm curious if these hassles of driving would deter many people in certain situations. I know from other kind of car centric cities that people will prefer to take public transit if the option is available to them going to an event and *that* isn't too much of a hassle. A lot easier to just get on and off a train nearby than sit in traffic and worry about parking. Hell, people do that here from the suburbs. Many will take Metra into the city for some weekend type of event instead of just driving in - I'm guessing to avoid all the hassles, but who knows.

[spyguy]

1230 W Washington



More of Fulton East, aka 215 N Peoria

[RedCorsair87]

Nice infill! This neighborhood never ceases to amaze me.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

^ Not bad, POAH is a good developer. Unlike Bickerdike, Ramirez Rosa's buddies, that he's giving a $3.5M lot of land to for $0 plus multiple millions in other subsidy not even including the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit.

I don't have a problem with Bickerdike, nor the structure of the Logan Square deal. I'd rather have the city look for opportunities like this to pursue 100% affordable housing developments, than burden for-profit developers with 15% or 20% affordable mandates and therefore end up with a lot fewer new housing units overall as projects fail to pencil out.

Also, LIHTC is great but is wildly inadequate for the scope of the problem... I'd like to see the program doubled or tripled in size. Section 8 should be expanded to an entitlement program available to all who qualify, instead of having a fixed number of vouchers available...

[BonoboZill4]

At least I can say I walked past this thing and hardly noticed it...



ground looked torn up across the street, plus it's fenced in, anyone know if there's been recent movement on this puppy?

[gebs]

Originally Posted by BonoboZill4

ground looked torn up across the street, plus it's fenced in, anyone know if there's been recent movement on this puppy?

None. The work you see is for improved bike paths, but to my knowledge, nothing has happened on this site. There's a pizza place that supposedly is opening in February 2020 but that's near impossible given the condition of the site today.

[Mr Downtown]

Some equipment appeared for a day or two a couple of months back, and piled up some broken concrete slabs on the Roots Pizza site. I thought that might have been to support a crawler crane—but they usually use brickbats for that. At any rate, nothing further occurred. About six weeks ago, visiting a reprographics place I use, I spotted a roll of plans for the building. No other info, though.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I don't have a problem with Bickerdike, nor the structure of the Logan Square deal. I'd rather have the city look for opportunities like this to pursue 100% affordable housing developments, than burden for-profit developers with 15% or 20% affordable mandates and therefore end up with a lot fewer new housing units overall as projects fail to pencil out.

Agree

[Handro]

Originally Posted by emathias

There are currently 60 or so spaces in the existing parking lot. Sure, it'd be great to have zero spaces, but I'll take a reduction of nearly 50% over existing spaces. At least some of the new spaces will no doubt be for the commercial units.

Personally, I'm much more disappointed to see them not maximizing the number of residential units next to a train station.



My father turns 74 this year and I was just talking to him within the past week about driving versus taking transit. Despite the fact that most of his life he's lived in semi-rural areas where transit isn't even an option, he spent about a decade long-distance commuting from Boise to the Bay Area. And, of course, he's visited me here in Chicago where I don't even own a car, and my youngest brother in Seattle, and my middle brother and I have both travelled in Europe with him, mostly using transit when there in London, Paris, Oslo, Stockholm, and other European cities.

He said he much prefers transit to driving. In fact, he said that until he's physically unable to do the walking associated with transit, he will strongly prefer to take transit (even over Uber/Lyft/taxis) to events whenever available as an option because then he doesn't have to fight traffic or pay through the nose to be driven (and, no, he's not low-income in his retirement), plus he likes feeling part of the city when using transit and being able to see things along the way.

Like my brothers and I, my dad isn't the stereotypical American in many ways, but he's still a "car guy," and in many ways embedded into American car culture yet he still not only is okay taking transit but prefers it. So, I think you may underestimate the ability and willingness of Boomers to take transit when properly motivated and/or it's the best option. Plus, Uber/Lyft/taxis will always still be available and more convenient than self-driving in many ways anyway.

Agreed, my parents are both pretty typical boomers and suburban at that and they much prefer transit/uber when they come downtown. Part of that is that the idea of parking in the city is annoying to them since it can be so expensive and limited near the types of places they go.

[intrepidDesign]

Oh man, I love this one. That exact building, 3rd floor, is where I got my career in Chicago started. I've always loved the outside and it's a minor tragedy that it's currently a self storage. The details on this building are really nice, so I'm glad to see someone isn't just opting to tear it down like they did to that gem across the street.

[Jim in Chicago]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Some equipment appeared for a day or two a couple of months back, and piled up some broken concrete slabs on the Roots Pizza site. I thought that might have been to support a crawler crane—but they usually use brickbats for that. At any rate, nothing further occurred. About six weeks ago, visiting a reprographics place I use, I spotted a roll of plans for the building. No other info, though.

I think that should probably to "rumored" Roots Pizza site. In 2018 they announced that they're "beginning construction" on a site. Nothing happening on THAT corner. There was an amusing incident with graffiti recently (seen on some of the pics) blue paint splashed all over the side of the building to the North. The city sent out there crew with spray bottles which reached maybe 1/3 of it - they left and the rest is still there.

To the building across the street. I like it - nice infill (especially if the rumor that the space can't support many stories is true. This seems odd, since there are much taller buildings right next door. There will be commercial use on the group floor, the brickwork is well done and blends in to the hood. it's OK for what it is.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Yes and no - with the Uptown opening, there's gonna be even more parking demand in addition to the Aragon and the Riv.

For the caliber of entertainment they're looking at for the Uptown, they may decide they need to build a parking structure on that lot next to the Red Line, once the CTA finishes rebuilding the station. The Millennials going to see shows at the Aragon and the Riv may be willing to Uber or take CTA, but the Boomers going to classic-rock and comedy acts at the Uptown will want to drive.

by the time this reno is actually wrapped up boomers arent going to be a concert going demographic.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

by the time this reno is actually wrapped up boomers arent going to be a concert going demographic.

Are you kidding me?

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are looking great these days! Keith Richards even said that he's going to cut down on his drinking.

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

by the time this reno is actually wrapped up boomers arent going to be a concert going demographic.

cheers to that