CHICAGO | General Developments

[tjp]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Cool! Any permit data?

Nope - I was just able to see SAIC owned the site on CoStar.

[ChiHi]

Originally Posted by tjp

The massive parking lot on State Street across from Jones College Prep has been fenced off and looks to be being prepared for development. It's owned by SAIC, so I'm guessing some kind of academic building.

Very exciting since this is the last parking lot on State from the Loop all the way down to Roosevelt.

There was a busted up crain sitting on a BMW and a bunch of other props there yesterday. Thinking it might just be blocked off for filming.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by Near North Resident

not only that but even if you decide to drive there... the parking garage charges by the hour!

Exactly. Fuck that place. I went to that shitty theater once. Awful. The seats don't even recline. I will never go back to that bizarre place. That whole block is a failed disaster. Hopefully it doesn't survive and all the businesses pull out.

When will developers learn that suburban minded, Dallas-type development doesn't work here. Foolishness.

And on the subject of parking, what is the point of programming SO MUCH parking in these developments if the garages charge $10 an hour?! Who's gonna pay that? I sure as hell won't. Street parking ends up being 100% easier and cheaper in many cases. New City being a prime example. In the end, these huge garages go under-used and mostly empty. Gross waste.

[prelude91]

The surface lot at Lincoln/Racine/Diversey is fenced off, and looks like the developer is Noah Properties, who I think do good work. Love seeing the 6 corner intersections get new development!

[HowardL]

Originally Posted by prelude91

The surface lot at Lincoln/Racine/Diversey is fenced off, and looks like the developer is Noah Properties, who I think do good work. Love seeing the 6 corner intersections get new development!

Nice! 1 down, 2 more of 3 corners to go.

[the urban politician]

What's being built?

[denizen467]

I don't understand any of you people complaining about New City parking rates. It's free for 2 hours, just duck into Mariano's for a self-service validation stamp (no purchase needed). 2 hours free also at Dick's and Saks and $2 everywhere else, and all or most won't require a purchase. If you're spending 3 or 4 hours eating or shopping, or 5 hours at the theater or bowling, you're looking at $6 or a max $9. Do you folk not understand urban living??

(The mutilated parking ticket scenario of ardecila is unforgivable though; the attendants on site should be able to manually override.)

Putting parking prices aside, New City has some visibility design failures that may be hampering its success. The entrance from the garage into Mariano's is kind of dungeonlike. Mariano's has no internal escalators like every single other multistory big box retailer in the city (the elevators aren't necessarily a great substitute). The access from the garage to the theater and restaurants goes through a very user un-friendly fire-door-looking portal. The shops along Halsted are entirely invisible (and inaccessible) from the courtyard. Dick's is a massive store but has as its sole entrances two ground floor revolving doors / vestibules / escalators that are all oddly cramped and lifeless. I think fixing those kinds of things would have helped a lot.

Possibly even the Clybourn castration is hurting it; adding the bike lanes reduced it from 2 lanes southbound (or 1 lane plus a parking/dropoff lane) to a situation where it's less easy to get dropped off or picked up. At a minimum they should nuke the street parking on the east side of the street and add the space to the New City side as a batch of 15-minute flashing spaces -- that will be sure to make it popular with Lincoln Park types wanting to rush in for something quick. Sorry, but that's how you build critical mass with those customers. If you want proof, just look at the layout at the Whole Foods two blocks west, with a huge stretch of 15-minute spots that are always full even though the comfy parking lots are immediately adjacent.

Overall, New City is light years ahead of the Oak-Brook-in-Lincoln-Park layout that had gobbled up the remainder of this neighborhood. It could've been much better but it's hardly awful.

[k1052]

The scuttlebutt I hear on sales out of the retailers/food at NC is very discouraging. I think it was a tremendous mistake not to reorient the entire retail component to the street as has been the trend in demand for a while now. Hell they even should have considered drastically cutting it and building more, very lucrative, housing even if that meant redoing the entitlements.

[pilsenarch]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Yeah, this is my main problem. I like that Mariano's and a friend of mine works there, but I refuse to shop there because of the insane parking system. I went in for ten minutes to eat a sandwich one time, and spilled a coke on my parking ticket and ruined it. I had the receipt from the food purchase, but literally nobody in the parking garage or the Mariano's would let me out without paying the $60 maximum. I am happy to take my business elsewhere.

