CHICAGO | General Developments

[wrab]

^ Oh wow - thanks for posting the pic.

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Regarding Uptown: The Lawrence House is a beauty and needs the TLC. BTW, the adjacent strip mall on Lawrence is one of the most notorious gang spots in the neighborhood - six people were shot at the JJ Peppers in a single incident last month.

[BWChicago]

I don't see how that could possibly open by NYE. Between the many code issues in the space and in the building, approval from the church, getting a PPA license, liquor license, actually fixing up the space... it's gonna be a while. The DNAinfo article merely said the hall would be used for community & arts events. I'll be surprised if even that's possible this year - it really is rough.

[joeg1985]

Originally Posted by killaviews

I'd like to see the Borders land an awesome tenant. That would be a clear sign that all these proposals are indeed sparking a change.

Definitely! Ever since I moved here I've thought it would be amazing to turn the bank building at Lawrence and Broadway into apartments and have a nice restaurant and retail establishments in that old Borders space with apartments above. I'd love to live in that tall old bank building.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

I definitely agree. Everyone seems to have this vision that magically Uptown is going to become this northern outpost of "Broadway in Chicago"... if that happens it would be nice, but in the meantime some bars and restaurants would be welcome. That entire stretch of Clark alone (south of Andersonville and before Graceland) feels greatly underutilized, especially that weird 2 block stretch filled with nothing but wholesale shops. I mean, Carol's is a national treasure, but it'd be nice to have something else within walking distance

And speaking of music venues, a new one is opening up in Pilsen's Thalia Hall. Can't remember if this has been covered here, but the owners of the Empty Bottle/Longman & Eagle are renovating the space and should have the first booking by NYE. Should be incredible once its fixed up


http://dinca.org/wp-content/uploads/...lsen-photo.jpg

Hearing that this is actually moving forward really makes my day. I hope that they retain some of these historic interior features

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I hope that they retain some of these historic interior features

It's a Chicago Landmark, and I presume the designation includes the historic interior.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Now we are getting into the fun stuff: theaters! That's my specialty! The music industry is massively political and corrupt.

Originally Posted by jpIllInoIs

For me the Uptown Game Changer would be a renovation and restoration of the Uptown Theater. Why that has languished for 30 years is beyond me. Can't we get a media savvy Angel investor who has money to burn and a passion for changing destinies to fund or at least launch a campaign? Someone who can use her notoriety and high level connections for a publicity campaign to rally tens of thousands of people to raise a few million to put this building back to work in a broadcasting production capacity.

The Uptown will never be renovated while JAM owns it, period. They own it explicitly to block Livenation or anyone else from getting it and fixing it up and putting Aragon (which they own together with Ivan Cardenas) out of business

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

I think there are 80-100 million reasons....and they come in dollar form. Not to mention a sound business plan to recoup that. The damage from burst pipes alone is supposed to be monumental.

A renovation would not be anywhere near that expensive, $40 million tops. The problem, like I said, is that JAM is just in there to cockblock Livenation, et al. JAM doesn't have the resources and therefore wants to make sure anyone who does can't come in and fuck up their operations. From what I understand, the City of Chicago is starting to get reallllllly pissed at JAM about this and are actively seeking a way to force JAM out and get someone else in.

Although speaking of which, does anyone know whats going on with the Riv? It seems like they havent booked shows in a while, and when I walked past the other day there are building permits and it looked like the lobby was torn up.

Originally Posted by k1052

The Riv and the Aragon got dinged for a number of code violations a few months back. I assume this is corrective action to clear up any issues before Mickelson asks for a load of TIF money to rehab the Uptown. Wouldn't look to good to be in court with the city you need to pry millions out of.

Also the recent saga with the Congress probably woke them up.

