Where is the recession in Chicago? (Evanston, Lincoln: lease, insurance, condominium)

[ajolotl]

It would be hard to imagine the main shopping districts in the city looking any more packed with people than they have been for the last month. North and Clybourn area is a complete zoo no matter what store you go to -- furniture, good restaurants, mediocre restaurants, high-end boutiques. Michigan avenue is completely mobbed and as far as I can tell people are buying everything in site. In fact, every dinner reservation I make, ever show I want to attend, every store I go to is a mad house. South Loop Whole Foods - I can barely get in the door. North and Clybourn Whole FOods is even worse. Fox and Obel is just as bad.

There is a huge disconnect between what I read in the news and what I witness. Granted, I'm not talking about the poorer or working class areas, but you would still expect to feel a general lull and sense of reduced activity over the city as a whole. I don't notice that at all.

I'd be curious what others have experienced. Is Chicago overall faring relatively well even now, or am I being fooled by appearances?

[andrew61]

One thing I've noticed is that the Clark/Diversey area seems to have more vacant storefronts than usual. Same seems to be true in some other parts of Lakeview and Lincoln Park.

[hank0604]

I have thought that same thing a lot. A live about a block from the North, Milwaukee, Damen intersection, and the stores and restaurants here couldn't be busier. I will say the recession is definitely affecting the job market. I am pretty well qualified in my field, and I've been looking for a job unsuccessfully for about 2 solid months

[PacificWest]

It's interesting & funny you bring this topic up, my co-worker & i were just discussing this particular subject. I told him when you visit some other cities & towns in this country, it's quite obvious we are in a recession.

However, if you come to Chicago, you wouldn't know we were actually in a recession, unless someone told you, because it just doesn't appear to be. Especially, as you mentioned if you're Downtown or on the Magnificent Mile theirs ton of people everywhere shopping!

Yes, I do feel Chicago is faring relatively now, because Chicago is fortunate to have many industries to rely on in this down economy, unlike some cities & towns for example, have only the automobile or steel industry to depend on.

[soulful]

Here is a link that lists some specifics in terms of those coming out ahead vs. not in this recession. Please note the Lake View psychic who has seen a downturn. Psychics are clearly the losers in a recession (but that is predictable).

Recession winners, losers :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Business

[Drover]

Where's the recession? Try looking in the hole in the ground where the Spire was supposed to go, or the half-empty condo buildings in the South Loop (and several other the Michigan Avenue Borders store which announced its closing, or the 70% empty Trump Tower, or the 20% drop in property values, or the bankrupt Tribune Company, or the Block 37 development that is once again delayed indefinitely, or the mothballed CTA Washington Avenue superstation, or Motorola freezing its pension plan and spinning off its cell phone division to raise cash, or GGP on the verge of declaring bankruptcy, or Brach's shuttering its West side plant, or prominent Chicago law firms laying off not just associates but even partners... Chicago will probably weather the economy better than most cities but we are hardly immune.

[US-Traveller]

You are being fooled by appearances. Chicago and Illinois have been hit very hard by this recession. Cook County has been hit with record numbers of forclosures, specifically targeted in the southern and western parts of the City of Chicago. Chicago is an economic power and the economy is dominated by insurance and banking, two industries that have been hardest hit by this recession. If you look at the city budget we are struggling to get by eventhough we leased out the Skyway.

If you look at all of the cancelled condominium projects in the city and even Evanston you can see that the economy here is struggling. New construction properties in the upscale-suburbs continue to sit vacant, many built in 2007. There are less new construction housing starts. There are many things you can look at and tell that the local economy is struggling.

[ajolotl]

It's not that I cannot uncover any economic news that indicates a weak economy in Chicago, just that I would have expected things to look much different on the street based on the overall picture I get from reading these stories. It makes me wonder if the weak sectors are as far reaching as they might seem on first glance, or if there aren't other areas less reported on that are thriving (for example I've just had my best year ever). Or maybe there are a lot of people who had a hell of a lot of money, and now have maybe 50% of a hell of a lot of money.

Just something that struck me as incongruous, at least superficially.

Originally Posted by Drover

Where's the recession? Try looking in the hole in the ground where the Spire was supposed to go, or the half-empty condo buildings in the South Loop (and several other the Michigan Avenue Borders store which announced its closing, or the 70% empty Trump Tower, or the 20% drop in property values, or the bankrupt Tribune Company, or the Block 37 development that is once again delayed indefinitely, or the mothballed CTA Washington Avenue superstation, or Motorola freezing its pension plan and spinning off its cell phone division to raise cash, or GGP on the verge of declaring bankruptcy, or Brach's shuttering its West side plant, or prominent Chicago law firms laying off not just associates but even partners... Chicago will probably weather the economy better than most cities but we are hardly immune.

[Lookout Kid]

My industry has been hit hard by layoffs. But even if 20% of all architects in Chicago lost their jobs, there's still the other 80%. Even in the Great Depression, the majority of people still had jobs. For a recession to empty the streets of shoppers, unemployment would have to tick up more than a couple of percentage points.

[coldwine]

Ugh, I want to return to Chicago so badly it's rotting my teeth