CHICAGO | General Developments

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by RedCorsair87

Demo has started.

https://chicagoyimby.com/2020/11/lan...in-uptown.html

I really need to swing by Uptown again some day, I bet it’s changing fast.

I’m sooo bummed about the stalling of the Uptown Theatre rehab, though.

[OhioGuy]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I really need to swing by Uptown again some day, I bet it’s changing fast.

I’m sooo bummed about the stalling of the Uptown Theatre rehab, though.

I was just thinking about the theatre today... irritated about the big announcement 2.5 years ago that it was going to be rehabbed!... only for it to be another false start due to the need for more money. And now COVID screwing things up. *sigh*

But I'm glad to see that ugly City Sports building finally being destroyed! Very much an eyesore, especially being so close to rapid transit.

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by Jibba

Great image of the block between Armitage, Milwaukee, Western, and the L:

https://images1.loopnet.com/i2/TVhQE.../116/image.jpg

It's fully built-out now with infill. Can also see the new Pennycuff apartments. New seating area atop Margie's is for the new Marz brewery and taproom, I believe.

The vacant lot on the far right hand side of the photo is slated to be a 4-story apartment building. It was previously a drive through MB Bank that was unused for about 4 years before being bulldozed a few months back. Armitage & Western intersection. I pushed the alderman for higher density but the builder is not asking for a zoning change.

[marothisu]

So, it looks like Tommy Gun's Garage dinner theater at 2114 S Wabash isn't opening back up due to the pandemic dragging out too long. This is across the street from Aspire, new 24 story residential high rise. Bets on 2114 S Wabash and its parking lot being sold to a developer?

Other notable current land for sale:
* 1 story retail building + surface parking lot at 424-28 S Wabash: $7.2M - Being sold as a redevelopment opportunity. https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8761...7i16384!8i8192

* Vacant lot at 863 N Orleans near NEXT and Niche 905 apartments in Cabrini Green. $4.6M. Apparently this is already approved for a 6 story office/retail building
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8982...7i16384!8i8192

* Surface lot site at 1050 N Kingsbury at the river. Close to Morton Salt, Lincoln Yards, etc. Sold as redevelopment project:
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1050...o-IL/17327427/

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by Toasty Joe

Seems like a missed opportunity that we're not seeing more 8-12 story proposals near the Division, Damen, and Western blue line stops.

Yes - though most of the easy lots are already redeveloped plus the new affordable housing requirements stop many from working through an upzoning

[ardecila]

Bucktown's proposed Drive Shack at Damen/Elston canceled, no reason was provided.
https://www.chicagogolfreport.com/drive-shack-chicago/

That's a shame, now we're likely to get more suburban style retail there. The Drive Shack wasn't the same as a public park but it was a nice quasi-park-like land use to go along the river and it was a nice complement to Midtown Athletic Club.

[the urban politician]

^ Too bad, but it's not like Driveshack was exactly the pinnacle of urbanism, with about 300 odd parking spots.

That whole area is suburban, little we can do about it at this point.

Best way to go is to concentrate the big box-suburban style stuff into various nodes throughout the city, and push for more walkable urban design everywhere else (IMO). So this 1970s style crap of having little strip malls sprinkled throughout the city needs to go the way of the dinosaur. I think that is far more damaging to the urban fabric of the city and its walkability than to have suburban style retail at Damen and Elston

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Too bad, but it's not like Driveshack was exactly the pinnacle of urbanism, with about 300 odd parking spots.

That whole area is suburban, little we can do about it at this point.

Best way to go is to concentrate the big box-suburban style stuff into various nodes throughout the city, and push for more walkable urban design everywhere else (IMO). So this 1970s style crap of having little strip malls sprinkled throughout the city needs to go the way of the dinosaur. I think that is far more damaging to the urban fabric of the city and its walkability than to have suburban style retail at Damen and Elston

Yes. And if enough small-format chain stores (e.g. Target) and startups like Foxtrot expand more, it may tip the scales enough that those large strip centers become less appealing. (Combined with direct-delivery retail like Amazon.)

A lot of the retailers there with smaller goods (like Best Buy) should turn those locations into delivery nodes for 2-hour or 1-day delivery. Furniture stores could warehouse goods there and retain a small portion of the building as a showroom.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I did check the PD and learned some cool stuff though (there is one MASSIVE PD that controls the entire IMD as well as the entire Tri-Taylor neighborhood).