The Riv and Aragon are both shut down because of the Congress theater BS. The owners of Riv and Aragon sicked Alderman Moreno (after they financed most of his campaign) on Eddie Carranza at the Congress Theater (which really wasn't in that bad of shape compared to any other historic theater) because Congress Theater put V-Live (which was owned by Ivan Cardenas, one of the owners of the Aragon, long time promoter, and notorious snakey douchebag) out of business. V-Live has since gone under and been sold to React Presents who got their start at Congress and are basically the people whose shows got Carranza in trouble.

Carranza started in the music industry when he bought Congress like 7 years ago and in that short time started massively cutting into the JAM monopoly on the Chicago market which naturally led to him being a big political target for JAM and Cardenas and probably Livenation as well. Anyhow, Moreno was in their pocket and launched wave after wave of attacks on Congress. Carranza naturally responded by sicking the city on Riv and Aragon in retaliation.

Long story short: everyone loses. JAM is shut down, Carranza is shut down, Riv is shut down, and the average Chicagoan gets denied access to a lot of the bands they want to see for an unknown period of time. It's all very complicated and political, and corrupt, but hopefully that clears things up.

The Congress/Portage announcement I mentioned last week is related to this whole mess. It might be delayed for a bit at this point, but it will come out soon.

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Hearing that this is actually moving forward really makes my day. I hope that they retain some of these historic interior features

Thalia Hall will involve the retention of ALL of those historic interior features. We will see what they can do with the place.

[Swicago Swi Sox]

Looked like we all just got JAMmed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WvmuqggTmY

[Via Chicago]

Interesting what you said about Aaragon being closed as well, since I saw a huge Lolla aftershow going on over the weekend. But perhaps that was more of a one off thing since theres nothing even listed on their calendar until September...

Also re: Thalia Hall, I heard the NYE target date for the venue from a friend who used to rent an apartment in that building before it went into foreclosure. I think that's a best case scenario sort of thing tho. Modern Cooperative is also moving there, in addition to whatever restaurant the L&E folks come up with which Im sure will be great.

[PKDickman]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

Interesting what you said about Aaragon being closed as well, since I saw a huge Lolla aftershow going on over the weekend. But perhaps that was more of a one off thing since theres nothing even listed on their calendar until September...

Both the Vic and the Riv have fairly minor violations. Mostly tuckpointing, fire escape repair and leaping terracotta.

Except for the fire escapes, they could probably put up protective scaffolds and continue operation.

The Congress had a litany of violations, some were nitpicky, but a lot were serious fire and safety hazards. Eddie also has a boatload of apartments in that building and DOB gets crabby if you put tenants at risk.
https://webapps.cityofchicago.org/bu...D2A4314D.node1

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Long story short: everyone loses. JAM is shut down, Carranza is shut down, Riv is shut down, and the average Chicagoan gets denied access to a lot of the bands they want to see for an unknown period of time.

Is this why there pretty much aren't any big shows this summer outside of Lolla/North Coast/etc? I've been feeling the itch to go see some shows this summer but I can't stand (or afford) festivals. I'm thinking about sucking up and just going to North Coast though.

[XIII]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Is this why there pretty much aren't any big shows this summer outside of Lolla/North Coast/etc? I've been feeling the itch to go see some shows this summer but I can't stand (or afford) festivals. I'm thinking about sucking up and just going to North Coast though.

The reason you don't see many big summer shows is that festival promoters usually include a clause in their contract which prohibits bands from playing in the city within a few months of the festival. For that reason, you usually see a ton of shows in Chicago in the spring, then it gets pretty quiet during the summer and then it picks back up in the fall as the restrictions lapse.


The festivals are great weekend events, but they kill the rock club scene over the summer.

[marothisu]

In other news, The Maxwell was issued a building permit on Tuesday, August 6th ($17 million) for the core and shell only so far.

https://data.cityofchicago.org/Build...r8-5enu/313305

http://www.bondcompanies.com/The-Maxwell.html

[marothisu]

LOL ^ Too good.

