CHICAGO | General Developments

[Marcu]

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

cripes, weekend Crains

I did a serach and this is the only other thing I could find on it....



Don't know if the Crains article mentioned that but I would sure like to know. Seriously what goes here is very important and shouldn't be schlock. From just what I can read of the above I can't say I like the sound of it much even though I would like to see more density in the area. I wish someone would work on the empty lots west of the stadium before moving in south of Addison. Why in the heck the hood would need a big box store like something akin to Best Buy I can't even fathom.

I serously doubt that Best Buy would want to locate there especially considering they have a location just south of there in Lincoln Park. It'll probably be an Urban Outfitters or an Old Navy or something.

[Dan in Chicago]

Big news for Chicagoland infrastructure: the southern extension of Interstate 355 (Veterans Memorial Tollway) opened yesterday, connecting what used to be the North-South Tollway with Interstate 80 in New Lenox. There are plans to extend it further toward Peotone and to link up with an Illiana Expressway, creating an outer beltway from I-65 in Indiana all the way to Long Grove. (Plans for a Lake County extension seem to have stalled.)

http://www.illinoistollway.com

[VivaLFuego]

Noticed that the ugly Burger King/Taco Fresco on the SW corner of LaSalle/North is closed. Of course, now an eyesore is even worse. Anyone know of any plans for this site? Were they closed for lack of business, or does the owner have some plans? It's a big enough site to support something of a decent size (perhaps 6-8 stories), and has an excellent location.

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by Dan in Chicago

Big news for Chicagoland infrastructure: the southern extension of Interstate 355 (Veterans Memorial Tollway) opened yesterday, connecting what used to be the North-South Tollway with Interstate 80 in New Lenox. There are plans to extend it further toward Peotone and to link up with an Illiana Expressway, creating an outer beltway from I-65 in Indiana all the way to Long Grove. (Plans for a Lake County extension seem to have stalled.)

http://www.illinoistollway.com

Well, I guess as long as it's a toll road and all the landowners are fairly compensated...

[aaron38]

I did some sluthing today with some downtown Palatine projects because I had some concerns, and the results aren't that great.

One project, a 47 unit 4 story condo building, has actually stalled out in the middle of construction. They did the foundation work and started building up the half basement parking garage level, then just stopped. That was several months ago now. There's just the first 8 feet built, and no sign of any workers.

I called the developer, and they said sales have stalled at 20%. They denied that construction was on hold, but it obviously is. I hope it doesn't crash and burn, becuase we'd be left with an eyesore if they can't get the sales to finish it off. If you look at the link, they've built up as high as the little pink trees.
http://www.rfranczak.com/pages/the_h...latine/219.php


2nd is the Focus Development 109 unit project that was supposed to break ground in Aug. No sign of any demo yet, and their sales office also reports sales stalled at 20%.
http://www.focusdevelopment.com/prop...d=37&menu_id=1


I just hope these projects have a soft landing and get going again after a bit of delay.

[chicagoguy1]

Burger King/ Taco Fresco they are putting another bank, like Chicago needs another bank branch. I would rather have the burger king. Not for sure what bank branch.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by chicagoguy1

Burger King/ Taco Fresco they are putting another bank, like Chicago needs another bank branch. I would rather have the burger king. Not for sure what bank branch.

That's really disappointing. Will that be a new development, or a reuse?

The site is zoned B3-5, so a developer could put up a mixed use building in the 8-story range as of right, anything above about 3-stories would have park and lake views.....what a missed opportunity if its a 1-story bank with a drive-through Let me guess: Bank of America? They seem to be the worst offender of putting up suburban schlock in prime urban corner retail spaces.

[Chicago2020]

I just got this email today:

Grant Park Advisory Council and Grant Park Conservancy public meeting

Monday, November 12, 2007 - 6:30 p.m.

Daley Bicentennial Plaza - 337 E. Randolph just east of Columbus Drive.

Daley Bicentennial Plaza new park construction and the rebuilding of the East Monroe Street Garage.

We want to hear your ideas and suggestions about what you would like to see created in the new park and get input about garage construction.

In a 99-year concession sale and lease, Morgan Stanley and Laz Parking ( garage operators) have leased four Grant Park garages for $563 million. This is the first such undertaking of a public parking system in the country. One of the garages, the East Monroe Garage, at Daley Bicentennial Plaza, has to be rebuilt in the very near future. Unfortunately, as can be determined so far, the entire park on top of it has to be removed. This means that the greenspace directly east of Millennium Park, from Randolph to Monroe and from the Cancer Survivor's Garden to Columbus Drive has to be removed to rebuild the garage underneath. Should this be done in phases or all at once? We are still trying to determine if any of the many large, beautiful honey locust trees, at the very east and west ends of the property, can be saved.

