Chicago is Booming! (Niles, Godfrey, Lincoln: crimes, to live, storage)

[prelude91]

Originally Posted by marothisu

In recent months in the city, it's been a lot of single family home/residences at least in Lincoln Park, Lakeview, etc. There are a good number of multi unit buildings though in UK Village, Near West Side, even up in Albany Park or Avondale. We all know what's happening in the north end of the Loop, Streeterville, and River North. At the same time too, there are multi unit dwellings going up in Lincoln Park, Lakeview, etc too (and about to start in the Gold Coast/ish area). I believe a lot of the SFHs going up in these areas are tear downs and build something brand new in its place. As you know, I have a map hahaha. But really there's a number of interesting things happening in the city with new construction of late, at least slated for construction.

I also think that in the last few months, the number of issued new construction permits has been increasing city wide versus some months past, so even though we're #10, I think it's still a good sign that the number of things being built is still increasing.

Agreed. I don't have a problem with SFH at all, in fact, I am all for them as they better advocate for families in the city. The difference between SFH's in the most urban areas of Chicago vs. SFH's in most of the Sunbelt cities is the design and overall "urbaness" of them.

The 1900 - 1800 block of N. Burling is virtually all SFH's but they are mostly lot-lined and (for the most part) engage pedestrian activity, generally speaking, this is not typical of new development going on in ATL, HOU, DAL.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by prelude91

Agreed. I don't have a problem with SFH at all, in fact, I am all for them as they better advocate for families in the city. The difference between SFH's in the most urban areas of Chicago vs. SFH's in most of the Sunbelt cities is the design and overall "urbaness" of them.

The 1900 - 1800 block of N. Burling is virtually all SFH's but they are mostly lot-lined and (for the most part) engage pedestrian activity, generally speaking, this is not typical of new development going on in ATL, HOU, DAL.

I agree. Though in some areas I am a little less for them, but if for example someone is going to tear down an old house in not so great condition and replace it with a better house - I am all for it, especially if it contributes something more to the area than the older house did. If a multi-unit building is torn down near public transit and made way for a bunch of SFHs, then I'm a little less for that, personally.

[prelude91]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I agree. Though in some areas I am a little less for them, but if for example someone is going to tear down an old house in not so great condition and replace it with a better house - I am all for it, especially if it contributes something more to the area than the older house did. If a multi-unit building is torn down near public transit and made way for a bunch of SFHs, then I'm a little less for that, personally.

Absolutely, I wish Chicago embraced TOD more than it does today, there are so many missed opportunities around EL stations. Consider that virtually every piece of land near each Red Line Station north of Lake is completely under developed in some fashion; it is disappointing.

Additionally, Chicago has managed to destroy many of the city's 6 way intersections (most along Milwaukee, Lincoln, Clark) by allowing Banks/Fast Food Chains/etc to build their suburban style POS stores at these major intersections. I wish every 6 way intersection in this city looked as awesome as Damen/North/Milwaukee

I know none of this is really relevant to the thread, but just had to get that out there!

[chet everett]

The reality is that the system of letting aldermen have so much pull in getting things greenlighted there is zero incentive for any developer to give any thought to aethetics in commercial buildings. Huge wasted opportunity. The city could really learn some things from having a more above board process -- the "messy" public meetings in the suburbs may scare off some developers but the give-and-take that comes out of such meetings tends to result in an end product that has at least some aesthtic merits to mollify residents while being cost effective enough to suite the developers' financial target...

Of course the reason it does "work" in the suburbs that embrace this sort of mindset is that there is the right mix of stable residents, pragmatic elected / appointed officials , fair-minded professional staff and an appealing consumer base. Not sure how many spots in Chicago have all those ingredients.

Originally Posted by prelude91

Absolutely, I wish Chicago embraced TOD more than it does today, there are so many missed opportunities around EL stations. Consider that virtually every piece of land near each Red Line Station north of Lake is completely under developed in some fashion; it is disappointing.

Additionally, Chicago has managed to destroy many of the city's 6 way intersections (most along Milwaukee, Lincoln, Clark) by allowing Banks/Fast Food Chains/etc to build their suburban style POS stores at these major intersections. I wish every 6 way intersection in this city looked as awesome as Damen/North/Milwaukee

I know none of this is really relevant to the thread, but just had to get that out there!

