CHICAGO | General Developments - v2.0

[mh777]

Haven't seen this posted here. Very positive news for River North. Would love to see them add a beer garden where the parking lot currently sits. One can dream...

[ardecila]

You're missing a link, but I assume you're referring to the news about the old Hard Rock Cafe... I agree an entertainment destination makes sense there, but I would hate to keep the same suburban-style building. They're leaving a ton of money on the table if they don't build housing or hotel above.

Originally Posted by ChicagoLVR

I love to see it. The more people downtown, the more amenities people will demand. I used to live on Adams/Wabash above the McDonalds that closed at that intersection which was a O-to-R conversion. I. Couldnt. Stand. How "far" an actual grocery store was from me.

We had Target nearby which could serve some of our needs but the Mariano's in Lakeshore East just wasn't feasible for us to go to as our regular grocery store. so we found ourselves using our car more often than we wanted to, to go to grocery stores outside of downtown.

So I hope the Loop can continue to grow to support more grocery stores specifically.

The conversions at 135 S LaSalle and 105 W Adams have both included space for grocery stores. Unclear if they have any solid interest from grocers to take the space, but there seems to be a renewed interest from grocery chains in inner-city Chicago; Aldi and Trader Joe's have both announced several new locations, Whole Foods is expanding in East Lakeview, etc. I think Plum Market is still looking for Chicago opportunities as well after they got screwed out of their Old Town lease.

[ChiDevelopmentGooner]

Originally Posted by mh777

Haven't seen this posted here. Very positive news for River North. Would love to see them add a beer garden where the parking lot currently sits. One can dream...

In addition to the hard rock site. The area around Clark and Ontario is so awful. The McDonalds that is a city block. Two large parking lots. A giant gas station. The former rainforest cafe. A giant Walgreens and a giant Portillo's. Oh and a massive Fogo around the corner. Such awful land use.

[Jstange059]

Originally Posted by cloudbod

When you walked by, did it give off "we have secured financing" vibes?

Sad to say this, but it does not give me “secured financing” vibes.

[cloudbod]

Originally Posted by Jstange059

Sad to say this, but it does not give me “secured financing” vibes.

Ah hey thanks for following up on this!! Yeah you're right, it looks about the same as the Google Maps streetview of 2021-onward.

Hope they can get moving soon, very glad a beautiful terracotta building is gonna be restored and adaptively reused. Fingers crossed

[Klippenstein]

Agreed. Thanks for following up. I don't know why I had assumed construction was imminent.

[Jstange059]

[Jibba]

Belmora (900-block W Belmont)

[cloudbod]

^ Excellent pics!!

For as downright annoying as that development has been-- demoing those little historic 1-story retail spaces, downsizing the replacement proposal, leaving a "temporary" parking lot on one side, etc-- the brick details and added density are admittedly pretty great.

If the remaining empty lot gets filled in with something similar, and the other 1-story building next door (with the Ann Sather) can survive, I'd chalk this up as a net improvement to the corridor, despite my nostalgia for how this area used to look.

[ChiDevelopmentGooner]

Originally Posted by Jstange059

Christ that is so ugly. Happy for the new density and another empty lot biting the dust.

[left of center]

Wish they could have preserved the facades of those old buildings. The city could promote developers doing so with either tax incentives, a sped up approval process, or both.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by cloudbod

^ Excellent pics!!

For as downright annoying as that development has been-- demoing those little historic 1-story retail spaces, downsizing the replacement proposal, leaving a "temporary" parking lot on one side, etc-- the brick details and added density are admittedly pretty great.

If the remaining empty lot gets filled in with something similar, and the other 1-story building next door (with the Ann Sather) can survive, I'd chalk this up as a net improvement to the corridor, despite my nostalgia for how this area used to look.

Ann Sather is closing at the end of the month and Mavrek is demoing the building for another residential project.

[Jstange059]

[Jstange059]

[left of center]

Man, those rounded bullnose corners look slick.

Thanks for the pics, Jstrange!

[r18tdi]

Speaking of 465 Carpenter (formerly known as 455?), Urbanize recently shared some details and interior images: https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/465-n-carpenter-begins-pre-leasing

[Toasty Joe]

Lou Malnati's flagship Gold Coast location closing

The restaurant announced the closing, slated for Tuesday, June 30, in a release issued Friday. According to the pizzeria, the sudden closure is due to the new building owner's decision to not renew the restaurant's lease as it plans to redevelop the site.

Convexity Properties group in September of 2025 purchased the building at 1120 and 1130 N. State St. for $39 million, a press release from real estate corporation Mid-America said. The release described the site as "high profile" and said the acquisition marked a "major step in the district's ongoing revitalization."

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/lo...-location-closing-redevelopment/3951056/

[Jstange059]

https://chicagoyimby.com/2026/06/groundb...e-development-in-west-garfield-park.html

It’s really quite rare seeing development in West Garfield park, it’ll be quite exciting seeing this block be filled in

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by left of center

Wish they could have preserved the facades of those old buildings. The city could promote developers doing so with either tax incentives, a sped up approval process, or both.

The blocky, white-colored 1st floor of the new building is inelegantly imposing, to be sure. The old facades, as much as I appreciated the time-worn quality of them (and thus the sense of permanence and stability they imbued the streetscape with), they were historically and architecturally insignificant, IMO.

The bigger loss for me is the facade at 2600 N Clark (the old Affordable Portables, etc.). That had a nice polychromatic (well, white and blue...) terra cotta facade similar to all those along Lawrence in Albany Park. I entreatied with the alderman's office to push the developer to save it a la the Dinkel's Bakery plan, but they had already approved the zoning change and didn't have anything to bargain with at that point.

[Jstange059]