The positive aspect of rebuilding the underground garage is that it also affords an incredible opportunity to create a whole new, interesting, and world-class park space on the other side of the BP Bridge from Millennium Park. The timing of this opportunity is great in that so many international projects are coming to fruition in and around Grant Park and being financed through public/private partnerships during one of Chicago's greatest renaissances.

The $563 million Grant Park garage concession sale and lease was broken down as follows:

$122 million will go toward Chicago Park District park improvements in many neighborhoods throughout the city.

$35 million will be used to rebuild the Daley Bicentennial Plaza park greenspace when the East Monroe Garage is rebuilt in the near future. This new garage is estimated to cost over $60 million and will be paid for by the lessee.

$120 million will be reserved to generate income to replace the income lost from the garages when operated by the Chicago Park District.

$278 million will pay off all of the debt associated with all of the public garages.

$8 million was/will be used for fees.

Please come out and give us your input and ideas about what could be built at Daley Bicentennial Plaza over the garage.

Grant Park continues to be Chicago's ever-improving front yard to the world as a downtown, lively outdoor civic center in a botanic garden setting. It is also financing well over $125 million in neighborhood park improvements in many neighborhoods throughout the city and that does not include the millions of dollars in new property tax revenue generated by all of the new residential construction around the park.

Thank you very much for your interest and participation.

Please contact:
Bob O'Neill
Phone: 312-829-8015

[BorisMolotov]

This could be interesting...

[Mr Man]

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive...619C946196D6CF

CHICAGO WANTS 3,000,000
Annexation of Everything Within 100 Miles Is Being Agitated.
;-)

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ Man, where'd you find that? I wish we would have annexed all those bastards, then there would be no such thing as suburbs...

[forumly_chgoman]

Originally Posted by Mr Man

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive...619C946196D6CF

CHICAGO WANTS 3,000,000
Annexation of Everything Within 100 Miles Is Being Agitated.
;-)

someone should do a census analysis on this & see what the population would be if this was indeed the case

[Mr Man]

I for one think it would be really cool if we had something like

The end of Chicago Bar and Grill
80000 W. Ivring Park Rd.
Chicago, IL
Lee County

haha.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Mr Man

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive...619C946196D6CF

CHICAGO WANTS 3,000,000
Annexation of Everything Within 100 Miles Is Being Agitated.
;-)

^ UGH! PDF file....

Please warn us next time

[aaron38]

Originally Posted by forumly_chgoman

someone should do a census analysis on this & see what the population would be if this was indeed the case

Ah, the joys of procrastinating work at the start of the day....
Counting only Illinois, a 100 mile Chicago would run from Rockford to LaSalle Peru to Kankakee.
It would wholy or substantially encompass the following counties: Boone, Bureau, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Iroquois, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, McHenry, Ogle, Putnam, Winnebago, Will.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/illinois_map.html

The 2006 population breakdown is as follows:
Cook: 5,303,683
5 collar counties: 3,060,711
Everything else: 1,006,315

Grand total: 9,370,709

[Untitled]

^^ You could have Indiana's Lake County, too. I have it on good authority that Hoosiers would be glad to be rid of it.

(guy who once lived for a year in Hammond, Ind.)

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

^^^ Man, where'd you find that? I wish we would have annexed all those bastards, then there would be no such thing as suburbs...

there would still be suburbs. just further out.

[jpIllInoIs]

100 miles to the city limits would have engulfed all of Lake, McHenry, Boone and Winnebago Counties including Rockford to the north. To the west all of Dupage, Kane, Dekalb coounties and into the town of Rochelle. To the southwest all of Will, Kendall, Grundy and LaSalle counties into the town of Peru. To the south all of Will, Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford and Livingston counties. The suburbs would be : Bloomington, Champaign, Peoria and Danville.

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by Mr Man

There is some decent bars in that block. I hope he does not buy any more land beyond the parking losts he already owns. I would love to see that McDonalds redeveloped into an entertainment center though.

These properties encompass Pizza-ria!, Red Ivy, Mullen's, Goose Island, Salt & Pepper Diner, Improv Olympic, Bar Louie, that smallish souvenir shop, Starbucks, and 7-11. No real losses along Addison, but Clark is kind of another story. I truly hope this project gets that horrible eyesore cinderblock souvenir shop on the corner with the billboards, since that's currently one of the non-highlighted properties. I also really hate to see some of the most venerable and popular businesses in the area displaced when there's still many parking lots around. Wrigley needs to get its stalled parking/entertainment/retail project going to free up some of the surface lots around. It's good to see the 7-11 go, even though I would bet it's one of the highest grossing locations, if only because it begins a shift away from car-oriented businesses (the area has enough traffic as-is) - I'd like to see the Taco Bell, McDonald's, and U-Haul (as much as I like prewar gas stations, this isn't the place) redeveloped sooner than this corner. Likewise, the east side of Clark between Waveland and Wrigleysville Dog is a dead zone and could use development.

[trvlr70]

Anyone have any details about this possible merger?

The good news is that the name and corporate headquarters will remain United and in Chicago.