In other news, a new 7 story residential/retail tower was brought up at an East Lakeview meeting yesterday. A developer wants to put it where the Mobil gas station is on the NE corner of Broadway & Sheridan just up the road up Halsted Flats and near Chateau Hotel. 90 residential units and 2000 sq ft of retail space, and 50 parking spaces.

http://lakeview.patch.com/groups/rea...-chateaus-sale

[Chicago Shawn]

^Really awesome to hear, the northend of boystown is undergoing such an amazing transformation and increase in density. Some good and very positive comments on the lakeview patch, this was my favorite:

7-story "tower"? In that case, central Paris is wall-to-wall "high-rises" ...

[lakeviewer]

Originally Posted by marothisu

LOL ^ Too good.

In other news, a new 7 story residential/retail tower was brought up at an East Lakeview meeting yesterday. A developer wants to put it where the Mobil gas station is on the NE corner of Broadway & Sheridan just up the road up Halsted Flats and near Chateau Hotel. 90 residential units and 2000 sq ft of retail space, and 50 parking spaces.

http://lakeview.patch.com/groups/rea...-chateaus-sale

The longtime vacant auto body Shop on Halsted just south of Addison has been leased for 15 years

From Crains: Preschool plans Lakeview location

Children's Learning Place plans to open its fourth Chicago preschool in Lakeview. The Chicago-based company signed a 15-year lease for a 12,260-square-foot commercial building at 3532 N. Halsted St., said retail broker Chris Irwin, senior vice president at Chicago-based Jameson Commercial LLC, who represented the landlord.The landlord plans to spend about $1.5 million remodeling the property, home to the Brompton Body Shop Inc. since the late-1960s, Mr. Irwin said. Children's Learning Place runs schools at 400 N. McClurg Court, 1669-81 N. Milwaukee Ave. and 3121-29 W. Fullerton Ave., Norm Cherrett, company co-founder wrote in an email. The Lakeview school will accommodate 140 children and open no later than fall 2014, he wrote.

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.co...-to-stone-park

[Chicago Shawn]

^I can't think of worse place in the neighborhood to put a preschool. Right smack in the middle of an entertainment district. Does a preschool operation limit the ability to gain new liquor licenses nearby? I know the building was never really that pleasant to walk past and didn't add much to the streetscape in its present condition, but a preschool on such a pedestrian oriented street is such a horrible use for a prime ground floor location. They typically frost out all the windows and it will create a dead zone for the entire frontage the building has along the street. Due to strict state laws governing design of preschool and day care centers, they typically can only locate on ground floor spaces and need to have access to light and outdoor spaces.

[Jibba]

^Exactly. Odd selection of space for a preschool. Sooo... no Abbey and a preschool instead? "There goes the neighborhood."

[k1052]

Originally Posted by Chicago Shawn

^I can't think of worse place in the neighborhood to put a preschool. Right smack in the middle of an entertainment district. Does a preschool operation limit the ability to gain new liquor licenses nearby? I know the building was never really that pleasant to walk past and didn't add much to the streetscape in its present condition, but a preschool on such a pedestrian oriented street is such a horrible use for a prime ground floor location. They typically frost out all the windows and it will create a dead zone for the entire frontage the building has along the street. Due to strict state laws governing design of preschool and day care centers, they typically can only locate on ground floor spaces and need to have access to light and outdoor spaces.

The 100ft limit would apply to new licenses.

I was hoping that this would be torn down someday and replaced with a 4-5 story mixed use building. Given the Salvation Army campus across the street and the parking lot/gas station on the west side already made this stretch pretty dead. A daycare won't do anything to improve that.

[Notyrview]

ugh. the breeders have taken over. first they quash the hotel, now this.

[Link N. Parker]

Actually, I thought there was some kind of pollution problem in the soil at the Autobody site, and that was the reason the Abbey backed out. Was that never really an issue? If it was true, how will the daycare remedy the issue?

That is a really weird place to put a daycare. And I agree, it sucks that the NIMBYs crushed the OUT hotel. Here was a guy willing to invest millions in the community and people got it the idea crushed because they didnt like the height? Tragic.