CHICAGO | General Developments

[the urban politician]

Google's HQ sold for $257 million

The buyer was a California entity.

Chicago's Fulton Market/West Loop area is seeing an influx of money but far away (but still domestic) markets; this is the real deal. Following the rule that "money follows money", pretty much the fate is sealed for this area: it's going up and up (by "up" I don't necessarily mean vertical, I'm talking about economics).

[Freefall]

Colectivo is going to get rid of that little parking lot for the old Einsteins at Deming & Clark, and replace it with an indoor garden room. Expected to open in October. Hopefully it can survive literally right across from Starbucks.

Also, the Target a couple blocks north of there is scheduled to open July 24th.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/apps/...ncoln-Park.jpg
Photo cred: Crains

Edit: Sorry the pic is so big. It's my first post, not sure how to make it smaller. I'll just put it as a link to the image

[Chi-Sky21]

Originally Posted by prelude91

Not sure if you are referencing the project at Belmont/Clark, but here it is on the AM of 7/1. The massing looks great, they are starting to clad to clark side, I really like this one! Now, if MB Bank would leave and the drive thru lot and lot directly south of that great building could be developed, I would be happy.

I was, thank you! I like this one a lot too.

[King of Chicago]

Originally Posted by prelude91

Not sure if you are referencing the project at Belmont/Clark, but here it is on the AM of 7/1. The massing looks great, they are starting to clad to clark side, I really like this one! Now, if MB Bank would leave and the drive thru lot and lot directly south of that great building could be developed, I would be happy.

I actually want MB Bank to stay there, but I wish that they would just close the drive thru and let the lot be developed....the lot to both the south and the East...I would love to see something amazing be developed at that lot at Belmont and Halsted!

[Chicagoguy]

Originally Posted by King of Chicago

I actually want MB Bank to stay there, but I wish that they would just close the drive thru and let the lot be developed....the lot to both the south and the East...I would love to see something amazing be developed at that lot at Belmont and Halsted!

That would actually be a perfect location for them to build the Out Hotel that was previously shot down by neighborhood groups.

[DePaul Bunyan]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

First store opens at Englewood Square, soon home to Whole Foods

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/fir...e-whole-foods/

It's shockingly naive to think that an expensive grocer is going to have any kind of effect on the intractable violence and poverty that has defined neighborhoods like Englewood. I guess time will tell.

[HowardL]

Originally Posted by prelude91

... snip ... The massing looks great, they are starting to clad to clark side, ... pins ...

I just took a stroll by this afternoon and the pre-cast looks very River North beige. For some reason, I had it in my head that this one was going to be more off-white.

And, yes, the massing is aces. Big but not so big as to whip the knickers of the NIMBY crowd.

[BuildThemTaller]

Originally Posted by DePaul Bunyan

It's shockingly naive to think that an expensive grocer is going to have any kind of effect on the intractable violence and poverty that has defined neighborhoods like Englewood. I guess time will tell.

The cognitive dissonance going on with these two sentences is shocking. 'It will never work!

...we'll see...'

Is one grocery going to save an entire neighborhood? No. One high rise doesn't make up a central business district. It's a start. At one point in time, you could have said that Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, and Uptown were intractably violent places. Things change, sometimes for the better. Let's all hope that things get better in Englewood.

[the urban politician]

^ They were never as violent as Englewood, and did not have a 100% black population.

The unspoken reality is, all of these Arts and Recs centers, sports centers (built by benefactors), and now suburban strip centers which are heavily subsidized are political moves that will never fix the underlying issue: the population is too low in these communities and too impoverished, on average. We need to encourage outsiders to come to these areas. More people need to live here, and they can't all be black.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ They were never as violent as Englewood, and did not have a 100% black population.

The unspoken reality is, all of these Arts and Recs centers, sports centers (built by benefactors), and now suburban strip centers which are heavily subsidized are political moves that will never fix the underlying issue: the population is too low in these communities and too impoverished, on average. We need to encourage outsiders to come to these areas. More people need to live here, and they can't all be black.

I read an article about how Englewood and the city managed to get Whole Foods and Starbucks there. There's a community guy in the area who was able to pull up all sorts of census data by tract, block group, and block and show that while there are a lot of really lower class households in the area, there's enough households making over $75K/year within a certain radius to offset it and keep the stores afloat. Makes sense, but at the same time it doesn't mean those people will spend money at either. Very interested to see what happens.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

the underlying issue: the population is too low in these communities and too impoverished, on average. We need to encourage outsiders to come to these areas. More people need to live here, and they can't all be black.

And one of the most logical ways to encourage people to move to these places is to improve the public (Arts and Rec centers) and private (grocery store) amenities.

[PKDickman]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ They were never as violent as Englewood, and did not have a 100% black population.

