CHICAGO | General Developments

[george]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ The core of Chicago either becomes a playground for the rich or it dies.

Seems simple enough for me.


I'm doing a reno in E. Village, it's costing a shitload of money, and the only reason I'm doing it is because it is an area where rents & future property value increases seem to justify the effort.

Where's the reno in E. Village you're doing?

[george]

Originally Posted by harryc

This area used to boast some nice punk clubs - coming out at 4am to the sight of bemused workers wheeling around chicken carcasses. Bright white lighting and white docks. Now townhomes.

Which punk clubs did this area used to boast? just curious. I remember old band practice spaces on Fulton St. and on Lake St, but can't think of any clubs.

Edit: I finally remembered, Space Place at Fulton & Morgan.

[J_M_Tungsten]

Is there a master plan for streeterville's empty lots like lake shore east has? I'm finding old renderings of some pretty decent proposals back in 2005 that I'm assuming the market killed?

[denizen467]

^ Other than Cityfront Center at the end of the 1980s (whose lots' individual owners have since been following their own independent agendas) by I think Lohan, the only master plan that theoretically might exist would be one by Northwestern, but it's very close to the vest if they even do have any firm plans.

[lawfin]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ The core of Chicago either becomes a playground for the rich or it dies.

Seems simple enough for me.

Modern industrial tenants want to be in large warehouses far from dense areas, close to highways, and where the cost of land and taxes are lower.

The only way a developer or property owner can justify renovating a ridiculously old building is with the knowledge that either well paying residential or commercial tenants will be occupying the space, not a bunch of hipsters who paint landscapes for a living and want to pay $400/month of rent. Also, why would I spend $5 million renovating a large brick building only to not know whether or not I will ever fill the space with some fictional industrial tenant?

I'm doing a reno in E. Village, it's costing a shitload of money, and the only reason I'm doing it is because it is an area where rents & future property value increases seem to justify the effort.

Besides, what's wrong with the core of the region (Chicago central area and surroundings) becoming more expensive while the middle class and more moderate income families being pushed towards the periphery? I'd much rather see Chicago go through that process than what has happened to most other cities in the midwest and nation as a whole (city core went to shit and never recovered).. My point of view may not seem very sympathetic, but that's just my take on the whole thing..

It's easy to say that from 300,000 meters away but its just wrong.Perhaps it might be correct if you define core of chicago very conservatively. Now your 6th paragraph makes more sense but the two are not necessarily parallel. despite rumors to the contrary there are still plenty of areas in chicago even ones that are relatively close in that are immensely more affordable at proximity to the center than perhaps in any other city of its class in the world......taking into account prevailing wage levels etc

[george]

11-22

Burberry

This liner is interesting. It looks like a concrete slab is under it, is another slab poured on top? Pretty elaborate rain protection if nothing else.

[wrab]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

I don't know if this has been posted, but the brutalist portion of South Shore High School is nearly totally demolished.

That was quite a building. Not many full-out brutalist buildings of that scale like it in Chicago.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by george

11-22

Burberry

This liner is interesting. It looks like a concrete slab is under it, is another slab poured on top? Pretty elaborate rain protection if nothing else.

Slab goes OVER the liner.

[J_M_Tungsten]

It appears that work has begun on the esquire theater.


Photo from http://blog.chicagoarchitecture.info/

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Speaking of the Esquire Theater conversion, I hear Dior will be opening a standalone store there. (They had hitherto operated out of Saks.)

[BVictor1]

Condolences to the Daley family.

[pip]

^yeah like him or not he is Chicago in many ways. Though Daley's leadership in the end may have been dated, I like the new Mayor more, he did plant the seed for putting Chicago where it is today in many ways and I guess that depends on what perspective.

[ardecila]

I'm glad he had nearly a year to spend with his wife after getting out of the confines of the 5th floor. Often I tend to view politicians as a living representation of their abstract policy positions, not as people who love and are loved. It doesn't help that so many pols are emotionally distant from their wives. Clearly, Daley cared deeply for his wife.

My deepest condolences also go out to the Daleys.

