What's going on with this area? (Chicago, Ashland: sale, lease, houses)

[JoeisSweet]

Today I was looking at Google Maps trying to find how to get someplace and I saw this:

1756 W 14th St, Chicago, IL, United States - Google Maps

And if for some reason that link didn't work correctly the address to type into Google Maps is: 1756 W 14th St, Chicago, IL, United States


This just blew my mind away when I saw it. It's just abandoned land complete with old sidewalks, alleys, and the Pink Line going through it. It's only a couple blocks south of the UIC Med Center too.

What happened? This area west from Adam's Park is only about 10 to 15 minutes from downtown and it looks like one of those "Urban Parries" that they have in Detroit.

Was there some sort of huge fire that burned down everything or something? Does anyone know what is going on with this area of town?

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by JoeisSweet

...Was there some sort of huge fire that burned down everything or something? Does anyone know what is going on with this area of town?

There once were CHA housing project buildings there.

Here is my proof:

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohisto...ages/3712.html

I am not sure who owns the properties now. UIC might own them and possibly may expand the campus in the future.

[Tex?Il?]

That specific area was not housing projects, the map on the encyclopedia page shows no projects west of Ashland. There are sidewalks and ALLEYS that parallel them, (plus one or two old residences still standing) it was more likely a typical neighborhood of narrow houses and two flats.

From what I understand that was part of Chicagos main Italian neighborhoods back in the 60s. There was some massive displacement when Daley the first redeveloped the area when UIC and the Medical district was built. Plus the riots that took place there might have further disturbed the area and cause people to move away.

A friend of mine who works for the hospitals there told me that the city owns most of the land. She didn't know whether there were any solids plans to develop it yet.

BTW: You can find some of those same "urban prairies" throughout parts of the west and south side. Maybe not THAT big of an area where all the buildings are gone, but certainly blocks that are gapped-tooth. Plus there are former industrial areas where railyards, etc. have been torn off, and have reverted back to urban prairie.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

That specific area was not housing projects, the map on the encyclopedia page shows no projects west of Ashland...

I think you are wrong. I will have to look into it more.

[It'sAutomatic]

It was once a neighborhood. Some of the clearing of land might have been due to urban blight, but based on how empty it is, I assume it was razed by the city at some point, either for public housing, development that never happened, or for UIC. Currently it is held by UIC as land for future expansion of the medical center.

It really is a bizarre area, especially since there are still a handful of buildings around. It definitely looks like Detroit. I'm thinking about compiling a list of surviving buildings on the Near West Side.

[meatpuff]

There's some reference to what happened to this area in the Wikipedia article for University Village.
University Village, Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Referring to the area Ashland to Western, Roosevelt to 15th Pl. train tracks:

In 2005 this community of roughly 10,000 in the fifties and 5,000 in the nineties was completely destroyed overnight in a mass scale fire sale for land developers hungry to devour the last vestige of black community east of Western avenue. Today the land remains vacant and lifeless save for the new FBI building and University Police Station.

Neutral POV, eh, Wikipedia?

Is this right? I wonder what the city had in mind.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

It really is a bizarre area, especially since there are still a handful of buildings around. It definitely looks like Detroit.

Not to turn this into a stick-up-for Detroit thread or minimize the severity of Detroits problems. But not all, or even most of Detroit is dominated by totally or nearly empty blocks. There are many areas like this, yes. But there are also many areas particularly on the west side, where the housing is 100% intact, maintained, and in decent condition.

Also, there are a few areas on the southside, that are a little bit like this chunk of land south of the medical district.

[Mr Downtown]

No great mystery. The Illinois Medical District (not the city) has been aggressively buying up property in this area as it became available over the years. Old residents of the area sometimes called it "The Valley," apparently because of the elevated railroad tracks to the south. Here's a Reader story about the battle between longtime residents and IMD.

The Medical District is only allowed to purchase and assemble land for medical purposes, but that's sometimes rather generously interpreted, as in the case of the FBI headquarters. The area around 14th and Ashland is being leased for a new Costco store.

[JoeisSweet]

How long is it supposed to take for that to fill up with medical buildings, I wonder?

It looks like with that amount of vacant land someone could put up their own entirely new hospital.

[Lookout Kid]

There was a thread about this a year or two ago. These formerly residential blocks were cleared for expansion of the Medical District. So no, it's not Detroit-style abandonment--though you can find that elsewhere in some parts of Chicago.