CHICAGO | General Developments

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by j korzeniowski

you haven't been reading every block recently, then. not regarding this proposal, but complaints about re-zoning from single family homes to multi-unit, ever-present parking concerns and traffic issues.

makes me want to bang my head through a frigging wall.

There is a reason I don't read everyblock, lol. Everyblock attracts all the loser idiots of the area who don't have anyone better to complain to except the internet. Everyone else in the area has supported both 1611 and that 7 floor one over on Haddon.

[wierdaaron]

Ground being moved around for Grant Park Skate Park.



Full story here: Don't Forget About Grant Park's *Other* New Park [Curbed Chicago]

The array of skatable surfaces and obstacles for skateboarders, in-line skaters, and BMX bikers will be interspersed with trees and green life, and the skating area itself will be surrounded by landscaped lawn areas and a performance area for viewing Movies in the Park or various shows and events all totaling over a thousand trees planted of fifty varieties. There was even an eco-centric approach to groundwater drainage and retention, which allowed the design to forgo a sewer connection and handle rainwater naturally.The 11th Street bridge, which takes pedestrians over the South Shore Metra lines between Michigan Avenue and Columbus, will serve as a viewing platform where people will be able to watch the skaters from above.

I found the stuff about rainwater drainage interesting, considering how the site was previously a big grassy swamp from pooling rainwater.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by XIII

1660 W. Division St.

Nice to see the building on the corner will remain.

[Remy_Bork]

This looks like the building with the package goods liquor store is coming down though, right?

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by ardecila

What happens to the giant parking lot in the center of this block, then, after Division gets a 7-story building? There's a great opportunity to do a Harper Court-style development here, but not if the frontage along Division gets filled up and access to the interior is cut off.

To my eye, the rendering doesn't look wide enough to take up the entire vacant frontage. Maybe half of it?

[the urban politician]

The 1660 w Division project is very nice. I hope the Nimbys don't butcher it too much

[streetline]

Originally Posted by ardecila

What happens to the giant parking lot in the center of this block, then, after Division gets a 7-story building? There's a great opportunity to do a Harper Court-style development here, but not if the frontage along Division gets filled up and access to the interior is cut off.

It's hard to tell from the article and renderings, but I think the proposed building may only be to the west of the existing building at 1656, in which case it wouldn't really block the interior parking area.

I'd be interested to see the little plaza next to tocco extended south to division and lined on both sides by retail with residential above (with any vehicle access served by the adjacent alleys).

[ardecila]

Yeah, Mautene Court has some potential.

[marothisu]

Looks like the renovation of Lawrence House at 1020 W Lawrence is moving forward a little bit. They received an interior demolition permit a few weeks ago and when it's all said and done with will have 350 renovated apartments, meaning more affordable housing bites the dust in Uptown.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...-million-rehab

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Looks like the renovation of Lawrence House at 1020 W Lawrence is moving forward a little bit. They received an interior demolition permit a few weeks ago and when it's all said and done with will have 350 renovated apartments, meaning more affordable housing bites the dust in Uptown.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...-million-rehab

I live a couple blocks north near Kenmore and Foster and I have finally started noticing residents coming and going from the FLATS properties on Kenmore and Winthrop. The character of the immediate neighborhood has changed a lot since I first moved here a decade or so ago but if FLATS can fill their buildings and the Somerset is a success, it will be a totally different neighborhood.

[Skyguy_7]

The kid in me cannot wait to dominate this thing:

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Kenmore

I live a couple blocks north near Kenmore and Foster and I have finally started noticing residents coming and going from the FLATS properties on Kenmore and Winthrop. The character of the immediate neighborhood has changed a lot since I first moved here a decade or so ago but if FLATS can fill their buildings and the Somerset is a success, it will be a totally different neighborhood.

That's good to hear - don't they have a few more planned in the area? I know there seems to be other things changing there too and some new developments coming up. I think it was yesterday that a plan for a stretch of Broadway around Lawrence came out to beautify it and make it better.

http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2...p-broadway.php

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by XIII

Get ready for another Nimby-polooza

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140...-division-spot

An unfortunate trend with this new crop of infill that is double the height or more of the average building on the block is that the developers are making the mass of these buildings visually horizontally disposed (excepting 1611 Division, which does an admirable job of adding vertically to what is basically a cube). Presumably, this is to placate neighborhood groups and aldermen since the buildings don't look "tall", but the irony is that they end up being more incongruous with their environment when they are built because they are being dropped into blocks that have mostly vertically-oriented buildings (also, every other detail of the facade is usually over-scaled, and this contributes to incongruency just as much, IMO--see Belmont/Clark). You end up with a big, wide pile of building that pushes out to its sides against its neighbors rather than gracefully ascending with them (albeit above and beyond in the case of extra height, which I have no problem with). People also need to realize that a building's true height is rarely perceived; effects of shadowing aside, the psycho-difference between a 3-story building and a 7-story one when viewed at an oblique angle (walking down a sidewalk of the block the building is on, for instance) is a fraction of the absolute difference.

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by Kenmore

I live a couple blocks north near Kenmore and Foster and I have finally started noticing residents coming and going from the FLATS properties on Kenmore and Winthrop. The character of the immediate neighborhood has changed a lot since I first moved here a decade or so ago but if FLATS can fill their buildings and the Somerset is a success, it will be a totally different neighborhood.

I can't express how happy I am that the new guys behind the Somerset took off that nasty purple brick, bloated coarse, and ye old "chiseled stone" (lol...) "Somerset" plaque.

[SamInTheLoop]

^^ Sharp.

[marothisu]

16 new single family homes along with 12 new multi until buildings totaling 54 new units issued new construction building permits this year in the general Bronzeville/Douglas/Grand Boulevard area. 9 of those SFHs have been issued permits in June alone, with another one on May 30th. This is a great sign!

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by marothisu

That's good to hear - don't they have a few more planned in the area? I know there seems to be other things changing there too and some new developments coming up. I think it was yesterday that a plan for a stretch of Broadway around Lawrence came out to beautify it and make it better.

http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2...p-broadway.php

FLATS also bought a building on Broadway near Sun Wah (not sure what their plans are) and there is another medium sized apartment development on Broadway just north of Berwyn.

If some of these street makeovers (Argyle & Broadway/Lawrence) + the Wilson Station remodel work out as planned, it should make for one heck of a makeover. I just hope we can get some larger high-density developments on some of the surface lots in the area. Although I suspect that will have to wait until a future building cycle after this initial round of changes.

[marothisu]

Shops & Lofts at 47th in Bronzeville (47th and Cottage Grove). 96 units (24 CHA units, 44 LIHTC units, and 24 market rate units), 55,000 sq ft retail space anchored by Walmart Neighborhood Market. Looks like it's nearly done.

[The Lurker]

^ Beautiful development. Thanks for the pics and thanks for keeping the shorter side of construction interesting

[untitledreality]

WICKER PARK — A local developer wants to rehab a century-old building to help to make room for a project with about a dozen residential units and commercial space. The building, a greystone at 1726-28 W. Division St., houses two businesses and four homes.

Steve Lipe, of Lipe Property Co., plans to preserve the building, create an addition to the back of the structure and build a four-story building on the vacant lot next door at 1732 W. Division St. - DNAinfo

Nice little rehab and infill proposed for Division and Hermitage.