CHICAGO | General Developments

[paytonc]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Logan has finally reached the critical mass level of development where enough disposable income exists in the neighborhood to drive an explosion of nightlife and service businesses which in turn drives rents up even further.

Erm, lifestyle stereotypes aside (might want to brush up on your Bourdieu re: cultural vs. physical capital), I'd say that the neighborhood "turning point" isn't as much about the neighborhood's disposable income than about outsiders. At a certain point, there's enough of a cluster of retail (typically restaurants) to make it a destination for visitors, who vastly outnumber and outspend locals. One telltale sign: when all of the neighborhood restaurants suddenly start to offer valet parking.

Think of it this way: the locals' spending can only increase arithmetically; only a few households change over each month. Visitors' spending can increase geometrically, since memes (like "go dining in Logan, it's cool now") can spread quickly.

Originally Posted by Jibba

so much of the design deliberation occurs for meetings set up between the alderman and "neighborhood groups" is preposterous; developments don't exist in a vacuum, and they certainly don't exist in just the pocket of the city that the neighborhood group's constituents live in.

Not to mention that said "neighborhood groups" represent the opinions of a roomful of people, at most.

[J_M_Tungsten]

Originally Posted by untitledreality

+1

Very subdued, minimal, modern yet contextual... I would like to see similar projects pop up all over the city.

Some close up shots today. This is a pretty large site. I forget how far this site goes west on Scott.

[thewaterman11]

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20131...dents-requests

Community members asked for additional basketball and soccer fields at a park planned for 31st Street and Albany Avenue — and they got it.

Final designs for the park at the former site of Celotex asphalt factory were released by the city this week, and they were changed from earlier renderings to reflect community requests.

The city listened, and now the 22-acre park will have at least two lighted artificial turf soccer fields and two basketball courts. Other features include a natural grass baseball and softball field, a soft-surface playground with a water spray, skate park, sledding hill, and walking and jogging trails.

Lopez stressed a field house is still needed at the park so that programming can continue through the colder months. He said his organization is eyeing a city-owned building on the park’s south end near 31st Street.

“In the winter there’s not much that can go on without a field house. We think there’s more that can be done,” he said.

In April, Chicago Park District spokeswoman Michele Lemons said the park’s $8 million budget would increase if the community’s proposed changes went through.

The Bucktown-based Friedler Construction Company recently won a $10 million contract to work on the park, which the city projects will be complete by next fall.

[ardecila]

Good news on the Celotex site. Between that and the Focal Point development on Kedzie, things are looking up for Little Village.

[harryc]

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

^^^ I don't agree. I think it depends entirely on the neighborhood and audience they are catering to. In the most recent generation it seems the traditional yuppie class has diverged into at least two, if not many, different subsets of yuppies. The main two groups are the yipsters and the bros. The bros are more of the old guard, tasteless, new money type while the yipsters have far more evolved tastes and tend to associate more with hipster culture, while not actually being completely devoted to the hipster lifestyle.

In areas where yipsters prevail (Ukranian Village, Wicker Park, Logan Square, etc) the average design quality is about 1000% better than it is in places where the bros rule (Lincoln Park, Lakeview, etc.). Yipsters also tend to be new urbanists who are much more knowledgeable about design issues and just have generally better knowledge of how cities work. The bros tend to be suburbanites who came to the city to be close to the Chicago Cubs (a true sign of a yipster is that they don't give a shit about sports (and if they do it is something weird like soccer or jai-alai). This is why you get buildings like 1611 W Division built in Wicker Park and neo-trad trash like this proposal in Lakeview (and yes, the bros are gradually driving out the much more design conscious gay community in lakeview).

I think I often may reflexively dismiss the tendency most people have to lump neighborhoods with a broad brush into various buckets, be they socioeconomic, ethnic, racial, interest, etc.....however, I can probably go too far in the other direction, as folks do tend to gravitate to those that are more alike than they are differents....there is a lot of self segregation (and still some other kinds) out there.....

Also, I too now know that I'm a yipster. I learned long ago that the less time one devotes to watching and thinking about grown men chasing a ball or each other around a field or court, the more time, energy and brain matter one can spend on much more productive and consequential pursuits, one of which among many others of course being a passion for the urban envirnoment and design.....

