CHICAGO | General Developments

[KWILLSKYLINE]

Random question. How much say does the city have in deciding what plants/trees go up along the river? Riverpoint vs. The riverwalk across the way? Obviously if its city property that changes, but if nbc owns that riverwalk who accounts for the plants?

[Mr Downtown]

As I understand it, riverwalk plantings are entirely maintained by the property owner.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Ryanrule

who rents these anyway? real people or parent money?

Uh, real people. One bedrooms there start at $2200 and go to $2800. So assum the middle at $2500/month. Not cheap at all - but let's just say someone single or married w/o kids making $120K/year. After state and federal taxes, and say 5% 401K with decent health insurance - you'll be taking home around $6100/month. Subtract $2500/month from that, and you are at $3600/month after taxes, 401K, health insurance, and housing.. and these apartments usually include everything in the price of rent (utilities, internet, cable/satellite, gym, etc). That salary is made by many people in the city in tech, law, medical, consulting, finance, etc industries.

Nearly 25% of all households in the city make at least 6 figures as per the 2015 1 year ACS, which is an increase of over 26,000 households from 2014 to 2015 in the same category (11.4% increase). Pretend only 10% of those households fit int the category above - that's still nearly 26,000 households in the city and an increase of 2600 in the matter of a year. Most of these new buildings have 100-400 units, i.e. households.

I guess depending on your exposure to fields, it might be hard to understand, but there's actually a lot of people who can afford this in the city and it's been increasing a bit in the last handful of years. LVDW often writes about tech industry's increase in Chicago driving the construction of these new luxury apartment/condo buildings - he's definitely right (though there are other industries that make a lot of money that are increasing that are contributing).

[Rizzo]

^ Exactly. Renting downtown where prices were higher was like consolidating your living expenses and ditching others. I didn't need a monthly cta pass and my utilities, cable and gym were all included with my rent. Since I moved lakeview I had to add almost $400 in additional expenses onto my rent. Obviously my benefit was a TON more space and the apartments are much more interesting in the unit.

[the urban politician]

Rents in Chicago are still too low, IMO.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Rents in Chicago are still too low, IMO.

Going to take a shot in the dark and guess someone calls you their landlord.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Uh, real people.
...
Nearly 25% of all households in the city make at least 6 figures as per the 2015 1 year ACS, which is an increase of over 26,000 households from 2014 to 2015 in the same category (11.4% increase). Pretend only 10% of those households fit int the category above - that's still nearly 26,000 households in the city and an increase of 2600 in the matter of a year. Most of these new buildings have 100-400 units, i.e. households.

I guess depending on your exposure to fields, it might be hard to understand, but there's actually a lot of people who can afford this in the city and it's been increasing a bit in the last handful of years. LVDW often writes about tech industry's increase in Chicago driving the construction of these new luxury apartment/condo buildings - he's definitely right (though there are other industries that make a lot of money that are increasing that are contributing).

It doesn't even really take a single person earning $120k (although there are plenty of single people who do - like at least 1/4 of the people I work with).

A couple where each person earns $60k/year meets that criteria. And that's not difficult to attain. The *median* weekly income for people over 25 who have at least a Bachelors' degree is about $1,200 per the census. That's about $62,000 per year. So, basically, the national average income for two people with a college degree is about $125,000. And Chicago incomes are slightly above average.

And there are a lot of couples in downtown who both have college degrees.

For the top 10% of earners, the median income for those with at least a Bachelors' is $2,867 per week. So say you had one college-educated person in the top 10% and one person just average for their college degree, as a couple they pull down about $210k per year. If you get two people with advanced degees, and both earn in the top 10% of their category, they're pulling in over $300k per year.

Source here.

Study hard, stay in school, take smart risks. Do that, and you, too, can have a place in a shiny tower in the sky.

[Ryanrule]

I just cant see shooting an entire paycheck at rent. I suppose if you live paycheck to paycheck, but thats a shitty thing to do making 6 figures.

[harryc]

Sept 30


Oct 04

[harryc]

[harryc]

Sept 29








Oct 04

[harryc]

The site today.

[SolarWind]

October 7, 2016





^ Chestnut Row Homes site in foreground

[J_M_Tungsten]

So hard to keep up with everything nowadays. A good problem to have. Kennect looks nice. The blue line entrance could use a refresh though.

[SamInTheLoop]

^^ Oh, wow - I actually thought those townhomes had been under construction for quite some time now......wonder what the holdup could be with those.......I'd have figured they'd be reasonably quick sellers.......

[Skyguy_7]

^Mechanicals are in redesign due to a request by one of the future tenants. Should be coming out for re-bid soon. Structure will be up by end of spring.

EDIT: TUP is correct, they're rentals, not condos. Interesting that a renter has this kind of pull. Then again, he'll be paying $10k/month give or take..

[the urban politician]

^ I thought they were going to be for lease?

[KWILLSKYLINE]

Anyone have any updated shots of United Center & Blackhawks training center?

[sentinel]

The Days Inn at the corner of Diversey and Clark is being gutted and converted into a swanky boutique hotel.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Ryanrule

I just cant see shooting an entire paycheck at rent. I suppose if you live paycheck to paycheck, but thats a shitty thing to do making 6 figures.

You obviously didn't read through the very real life scenario I set out of someone (or maybe a couple of people, without kids) making $120K/year as a household which ton of households make.



I'll write it out more clearly, on a $120K/year salary:

(1) Amount of money after state tax, federal tax, 5% 401K contribution, and health insurance: $6100 per month
(2) Amount of money after $2500/month rent: $3600 per month.


(3) Amount of money $3600/month equals per year: $43,200.

So let's just think about this for a minute. After all taxes, 401K, and health insurance on that salary, and paying $2500/month rent you will still be taking home $3600 per month, or $43,200/year which is basically disposable income at that point. You know what percent of Chicago households don't even make above $35K per year BEFORE taxes, rent, etc? 37.5%. And there's probably another 4 or 5% that don't even make above $43,200 (11.7% of Chicago households make between $35K and $50K per year). I mean hell, the median HH income of Chicago is $50K/year and that's before taxes. This $43,200 is after all of that AND rent - and you'd still be not terribly far from the gross city median.

So in what world is having $3600/month (and for many many people, that would be more) in disposable income close to a "whole paycheck"? It's not - maybe you don't know a lot of people who make this kind of money, but there's tons of people in Chicago who make enough money to support themselves to live in places like this. I don't know how you could think that living on money like $3600/month after pretty much all taxes, insurance, housing, etc is paid for is living paycheck to paycheck.

Not to mention that every single one of these buildings have income checks on them to make sure you can actually afford it and ARENT living paycheck to paycheck. Do you seriously think they just let anybody rent apartments from a tower they just spent over $100M building and have a big loan out for?

Originally Posted by emathias

It doesn't even really take a single person earning $120k (although there are plenty of single people who do - like at least 1/4 of the people I work with).
....
Study hard, stay in school, take smart risks. Do that, and you, too, can have a place in a shiny tower in the sky.

Yeah, thought I covered the "couple" thing but maybe not. Totally agree though - though it depends on what you study, but yeah. Let's just show some stats too of various downtown tracts and percentage of households in the making at least $150K/year:

* http://www.usa.com/IL031081402-income-and-careers.html 37.72%
* http://www.usa.com/IL031081500-income-and-careers.html - 33.38%
* http://www.usa.com/IL031081600-income-and-careers.html - 32.39%
* http://www.usa.com/IL031081403-income-and-careers.html - 30.04%