Stony Island Redesign, Transit Upgrades Pitched For South Side Corridor Improvement Plan
A city-commissioned panel has been tasked with coming up with ideas to establish Stony Island “as a hub for retail, entertainment, tourism and higher education.”
By Maxwell Evans
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SOUTH SHORE — A series of recommendations for Stony Island, requested by the city amid a wave of development along the South Side thoroughfare, will add to an expansive list of ideas and plans for the rapidly changing area.
Urban Land Institute Chicago, a Lakeview-based real estate forum, was commissioned by the city to organize a panel and develop recommendations for the growth of Stony Island Avenue between 56th and 79th streets.
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Promoting “hub and spoke development,” where visitors to popular gathering places along Stony Island are incentivized to branch off and safely explore the surrounding area via neighborhood corridors like 63rd or 71st streets.
Redesigning Stony Island, particularly between 67th and 79th streets, to reduce the roadway’s width and discourage speeding while turning that space into assets like developable land, pedestrian and bike amenities, public art and landscaping.
Offering repair and maintenance loans for owner-occupied properties.
Increasing new residential development with programs like the missing middle housing initiative and by recruiting smaller, local developers.
Prioritizing the use of Stony Island for neighborhood residents and visitors, rather than as a throughway to other parts of the city.
Exploring transit upgrades like bus rapid transit services and the rebuilding of the Green Line beyond its existing Cottage Grove terminal.
Creating a new organization to coordinate planning efforts along Stony Island.
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For example, one idea presented at last week’s meeting was to transfer control of Stony Island south of 67th Street from the state to the city’s transportation department to allow for more local control of a potential redesign.
Demolishing the brand new rebuilt elevated structure in '96 was so unfathomably stupid. The city rebuilt the damn thing, then had to pay to destroy it, *and* pay the feds back for the funding to rebuild it to begin with. And now we will need to pay how many hundreds of millions to rebuild it yet again?
The Obama Presidential Library would have had direct CTA access if that was never done. I hope Arthur Brazier is enjoying burning in hell for this.
__________________ "Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world." -Frank Lloyd Wright
Demolishing the brand new rebuilt elevated structure in '96 was so unfathomably stupid. The city rebuilt the damn thing, then had to pay to destroy it, *and* pay the feds back for the funding to rebuild it to begin with. And now we will need to pay how many hundreds of millions to rebuild it yet again?
The Obama Presidential Library would have had direct CTA access if that was never done. I hope Arthur Brazier is enjoying burning in hell for this.
IIRC they didn't have to pay the Feds back, they just forfeited any unspent monies from the grant. Part of the deal with the Feds was that all the steelwork for the dismantled L structure had to be put in storage for future use; CTA could not claim the scrap value. It's all still there in the CTA yard along Calumet, but I'm not sure if it's still usable after 40 years out in the elements.
Also, I think if they were to do it today, it would be a cut/cover subway with only one new stop (between Metra and Stony Island). The ideal would have been to move the elevated structure to an off-street alignment on the alley north of 63rd, but that would have required some actual long-term planning.
__________________ la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...
Forgot to post some pics I took a few weeks ago of the surprising amount of housing construction in the former Cabrini lots between Division and Larabee. They filled an entire block with housing all at once, pretty impressive stuff. It's looking quality, even though they kinda messed up the church entrance lol.
These units are gonna have some nice views and their own huge de facto lawn, at least for awhile.
Here's some Google Maps screenshots of the lot in 2018:
This area's experiencing the kind of glow-up that I prefer over all the flashy megaproject proposals like the 78 / Lincoln Yards / etc. It's super granular, it uses old-school urban building layouts that hug the sidewalks, it's not super car-centric, it's not super expensive, it doesn't try to build some lucrative new office submarket, and most importantly, it's being built.
This area's experiencing the kind of glow-up that I prefer over all the flashy megaproject proposals like the 78 / Lincoln Yards / etc. It's super granular, it uses old-school urban building layouts that hug the sidewalks, it's not super car-centric, it's not super expensive, it doesn't try to build some lucrative new office submarket, and most importantly, it's being built.
Extremely slow, though. The first buildings in "Parkside of Old Town" started going up when I was in high school, 20 years ago.
And Parkside is only about 25-30% of the old Cabrini Green land owned by CHA... the rest is all still vacant, even as most of the privately-held land in the area has been redeveloped.
__________________ la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...
For those who have thoughts & opinions about city planning, zoning & density, I'd recommend studying the presentation and taking the survey. There are 4 Metra Electric stations and a lot of vacant land... That equals potential.
205 W Superior St looks topped out. Still waiting on exterior brickwork, but they're now displaying this rendering on the fencing, so hopefully it turns out looking like it.
The bathhouse thing at 1000 W Madison St is progressing, but very slowly. Probably lots of plumbing and below-grade work?
205 W Superior St looks topped out. Still waiting on exterior brickwork, but they're now displaying this rendering on the fencing, so hopefully it turns out looking like it.
Sigh... a regressive Georgian (or whatever) NYC townhouse plopped into Chicago, replete with faux neighbor sharing a "party wall". I was hoping for more from RAMSA.
Ann Sather is closing their location in Lakeview because of the development at 925 W Belmont. The updated plans show the Ann Sather building next to it remaining. Does anyone have any details? Upsetting to lose an entire block of historical buildings (and a legacy business) just for a bland, not even that dense build.
This is interesting: half of a prefab modular 16-unit courtyard building was permitted for 3305 W 55th St. If the BUILD act is passed, we could pump these out everywhere in the city
Ann Sather is closing their location in Lakeview because of the development at 925 W Belmont. The updated plans show the Ann Sather building next to it remaining. Does anyone have any details? Upsetting to lose an entire block of historical buildings (and a legacy business) just for a bland, not even that dense build.
Story from before is that Mavrek couldn't get financed for the 11-story version that spanned all the purchased parcels (one of which being Ann Sather), and that's when they pivoted to the 5-story version on select parcels that's U/C now. Current story on Block Club says "However, 909 W. Belmont Ave. will also be demolished as part of phase two of construction, Tunney and a representative of Mavrek Development told Block Club."
So... looks like they'll be improving the remaining parcels after all with something else. Which I'm happy about. The 11-story all-parcels-used thing was a hulking glass monolith. Now (it's sounding like) we'll have something a bit more granular. Hopefully it's not a cut-and-paste twin of what's going up (and is a little taller...).
For those who have thoughts & opinions about city planning, zoning & density, I'd recommend studying the presentation and taking the survey. There are 4 Metra Electric stations and a lot of vacant land... That equals potential.
This should be interesting. Despite abandonment elsewhere, that area is still active and bustling.
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