[harryc]

Old limestone foundations - excavated out almost as if they are going to be salvaged.

W side - along existing building.


E side


Front - showing where access to vaulted sidewalk was sealed up at one point.

[Rizzo]

Great update. Do you think those vaulted sidewalks will remain sealed? How often do new buildings opt to use space beneath sidewalks for mech / extra space? Seems less as much these days since alot of new residential towers I see don't have basements.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Hayward

Great update. Do you think those vaulted sidewalks will remain sealed? How often do new buildings opt to use space beneath sidewalks for mech / extra space? Seems less as much these days since alot of new residential towers I see don't have basements.

It is very difficult to work with the city on sidewalk vaults. The city generally wants them gone, but the problem is that the sidewalk is this weird limbus puerorum where it is city property, but they still try to force property owners to take responsibility for it. The city always demands that owners doing renovations pay for new sidewalks even though it is the city's problem in reality. Therefore most smart developers do everything in their power to avoid bringing vaults to the city's attention because they don't want to have to pay to get rid of them.

I am dealing with this right now on a property I am redeveloping that has at least one, if not two sets of vaults. It is on a corner and there is definitely a vault on the "front" side of the building that contains the catch basin and what used to be a coal chute, but I can't tell whether there is one on the "side" of the building because the foundation wall was redone by the previous owner (who got slapped with a stop work order for doing foundation work without a permit) and the sidewalk on that side of the building is completely buckled in like 5 different spots (each slab is on like a 20-25 degree angle to the next). The architect and I have been very careful not to mark anything related to that vault or any of the sidewalks in the hope that this project is small enough that the city won't notice the vaults or messed up sidewalk until after the project is complete and then they will have to pay to do the sidewalks themselves when they rebuild all the infrastructure on this street (it's in a very "old" part of town and I'm pretty sure much of the infrastructure is still 1800's vintage, if any part of town has wooden sewers it is here).

In any case, I am doing my best to keep these vaults in place because, frankly, I don't want to pay to move my catch basin, fill in the vaults, and rebuild all of the sidewalks. Unless your project is under 10-15 units or so (which mine is) you are going to be forced to remove the vaults by the city.

[harryc]

New service on Illinois st - trenched right through an old traction line junction

[gallo]

Originally Posted by Jibba

It really is an unfortunate phenomenon. I sent a message to Bennett at the 44th Ward office and asked him to inform me where the next "Community Directed Development Council" meeting will be that will have this project on the agenda.

Hello Neighbors!

We hope to see you all at tomorrow's meeting: Tuesday, November 19 at 6 pm in the sanctuary of Resurrection Lutheran Church (Seminary and School - entrance on School).

We will be hearing from BLITZLAKE / SILVER YOUNG about their plans to develop the property at 3200 N. Clark (the Dunkin' Donuts site at Clark and Belmont). They have purchased the property and will be presenting their plans for an eleven floor mixed use building at our next meeting. We have attached a copy of their current plans for you to review before tomorrow's meeting. We hope you will join us for this opportunity to provide feedback on this significant development.

Hawthorne Neighbors

[Patrick Barry]

http://www.lisc-chicago.org/news/2546

By Susana Vasquez, executive director of LISC Chicago, Nov. 14, 2013

The most valuable insight among many in the Chicago Tribune’s “New Plan of Chicago” series was in the October 6 kickoff editorial, when the Trib noted that Chicago’s challenges are “intertwined” and cannot be remedied one at a time.

They cannot be solved without a bold plan that ties the strands together.

So here’s a bold plan. Let’s get our neighborhoods to plan for themselves, and then work with leaders – who cut across those neighborhoods – to see how these local plans can reinforce each other and help advance the robust set of new plans the City has already developed for the arts, economic development, housing and tech.

Let’s ask our private-sector partners – corporations and philanthropists old and new – to invest in this coordinated planning process; in the organizational infrastructure that will move the plans into action; and in the data systems necessary to inform the work, so that we can move from aspirational ideas to achievable, lasting results.