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by prelude91

I wish every 6 way intersection in this city looked as awesome as Damen/North/Milwaukee

I wish the "Coyote Building" would become viable. The density there is great, but this building is in bad shape and apparently has problems attracting tenants. I'm not sure offices will ever be popular enough there again for that height of a building, so eventual apartment/condo conversion could be the only thing that saves it.

UPDATE: It sounds like someone may still be interested in turning it in to a hotel... Seems far-fetched, but stranger things have happened.

http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2...n-bucktown.php

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by prelude91

Absolutely, I wish Chicago embraced TOD more than it does today, there are so many missed opportunities around EL stations. Consider that virtually every piece of land near each Red Line Station north of Lake is completely under developed in some fashion; it is disappointing.

Additionally, Chicago has managed to destroy many of the city's 6 way intersections (most along Milwaukee, Lincoln, Clark) by allowing Banks/Fast Food Chains/etc to build their suburban style POS stores at these major intersections. I wish every 6 way intersection in this city looked as awesome as Damen/North/Milwaukee

I know none of this is really relevant to the thread, but just had to get that out there!

Yes, yes, yes I totally agree, although I think some stops north along the red line are a little better than others but not to their full potential.

It's EXTREMELY sad. The area around the Chicago stop is going to be a little better developed here soon, although not the parcels directly adjacent to it. The 33 story tower going in at Chicago & LaSalle and 35 story tower going in at State & Chestnut will help a little. The Archdiocese owns a giant parking lot at State & Chicago. The "Tower of Jewel" should be breaking ground later this year, hopefully that will put a 40 (?) story tower right on top of the red line at Clark & Division.

The six way intersection thing is sad. I'm hoping that new 10 story rental in Wicker Park will help spur some development and get things out of there. Also yesterday the developer from Seattle announced they want to put a 300 story development in River West near a 6 corner intersection. Maybe if that happens, then the 6 way there changes too.

It's sad nonetheless.

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by marothisu

All the cities on there are pretty much "sun belt" except NYC, Chicago, DC, and Boston.

Ha, that's four out of ten, though. Yep, they're all in the Sun Belt except the nearly half that aren't.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Interesting stats about construction expenditures. Note these numbers apparently represent construction within the city, not metro. NYC is a huge outlier at #1. DC and Boston are punching above their weight at #4 and #9 respectively. Chicago is #10. All the other cities are located in the Sunbelt.

Is a #10 ranking good, bad, or meh for Chicago?

Construction comeback: New York, Dallas, Houston, DC, and Atlanta lead the charge.

I'm not sure exactly what to make of this data without some more info. It's important to note that it is measuring expenditures, so cities with higher property values are going to see higher expenditures (NYC, Boston, LA). It's also important to note that the numbers cover January through May of this year - which isn't construction season in Northern cities, a year's worth of numbers would be more useful. I'd also like to see some numbers like raw numbers of buildings, housing units, permits granted or anything really to give some more perspective on it.

In general though I'm sure Chicago is lagging behind NYC and probably behind some Sunbelt cities that have a lot of unused land. The foreclosure and eviction moratorium in Cook County has also left Chicago trailing other cities as real estate has bounced back, but that may actually be a good thing.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Developer w/ Stake in Atrium Village Eyes River West Apts - Development Watch - Curbed Chicago

Interesting new development in a part of the city that's ripe for it. This intersection used to be much higher density, has a subway stop, and is close to River North.

It makes a lot of sense for more development to occur around the Chicago and Grand Blue Line stops, but the CTA needs to make some serious improvements to make those areas truly transit friendly. While the Chicago/Milwaukee intersection has loads of transit options they can be almost useless at rush hour. Anyone who takes the Blue Line or 66 bus into the Loop in the mornings can tell you how impossible it is to fit onto a train once you get that close into the Loop. Outside of AM rush hour the transportation options are great in the area.

[marothisu]

New construction permits issued since 2/11/2013 (until 6/27/2013). Blue markers = single family residences while red ones = multi dwelling. Some areas are good to see a number of things being built - like in Humboldt Park on the border of Humoldt Park and Logan Square between Humboldt Park Blvd and Kedzie, and north of North Avenue.

http://goo.gl/maps/WdjLB