^ Yeah, North/Clybourn is very much part of "neighborhood" Chicago and not "downtown" Chicago. It commands high retail rents because rich people live nearby, not because it is unique, prestigious, or has a attractive character.

Think about it this way: would you take your out-of-town friends to anywhere in the North/Clybourn area? (let's excuse Alinea and Steppenwolf, which are more historic Lincoln Park). The only thing I can think of is IO, and even they are only by North/Clybourn because they wanted lots of space. Beyond that, there's nothing at North/Clybourn that you won't find at Oak Brook or Old Orchard or countless other wealthy shopping areas around the country.

Wrigleyville is a major tourist attraction because it is fun and crazy, but also because it's walkable, fine-grained, transit and cab accessible, and anchored by one of America's most historic ballparks. It has a unique character and cachet because of this that North/Clybourn will never have. I rarely go to North/Clybourn even as a local, but I will happily take my visiting friends to Wrigleyville.

It will be interesting to see if the Wrigleyville je ne sais quoi translates into strong demand for retailers, and what kind of hard goods/soft goods retailers, if any, choose to open in the new complex.

I take my visitor friends to other neighborhoods when they've been downtown enough whether it's Chinatown, Wicker Park, Pilsen, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Hyde Park etc. I can say that I've never once considered taking them to North and Clybourn. There's a club that re-opened where Crobar was and that's probably literally the only time, if one of my visitors wanted to go to a club, that I'd consider taking anybody from out of town there. Otherwise, there's nothing about that area worth visiting for a visitor that downtown doesn't have.

Cool opinion. Thanks for sharing :tup:

Guys, I'm not saying North/Clybourn area is a top tier neighborhood because of it's unique cultural draws. It's near several great neighborhoods (Old Town, Lincoln Park) and very easily accessible to Wicker Park and the greater North/Clybourn area (if that is a thing) has some of the last developable major lots on the Adjacent to downtown on the North Side. It's also a major major shopping destination.

Is the area a complete embarrassment? Yes.
Do I completely hate and avoid that area? Of course.
Is the "neighborhood" a lost cause? Probably.

However, There are a lot of eyes on that area, and the New City was probably the final nail in the coffin for any "rise from the ashes like a phoenix" for the immediate area, and that is quite disappointing and embarrassing as a Chicagoan. At least to me.

^^^ I disagree, New City might be ugly and less than perfect from a planning perspective, but it is light years ahead of the uses that first colonized this area. I can see New City being an ugly corner in an otherwise nice, urban, area. I can't see the strip mall complexes north of North being anything but totally hostile to basic urban planning principals and anything but humans sheathed in metal eggs.

Also, did anyone notice the nice bit of sprucing up that Yandorf's Hall at the NE corner of North and Halsted got? It was already in fantastic condition, but is now near mint. The corner of North and Halsted, if viewed totally out of context, gives me hope for what the area can become if development pressures gradually wipe out the underutilized parcels. Yeah the area sucks now, but it's gradually improving. New City sucks relative to what we could have gotten, but it is also way better than what we would have gotten there 10 years ago.

Finally, that little apartment building near SoNo is nearly done and has some sick red cladding going up on it. I didn't get close enough to spy exactly what the situation is, but it looks Optima esque from a few blocks away. Another development that gives one hope, several dozen apartments and no new parking. It's only a matter of time before someone realizes they can raze World Market or the Container Store and cram two or three floors of retail with apartments or offices on top in there. There are also several extremely dense developments going up East of the Brown Line on North which look likely to help tie this area into the much more urban districts further East.

Point is, all hope is not lost for North/Clyborn.

Isn't there another hotel proposed for that district?

Of course, as long as demolition contractors exist, there is hope for an area like North/Clybourn where earlier developments were so poorly conceived. But damn it, that's gonna be a lot of demolition. I'm giving it 30 years

Is this the proper thread to post pics of Wrigley construction? ..Or is it strictly for discussing New City :shrug::haha:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8281/2...58684275_z.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8495/2...a811dc6d_b.jpg

What angle/street is that pic looking down?

2nd pic is looking north along Clark at Addison.

Man it's going to be so awful having 5-7 story buildings completely surrounding this intersection instead of vacant lots and shitty rundown single story bars and a McDonalds. /s

The hotel has a name now - Hotel Zachary. Not sure if it will be operated by SPG anymore, but yeah.

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2016...-wrigley-field

https://assets.dnainfo.com/photo/201...extralarge.jpg

The hotel design has gotten a lot better since the original Ye Olde Hotel & Inne that we saw a ways back.

I like this. It will activate that depressing block. I like the direction this is going.

Agreed - it's come a ways since the first renderings. Let's hope it turns out well... Also really cool are the potential four eateries/restaurants. Should enhance the area, hopefully a little bit and elevate the level of food.

Exactly. Really happy with how it's evolved

Definitely has improved. Looks much better, thats alot of glass. I used to live a couple blocks away. I hope they put up alot of cameras to catch the undeniable idiots who will mess with that frontage. I'm a lifer cubs fan but sadly those dumbasses are still out there that would take a leak on my front porch every other night after the games. I suppose the police force is strong enough at clark/addison to not have to worry about it.

wow, what a DRASTIC improvement!!!

The city should require ROW dedications on all new development in the area because the sidewalks in Wrigleyville are far too narrow.

I like it a lot better than the 1997 Schaumburg Hilton Garden they had rendered before.

I'm also impressed with the McDonalds and SIX full service restaurants.

Meant to post these already, taken on Friday Sept 2nd from the party deck.

Plaza Construction
http://i65.tinypic.com/9tiazc.jpg

Mostly the skyline, but can see the demo work south of Addison
http://i66.tinypic.com/vfz6n8.jpg

It's nice to have the restaurants, but I sort of would prefer to see a mix of other retail as well.