Prediction: Near South Side set to boom
January 19, 2010
BY DON DEBAT - For Sun-Times Media
With Chicago house hunters wondering what the new decade will bring, it’s time to crystal-ball gaze into the future of residential development downtown.
What’s the next high-demand neighborhood set to emerge? Where will the next city real estate boom occur? Look no further than along Lake Michigan, the Windy City’s big blue front yard, where new harbors, boat slips, parks and beaches are planned. It is likely that much of the future lakefront housing will be developed between now and 2020 in the South Loop and Near South Side, surrounding McCormick Place, planners say.
This is why in a budget-crunch year, the city is spending millions of dollars to develop fancy recreational amenities along the Near South Side lakefront, including the 31st Street Harbor and the new Burnham Park Beach complete with beach house at 40th Street and the lakefront.
These swank amenities are part of the new Near South Side neighborhood the city expects private developers to build on the site of the failed Olympic Village, the 37-acre Michael Reese Hospital campus. The city will seek qualified developers for the land in the first quarter of 2010, and will be asking for developer proposals later.
If you add the $80 million the city spent to acquire the Michael Reese site, Chicago already has invested $100 million into the neighborhood during the deepest real estate recession since the Great Depression.
The city plans to install infrastructure improvements between 26th and 31st streets along Cottage Grove Avenue. A tax increment financing (TIF) district already is in place, and long-range South Side plans call for construction of a light-rail commuter system from McCormick Place to 63rd Street along Cottage Grove Avenue.
When the recession ends, and new high-rise condos, homes and apartments are developed over the next decade, the new Near South Side real estate eventually will generate millions of dollars of real estate tax revenue for the city.
Despite these visionary plans, preservationists continue to fight to save the hospital because many of the Michael Reese buildings were designed in the 1960s by Bauhaus founder and famed architect Walter Gropius. At least four of the hospital buildings already have been razed.
Off the lake, just west of the Michael Reese campus, the city recently flexed its muscle again, knocking down six apartment buildings that once were part of the Harold Ickes Homes, a public housing project near Cermak Road and State Street.
Just south of the Ickes Homes site, the 26th Street Loft District is emerging among vacant lots and a small collection of industrial buildings that could eventually be transformed into loft condominiums. The district is anchored by the Opera Lofts, a 93-unit adaptive-reuse condominium and rental development at 2545 S. Dearborn.
Near Navy Pier and the Chicago River’s outlet to Lake Michigan, the city also is expected to launch construction in March on the $40-million Gateway Harbor, a 240-slip marina anchored by a 2,610—foot-long pier featuring 15,500 square feet of restaurant and retail space.
Completion of this ambitious project could eventually provide enhanced lakefront vistas for the Spire, the uniquely designed 2,000-foot-tall ultra-luxury condo tower that might be built at 400 N. Lake Shore Dr. during the next boom.
How is the city going to pay for all this lakefront development?
Don’t be surprised if Mayor Richard M. Daley hedges his bet for a development boom with millions of dollars in revenue from 15,000 video gambling machines in 2010, and a land-based casino somewhere near our blue front yard in the future.
Prev
Linear Mode
