Development of Schaumburg’s former Motorola campus
 

Great read. A lot going on here, with a shift in mindset towards density, mixed uses. I recommend reading the whole article but I included an excerpt:

Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/chicago/news/...medium=Browser

So this may be happening sooner than I had anticipated: drove past this earlier today while at the mall and all of the mature trees have been removed, and there is construction fencing around the site perimeter. I'm not 100% certain about ALL of the trees as I just barely glanced over as I drove around that corner of the mall, and while the five story office building was still intact, the site did appear to have been cleared off..

Edit: better image of the tower:
https://static.neighborhoods.com/blo...d179bb7036.jpg
https://www.neighborhoods.com/blog/l...llest-building

South and Harlem - Oak Park
 

March 22



April 6



April 11



April 17



April 19

District House - Oak Park
 

April 22







April 24

South and Harlem
 

May 9



May 14


First half done. The newly completed Emerson on the Right

May 15


Elevator shaft for the other side.

A few more high rises in the downtown area and Oakpark might feel pretty urban. Fun to watch

Oak Park already feels pretty urban, at least for a suburb

That's what I mean though. You won't need to even add the caveat "for a suburb" soon

Oak Park - Albion -Demo
 

May 10



May 16



May 19

Oak Park and Evanston are really extensions of the City in terms of urban metrics. No place in the entire Southwest Side of Chicago is equivalent.

Maybe suburban developments should be in the General thread (or a Suburban General thread) but suburban high rises should go to the High rise thread. The West Loop seems to get a pass...
:runaway:

That last set by HarryC is really a preview of the new Michael Bay Transformers movie. "Transformers Attack Oak Park."

I would add Cicero into that extension of the city thought. It may not create a periphery urban cluster, but its population density is greater than Chicago itself, while having a respectable population over 80k. its like a Chicago neighborhood that never got incorporated.

^ Don't forget about Berwyn! It has a pop density greater than Cicero, Oak Park, Evanston, or Chicago. It has a decent sized "downtown" around the Berwyn station (total of 3 metra stops in town) as well as a gorgeous, nearly intact prewar commercial district along Cermak Rd.

And last, but not least...

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/02..._1024x1024.png

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERWYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYN!"

:)

It's been all downhill since they lost the spike.

I was really hoping someone would have stepped forward to transport it to another location. They were giving it away for free FFS!

Honestly though, Berwyn really screwed up there. The spike was a popular and recognizable icon for the city. They couldn't have built the damn Walgreens 100 feet to the west of it?

The rest of the public art at Cermak Plaza I didn't care much for, however. The giant America made up of garbage always made me chuckle though.

Thumbs up. Berwyn's awesome.

Developer slashes planned building height
https://evanstonnow.com/story/real-e...uilding-height

i wish the area around the Metra was better, but honestly its been struggling for a long time. theres really not much there. there was a period where it seemed like it might take off as a vintage/antiques district (similar to what Madison in Forest Park has successfully done), but unfortunately a lot of those places have folded. i get the sense the commercial vacancies are pretty high around there. just dosent get good foot traffic despite the train stations.

Cermak has a lot of potential, but its such an auto sewer in its current state. i wish theyd do a road diet, put in bike lanes, etc. The storefronts are great and is probably Berwyns best shot at creating something similar to Madison or Lake, but its got a long way to go. still far too many strip malls/drive throughs, but also some really beautiful prewar mixed with scattered cool midcentury stuff

the real trump card there is the housing stock. i sure do wonder what would have been had the Douglas BLue Line branch never been retired though

I feel like there is huge potential for light rail in these moderate density parts of Chicago just beyond the reach of the heavy rapid transit. The ROW is still there for the old tracks following Cermak, the right of way from the end of the Blue Line West is mostly there. You have giant arterial streets like Cicero, North Ave, Western, etc. The ideal situation would be LRT down the middle of the street essentially replicating the old street car service these areas were built around.

A dream of mine is a recreation of the old feeder street car lines in LRT form in the outlying moderate density parts of the city, particularly useful in the huge transit deadzones like the far NW side or Berwyn or the areas down by Midway or connecting the Orange and Pink Lines together on Cicero or along Ogden.

Downtown Des Plaines
 

A few months back this development was rejected.
I was surprised to read this article.
Good to see more density in the downtown area.


https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2018...tment-complex/