Nonsense, they were twice as bad as Englewood is today.
A study from the late seventies called the Reactions to Crime Project includes a 1976 table of selected crimes for several neighborhoods.
Lewis_and_Maxfield.Fear_in_the_Neighborhoods
Below is a comparison of those in Wicker Park with beats 0711 & 0712 this year (same size area)

WP Rape 20, A&B 280, Robbery 466, Burglary 908.
EN Rape 11, A&B 173, Robbery 92, Burglary 93.

Lincoln Park was also much higher in all except A&B, but it was heavily gentrified by 1976

[LouisVanDerWright]

Those numbers mean nothing unless they are rates per population. Also, theft is totally different than open gang warfare when it comes to perception of safety. Then there is always the issue of relativity today. Englewood today is one of the most violent places in the city and far removed from the other desirable sections of the city. Why would anyone choose to move there over similarly impoverished yet less violent places like the SW side, Bronzeville, etc which are much closer to downtown and way less devastated in a number of ways?

[the urban politician]

^ I guess that's what I was implying. The sheer gang violence, with gunfire and murders is an order of magnitude that you never saw in pre-gentrified Bucktown, Lincoln Park, etc

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by moorhosj

And one of the most logical ways to encourage people to move to these places is to improve the public (Arts and Rec centers) and private (grocery store) amenities.

No, this will hardly draw people to the area.

Reducing crime and the gang presence substantially will

[prelude91]

Great news for Southport, a Mattress Store is rumored to be opening in an attractive building dating to 1918, that was a funeral home for many years. There are two retail spaces coming to this property, I'm hoping the developer will be able to convince Massage Envy or 7-11 to take the other spot.

The Parcel to the north will be developed into 11 residential units.

Remember, if your mattress is >8 years old, it's time to replace it!

http://southportcorridorchicago.blog...ellington.html

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by prelude91

Great news for Southport, a Mattress Store is rumored to be opening in an attractive building dating to 1918, that was a funeral home for many years. There are two retail spaces coming to this property, I'm hoping the developer will be able to convince Massage Envy or 7-11 to take the other spot.

The Parcel to the north will be developed into 11 residential units.

Remember, if your mattress is >8 years old, it's time to replace it!

http://southportcorridorchicago.blog...ellington.html

lol, definitely not enough mattress stores around, could really use like 80 or 90 more.

(glad the building is being restored tho!)

[Via Chicago]

Wonder what you all think about the current topic of the moment, which seems to be bunalow pop-tops.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...-bungalow-belt

Apparently there are people willing to defend this sort of decision. The bungalow belt in particular is one of the few remaining swaths of Chicago that really hasnt been destroyed by bad developer and homeowner decision making, but this sort of thing worries me a lot. People have the right to do with their homes as they wish, but this sort of thing affects the entire community. The developer who thinks this looks nice (yea right, like he'd even want to move in next door) is the truly cynical one here.

Ive always dreamed of owning a Chicago bungalow (specifically one with the original details in tact) but I worry that by the time Im prepared to be a homeowner everything on the market is going to be some variation on the flipper special.

Even a cursory perusal of Berwyn real estate immediately returns dozens of these, with every last but of the original interiors stripped, and replaced with Home Depot specials (granite! stainless!)

https://www.redfin.com/IL/Berwyn/380.../home/14133357
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Berwyn/380.../home/14135495
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Berwyn/351.../home/14134995
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Berwyn/683.../home/14138299

Particular rage reserved for the last one...."Burr Ridge has come to Berwyn!"

fuckkkkk youuuuuuuuuuuu (like even Burr Ridge would allow that in the first place)

OK, ill stop yelling at clouds for now.

[Chi-Sky21]

The garages are bigger than that in Burr Ridge.....

[PKDickman]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Those numbers mean nothing unless they are rates per population. Also, theft is totally different than open gang warfare when it comes to perception of safety. Then there is always the issue of relativity today. Englewood today is one of the most violent places in the city and far removed from the other desirable sections of the city. Why would anyone choose to move there over similarly impoverished yet less violent places like the SW side, Bronzeville, etc which are much closer to downtown and way less devastated in a number of ways?

Sure we'll try rates per 1000.
Rape (/1000 women)
Englewood CA today 1.77
Lincoln Park 1976 2.2

Robbery (/1000 pop)
Englewood CA today 8.81
Wicker Park 1976 12.52

A narrative has evolved that Wicker Park was a peaceful bucolic neighborhood where the indigenous peoples lived at one with the land. Then a band of wandering Bohemians settled there and they attracted the evil gentrifiers who drove all of them from their homes.

Nothing is farther from the truth.
I got here with the first wave of artists and it was rough back then, but the first wave of gentrifiers had arrived a decade earlier.
The rehabbers, preservationists and sweat equity boys had come here in the middle of gang wars, race riots and an arson epidemic.
The neighborhood was tearing itself down, with a crime rate that would make you sh!t your pants.

These guys carved what you see today out of a jungle.

That's is how gentrification starts. It's not a punchlist of indicators or amenities. It's people choosing to reverse the downward spiral of a community.