[M II A II R II K]

$20 million makeover planned for Viceroy Hotel


November 25, 2011

By John Byrne

Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4239213.story

The Viceroy Hotel is about to get a makeover. Like many of its former residents, the historic art deco building on the Near West Side has been down on its luck, sitting vacant since 2003. Now, wholesale renovations are set to begin within weeks to transform the former flophouse into affordable housing for the homeless and people recently released from prison. The city of Chicago is helping pay for the project by offering nearly $3.9 million from a pool of tax-increment financing money. The rehab plan started under Mayor Richard Daley, but it's in keeping with Mayor Rahm Emanuel's vision for the future of the city's controversial property tax incentive program.

- Work to rebuild the inside of the six-story building will start after Heartland Housing takes ownership. Construction will take a little more than a year at a cost of about $20 million. Besides the city tax funding, the project also relies on state money tied to historic preservation projects and affordable housing, said Michael Goldberg, executive director of Heartland Housing. The new, 89-unit building overlooking Union Park will meet a deep need for cheap apartments in the area, said the Rev. George Daniels, pastor of First Baptist Congregational Church, a block from the hotel.

- The church plans to run community programs and set up a computer lab in the new apartment building, which Daniels hopes will become a step toward self-respect for people who have lost their homes and their jobs. "This neighborhood, and the city as a whole, lacks these types of resources to help people get back on their feet," Daniels said. "This is a small step in the right direction, so I celebrate that."

.....

[ardecila]

Wait... what exactly is the difference between a "flophouse" and "affordable housing for the homeless and people recently released from prison"? The building's function isn't changing.

[denizen467]

Recently people have noted the declining population of the city, despite the boom in downtown-area residential stock. Migration to the South has always been one reason, especially since Western migration subsided, but here's a vivid example of one beneficiary of the shifting national demographics. It also portends what Chicago might expect going forward in cultivating new national institutions after the heyday of Ebony and Jet, the Defender, blues, Oprah, and so on.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/us...rtainment.html

Stars Flock to Atlanta, Reshaping a Center of Black Culture
Published: November 25, 2011

...

To be sure, Atlanta has long had a high concentration of well-connected, affluent blacks. But the Atlanta area is now home to such a critical mass of successful actors, rappers and entertainment executives that few would argue its position as the center of black culture. ...

The growth has also been fed by a decade of migration of blacks from the North. Nearly a quarter of a million blacks moved to the greater Atlanta area from outside the South between 2005 and 2010, making it the metro area with the largest number of black residents after New York. ...

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Recently people have noted the declining population of the city, despite the boom in downtown-area residential stock. Migration to the South has always been one reason, especially since Western migration subsided, but here's a vivid example of one beneficiary of the shifting national demographics. It also portends what Chicago might expect going forward in cultivating new national institutions after the heyday of Ebony and Jet, the Defender, blues, Oprah, and so on.

^ What, that Chicago might become more white or Hispanic?

I for one welcome the day that a massive chunk of the city is not relegated to one single race (white or black, to be honest), especially when that portion of the city could truly benefit from an infusion of diversity and economic vitality, instead of the stagnation that exists today. Right now there are certain leaders on the south side who want that part of the city to stay entirely black, and I think that is tragic.

Atlanta could find itself in that very same stagnant situation decades from now.

[untitledreality]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Right now there are certain leaders on the south side who want that part of the city to stay entirely black, and I think that is tragic.

Granted it was never a race issue, but along the same lines of "certain leaders on the south side", my all time favorite bone headed move, belongs to Bishop Arthur Brazier and his successful efforts to remove the Green Line from Cottage Grove to Stony Island because "it was blighting the neighborhood" and removing it would allow the 63rd corridor to enliven itself.

Fast forward 15 years and it has only gotten worse.

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Wait... what exactly is the difference between a "flophouse" and "affordable housing for the homeless and people recently released from prison"? The building's function isn't changing.

Are these all the same:
-Section 8
-Robert Taylor Homes
-A dumbbell tenement
-Marshall Field Garden Apartments
-Near North SRO
-Hotel Chateau
-CHA townhouse

They all serve a similar demographic, but the execution is quite different. The aim here is apparently to take it from one extreme to the other.

[HowardL]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

$20 million makeover planned for Viceroy Hotel

Wait ... wait ... wait ... 20 fucking million??? The Belden-Stratford is selling for 60 yet a paint and drywall gig on the west side for transients is 20? I don't know the budget nor do I know the specifics of this project ... but 20 fucking million? Seems kinda high.