The other businesses in New City are not really compelling. I do like ArcLight Cinema but the Kerasotes at Roosevelt Collection is much more convenient to me...

Something very similar happened to me... I bet it was the same operator, LAZ parking? Anyway, they were total assholes. I eventually got my credit card company to reverse the charge. At first they said they couldn't because LAZ said they provided the 'service'. I said the 'service' was 2 hrs free parking... which I didn't recieve. (BTW, I misplaced my ticket, and then later found it).

New City is a complete car-oriented clusterf...

[harryc]

Golden Apple


Red Apple


under Apple


All Apple

[Mr Downtown]

Merely filming at State & Balbo. I noticed Friday a bunch of cars with fake license plates being watched by a security guard, and they were setting up wooden fencing under the L.

However, 1136 S Wabash has fencing and a small excavator, so that might have started site prep.

[ithakas]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Merely filming at State & Balbo. I noticed Friday a bunch of cars with fake license plates being watched by a security guard, and they were setting up wooden fencing under the L.

However, 1136 S Wabash has fencing and a small excavator, so that might have started site prep.

Ugh, bad news on both counts. The SAIC lot has been the biggest mystery of this boom to me. And I was hoping 1136 Wabash wouldn't make it off the ground, to be honest...

[maru2501]

i have taken the red line to N/clybourn to go to the movie theater at NC, which is nice

[Jibba]

[edit]

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by k1052

The scuttlebutt I hear on sales out of the retailers/food at NC is very discouraging. I think it was a tremendous mistake not to reorient the entire retail component to the street as has been the trend in demand for a while now. Hell they even should have considered drastically cutting it and building more, very lucrative, housing even if that meant redoing the entitlements.

They still have room to build housing south of Schiller. Unfortunately Burnett is pushing for that housing to be mixed-income, so it won't be hugely profitable...

[prelude91]

To pile on to the New City bashing, couple comments:

1. I refuse to shop there based on (lack of) design and the layout - It's my way of protesting.

2. Dick's Sporting Goods is not the right tenant for the most visible corner of the property, seriously, I can count on my fingers the number of times I would need a sporting goods store near by, and I'm sure many many others are in the same boat.

3. Movie Theatre and the Bowling Alley are not going to attract your stereotypical Lincoln Park/Old Town crowd; perhaps it's just me, but I haven't been to a movie theatre in years.

4. It's FUGLY.

[prelude91]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

What's being built?

No idea, I just the fencing around the lot, their developers website doesn't reference the lot yet. Noah Properties is building a house across the street from mine, I'll ask the developer next time I see him.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by prelude91

2. Dick's Sporting Goods is not the right tenant for the most visible corner of the property, seriously, I can count on my fingers the number of times I would need a sporting goods store near by, and I'm sure many many others are in the same boat.

yea good point. isnt there a reason Sports Authority/Sportmart have all been going out of business over the past decade? paying full retail in 2016 is for suckers.

3. Movie Theatre and the Bowling Alley are not going to attract your stereotypical Lincoln Park/Old Town crowd; perhaps it's just me, but I haven't been to a movie theatre in years.

same. i mostly catch free films at University of Chicago, or go to Music Box/Siskel. cant remember the last time i went to a megaplex. not to mention everyone is just sitting at home watching Netflix anyway.

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

What's being built?

They applied back in May for a zoning change to B3-3 from -2 (which was granted). Application lists 4-story, six-unit masonry & glass building. 9 parking spaces...

It's just outside the TOD radius of Diversey, unfortunately.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

yea good point. isnt there a reason Sports Authority/Sportmart have all been going out of business over the past decade? paying full retail in 2016 is for suckers.

These stores make most of their money from clothing and shoe sales, and specialty apparel (golf/soccer shoes, ski boots, etc) which are tough to do over the internet. Or branded apparel like Cubs/Bears/Hawks gear which is usually an impulse purchase that people don't want to wait for.

You're right that the need for these stores is declining overall, but maybe Dick's feels like the elite market in Lincoln Park is a good fit, plus people on the Red Line which reaches virtually all of the north and south sides.