We’ll need a 21st century understanding of what makes a city and its neighborhoods work. That means building robust local networks of people and institutions that can connect face-to-face and through digital platforms to respond to opportunities and threats, so that our neighborhoods are stronger, healthier, more resilient. In this “hyper-local” era, citizens don’t want government planning for them. They want to plan for themselves and organize into networks and communities on issues that matter to them.

21st Century planning
Starting in 2003, neighborhood partners in LISC’s New Communities Program (NCP) engaged thousands of residents in the creation of 14 neighborhood quality-of-life plans. . .

More text and photos: http://www.lisc-chicago.org/news/2546

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by gallo

Hello Neighbors!

We hope to see you all at tomorrow's meeting: Tuesday, November 19 at 6 pm in the sanctuary of Resurrection Lutheran Church (Seminary and School - entrance on School).

We will be hearing from BLITZLAKE / SILVER YOUNG about their plans to develop the property at 3200 N. Clark (the Dunkin' Donuts site at Clark and Belmont). They have purchased the property and will be presenting their plans for an eleven floor mixed use building at our next meeting. We have attached a copy of their current plans for you to review before tomorrow's meeting. We hope you will join us for this opportunity to provide feedback on this significant development.

Hawthorne Neighbors

Awesome, thanks. I hope I'm not crucified for crashing the party...

[r18tdi]

Lincoln Park update:

According to today's newsletter, Thursday's CMH community meeting has been pushed back to Tuesday November 3rd because McCaffery didn't have their shit together.
I suppose the alderman's November 21st deadline was a bit less rigid than we initially imagined.

Dear Friends,

Since last week's announcement about the next Children's Memorial Hospital redevelopment community meeting, McCaffery Interests has asked for additional time to complete their revised plans. Therefore we are cancelling the Thursday, November 21st meeting and rescheduling it for Tuesday, December 3rd. We look forward to receiving your input when McCaffery Interests presents us with the revised plans in two weeks:

Tuesday, December 3rd
6:30pm
DePaul Student Center
2250 N. Sheffield

source: http://ward43.org/

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

Lincoln Park update:

.....McCaffery didn't have their shit together.
]

A recurring theme indeed with that particular hack organization....

[Chi-Sky21]

Looks like the perfect place for a DePaul basketball arena if you ask me.


source: http://ward43.org/
[/QUOTE]

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Chi-Sky21

Looks like the perfect place for a DePaul basketball arena if you ask me.


source: http://ward43.org/

[/QUOTE]

I've always thought about that as well. You could actually remove the main hospital building and nest an arena in there and preserve the neighborhood edge with those older hospital buildings (maybe convert them to dorms) The stuff facing Lincoln would be commercial. It would certainly be a booster to businesses in that area that might benefit from concerts and DePaul sporting events. Also you got a big parking garage right there. I'm certain the neighborhood residents would object to the crowds, but the hospital activities would seem to me like a much bigger nuisance.

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by Chi-Sky21

Looks like the perfect place for a DePaul basketball arena if you ask me.

Sure, if all you want is an arena for a second-rate basketball team. If that is all DePaul was looking for, they could have already built it somewhere in Lincoln Park - but they wouldn't, because it's not worth the price of a stadium.

They want a first-rate program and to be the Chicago area team. That's why they want to play downtown. Northwestern plays in a high school gymnasium and UIC can't be bothered to advertise the existence of their games beyond the far reaches of their campus. The Chicago market is open for the taking; DePaul appears to be the only school mounting a serious bid. They will be the ones hosting tournament games and selling luxury boxes to corporations. They win. It'll help them recruit and they win some more.

[ardecila]

Children's is just as far from downtown as McCormick Place is. Actually, McCormick is far from the elite residents and swanky hotels of the North Side.

Face it; DePaul is only going along with this site to get their hands on McPier dollars. It's not the best for their fans, it's not the best for their recruiting, and it's not the best urbanistically.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by brian_b

If that is all DePaul was looking for, they could have already built it somewhere in Lincoln Park - but they wouldn't, because it's not worth the price of a stadium.

Yes. Not to mention rabid NIMBYism.