CHICAGO | General Developments

[harryc]

From '94 ?

[ardecila]

Not Pittsfield - Manhattan and Old Colony.

[wierdaaron]

Originally Posted by joeg1985

Is 28 E Jackson really student housing? I know that was the original intent. But the signage suggested that it is just more luxury housing available for anyone to rent.

http://chicagoinfinite.com/

I think technically anybody could rent there, but you'd find yourself surrounded by college students. The layouts encourage dorm-style room sharing, they're all fully furnished, and there's a "for parents" section of the site. It seems a lot like Dwight Lofts for Columbia, except private.

[tjp]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Probably more visibility here than in the Trump thread:

Can new broker fill Trump's long-vacant retail space?




Good that they aren't giving up on that riverfront space yet. I think with the riverwalk right across the water the profile on those spaces should rise quite a bit. They're forgettable now because they're both hard to get to and never seen. Add a few million people down at the water level each year and the visibility might be enough to overcome the awkward access. I still want a gondola ferry though.

ahaha what's going on with the massive gondola in that picture?

[joeg1985]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

http://chicagoinfinite.com/

I think technically anybody could rent there, but you'd find yourself surrounded by college students. The layouts encourage dorm-style room sharing, they're all fully furnished, and there's a "for parents" section of the site. It seems a lot like Dwight Lofts for Columbia, except private.

Awe, so that's how the other half dorms. That is definitely geared for student living. Thank you for clarifying.

[wierdaaron]

Originally Posted by harryc

From '94 ?

Hopefully once Old Colony gets turned around, values start to pick up and the parking lot on the west side of Dearborn along with the short office building get developed. The BP at Congress is a bit of an eyesore, but if that goes away there won't be a single gas station between Roosevelt and Ontario.

I've wondered about the possibility of building something over a gas station, like how some midrise bank buildings have drive-thrus cut into their ground floor, but I have a feeling it'd be too unsafe to do that with gasoline.

[wierdaaron]

Originally Posted by tjp

ahaha what's going on with the massive gondola in that picture?

A photoshop I made a while ago. Mr Trump is standing at the rear of the boat.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

The BP at Congress is a bit of an eyesore, but if that goes away there won't be a single gas station between Roosevelt and Ontario

There should have been a gas station incorporated into the lower wacker rebuild.

[ithakas]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Hopefully once Old Colony gets turned around, values start to pick up and the parking lot on the west side of Dearborn along with the short office building get developed. The BP at Congress is a bit of an eyesore, but if that goes away there won't be a single gas station between Roosevelt and Ontario.

I've wondered about the possibility of building something over a gas station, like how some midrise bank buildings have drive-thrus cut into their ground floor, but I have a feeling it'd be too unsafe to do that with gasoline.

I think developers have been hesitant with that block because of its proximity to the prison. I spent a few of the first years of my life living in the Manhattan building and would love to see the block facing it get better.

[wierdaaron]

I agree re: the prison, but I think with the market heating up so much people are going to get brave enough to try that land because it is tantalizingly close to a lot of things: grant park (and on the same road as buckingham fountain), daley and federal plazas (government employees and lawyers), the financial center (the BOT trading floor is 1 block away), tons of colleges, the library, printers row, on and on. Real estate agents will be able to think of a reassuring platitude about being next to a jail when it has all those other advantages.

[the urban politician]

^ What's the big deal about living next to this particular jail? I know people have escaped (quite a feat, I must say), but the chances that a convict will escape, come across the street, go up to your apartment, and then burglarize your apartment have got to be pretty...damn...low

[streetline]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

I agree re: the prison, but I think with the market heating up so much people are going to get brave enough to try that land because it is tantalizingly close to a lot of things: grant park (and on the same road as buckingham fountain), daley and federal plazas (government employees and lawyers), the financial center (the BOT trading floor is 1 block away), tons of colleges, the library, printers row, on and on. Real estate agents will be able to think of a reassuring platitude about being next to a jail when it has all those other advantages.

A reassuring platitude about being next to a jail? I'd have thought Goerge Carlin's NIMBY routine would be popular here.

[harryc]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ What's the big deal about living next to this particular jail? I know people have escaped (quite a feat, I must say), but the chances that a convict will escape, come across the street, go up to your apartment, and then burglarize your apartment have got to be pretty...damn...low

A very urban street .....

[wierdaaron]

aka keep a hand on your wallet avenue.

The only thing that's going to fix the stretch on the other side of the jail (facing the entrance) is if the property taxes just become too high to keep running a flophouse and flophouse-related businesses there, and that's only going to happen by new developments coming in from the sides and raising values.

I don't think there's any logical reason not to want to live right up against a jail. It's all just an emotional reaction, which I again say can be overruled by the growing impulse to grab up any piece of easily-developed land near downtown and plop a hotel or apartments on it. At that point, all they need to do is be able to address their yuppy customers' carefully-worded-so-as-not-to-sound-racist concerns about living next to a jail. "Actually it's very safe and statistics show..." yadda yadda lease contract signed.

[ChiTownWonder]

Originally Posted by harryc

A very urban street .....

"men only hotel"

[tjp]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

A photoshop I made a while ago. Mr Trump is standing at the rear of the boat.

Gotcha. Very nice. I don't have access to the article, so for a second I thought that was the photo included by Crain's!

[Chi-Sky21]

Nothing says classy like a gilded picture frame of Snoop Dog. I gotta have that!!

[XIII]

Neil Steinberg has a good article on concrete for this interested in an intro to the stuff

http://www.suntimes.com/news/2886012...l#.VAIiAdA1iaw

[harryc]

Riverwalk flooded - Curbed

[BrinChi]

Originally Posted by joeg1985

I like this idea. But how exactly would you tax the developers on the carbon of the building they are building will produce in the future? A typical carbon tax would say that they have to pay a tax on any carbon out put from the construction of the building. Whomever owns the building would have to worry about taxes after it is built. I'm not sure this would get the outcomes that were are aiming for but maybe you can elaborate.

Here is a pretty good synopsis of a carbon tax. With a tax like this in place, energy production would become more eco-friendly over time, and/or consumption would go down as a higher price provides the incentive to economize. With the higher energy prices, building owners would automatically demand more energy efficient buildings than they would have otherwise -- this could look like a super efficient central air system, more efficient windows, better insulation, etc... all more expensive up front, but worth the cost savings down the road. No cookie-cutter rule/regulation solutions necessary.

Anyways, sorry to get a little off topic.