-Marquette's redevelopment of the Medical Center Apartments has been going on for some time - they are currently recladding the building. But it looks like they are trying to develop the vacant parts of this parcel so it is less of a "tower in a park". They requested permission to move FAR around in the IMD to build an 11-story building and a 21-story building in the greenspace areas on the block - NE corner of Harrison and Damen. The city approved this administratively, but they denied a request to reduce the parking requirements (Marquette wanted a 100% reduction, but DPD can only grant reductions up to 50% so Marquette would need to go to the alderman for a formal zoning change).

Crain's is reporting this story today. Does that mean I get the scoop?

Marquette never went for the zoning change, so they must have decided to just provide the parking at the required 50% ratio. Looks like the tallest proposed tower lost 8 units but gained 3 stories (now 24 stories), so they're probably planning on 4 parking levels at the base. The smaller proposed building went from 11 down to 9 stories and gained 8 units so the net unit count remains unchanged at 672.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...dical-district

Marquette has got to be the most active residential developer in the West Loop right now, or maybe the whole city. Two simultaneous projects at Union Park (521 units) with a 3rd on the boards at Ashland/Lake (210 units), and just massive density at this IMD site as well (672 units on one block).

[the urban politician]

Marquette is obviously bullish on the rebound.

More power to them, hopefully they get lavishly rewarded for their efforts

[SIGSEGV]

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/heal...-save-hospital

Looks like Mercy Hospital may not close after all.

[SamInTheLoop]

^ Beat me to it. That would be such amazing news.
I've been concerned about the mass closing of small-mid size hospitals across neighborhoods for some time - of course hitting South, West and more generally disadvantaged areas hardest (as bad as it is in cities, it's even a more severe problem in small towns and rural areas).
Mercy's closing announcement was disheartening to say the least. Would be nice to pull out this win from behind on the near south side.

[the urban politician]

^ It will be a huge money loser for the new owner unless they can get more elective procedures done there, as well as getting more people with private insurance into that hospital and any affiliated clinics.

That can only be addressed through population growth and development in the nearby area. Perhaps the new owners are expecting that to happen?

Or perhaps this is some massive tax write-off scheme? Who knows? But I'm glad that this hospital isn't closing.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Marquette is obviously bullish on the rebound.

More power to them, hopefully they get lavishly rewarded for their efforts

I agree and really admire the conviction. And fwiw I think their optimism for the apartment market is pretty well-founded. The vaccine situation is looking very encouraging. I also think that their - at least for the time being - concentration in the W Loop/near west side makes a lot of sense given that
a disproportionate amount of development in the greater area had been commercial or slated for future commercial, but now a couple interesting developments:

1) north of (is it Randolph or Lake?) restriction on Fulton Market residential is being lifted

2) there's definitely been a progressive further easing of historical height limitations (aldermanic prerogative in reaction to neighborhood position) recently and I'm sure more to come

Now, it's quite possible there could in relatively short order be a rush to residential in the area by a plethora of developers, and then the supply-demand dynamics may change (though that's tricky because you could also get into a sort of agglomeration/gentrification supercycle where the area benefits from a real supply inducement effect and the additional luxury living options create self-reinforcing demand - at least for a time, certainly.

Still, no matter what, if Marquette is generally on the right track with their conviction here, they'll still enjoy the proceeds commensurate with their first-mover advantage (in terms of very large scale prospective post-pandemic rental development in the area)

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

1) north of (is it Randolph or Lake?) restriction on Fulton Market residential is being lifted

Restrictions lifted between Lake and Hubbard, Halsted to Ogden.

[ChiPlanner]

[harryc]

March 1

The best thing about this work is you don't even notice it.

[harryc]

Feb 25

[the urban politician]

I drove by Belmont and Elston the other day, the project going up on that corner is almost topped out. It really looks nice from what I can gather. We need more buildings like that built throughout the neighborhoods

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I drove by Belmont and Elston the other day, the project going up on that corner is almost topped out. It really looks nice from what I can gather. We need more buildings like that built throughout the neighborhoods

Are you talking about this or something else?

https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2018...x-in-avondale/

Also speaking of Elston...demo permits were issued for the former Stanley's building at North & Elston and the 1 story building next to it on North Ave. I know that the owner of Novak Construction owns at least the Stanley's building but said it could be 5-10 years before he does anything with it (said last year). Anybody know if plans changed or if it has something more to do with tax?