I'm also betting that the holdout's will make more money selling now than they would have selling off to Addison Park. I'm not sure when the developer made the purchase agreements for all of those buildings, but it must have been years ago. The projects across Addison, the redevelopment of Wrigley Field and Addison Park itself has more than likely increased everyone's property values significantly in the area.

I also would much rather have the corner parcels be something different than have that massive behemoth of a retail podium turning the corner.

Exactly

Oh please, whoof down a chicken quesadilla when you're starving and tell me it's bad...

...just steer clear of anything ground beef, it's butthole meat.

Literally it's made of cow buttholes...

I wouldn't be so sure. The price that's being paid for the land has to be recouped by revenue generated by whatever replaced the original business. The planned replacement seems a bit modest to support paying a truckload of money for the land and building.

Muscle is muscle, whether it surrounds the anus or services the arms and legs :D

Funny I was talking with a friend last night who's parents own and run properties all around Sheffield and I mentioned that Auto shop that just got bought out and wondering why they waited until now to sell.

My friend said the owners are actually friends of his family and they've known each other for years. My friend's father kept telling them to sell out when the huge development surrounding them was offering, as the deal was amazing, but the auto body owners have owned it for decades and it's their family run business. They didn't have much wits about them or realize what was going on, and just said "what! no, that's crazy, this is our family business!".

Fast forward to now with the construction and a few years down the road and someone else offered and they just decided with all the change they might as well sell.

So it wasn't even some well thought out plan or a motive, they were just naïve and liked their family run business and chose to get out randomly when enough people were getting in their ear saying HELLO! SELL!!!

Nice - I'm really not surprised. A lot of people, even when they own businesses, are so caught up in it that they can't see the forest for the trees. Like they could have a viable business but it's completely possible that the price of their property has increased so much without them knowing, that they could get more out of just selling than they would get from being in business for the next 15-20 years.

A friend of mine's landlord owns or owned that 1 story building with a Chase branch at Chicago & Clark. Probably 3 years ago I told him that it might be in his best interest to look into selling it due to a bunch of big proposals in the immediate area and whatever. He kind of disregarded it and actually offering some discounted rent to a few smaller tenants.

Pretty sure a few months ago we saw a high rise proposal for that plot of land. Hopefully he took my advice now. It's pretty crazy how clouded people can be even with stuff happening literally right around them.

money isnt the motivating factor for everyone, although i guess everyone has their price. lots of people simply like their business or where they happen to live, "grand master plans" be damned.

my GF gets speculators knocking on her door telling her they'll pay her cash for her house on a semi regular basis. she has childhood connections to the home. grew up on the same block and knew the woman who lived there before she died, lots of fond memories. the womans family sold the home directly to her and never even listed it, was basically a handshake deal and for dirt cheap as well. wasnt even in the market for a house but saw them emptying out the womans things after she dies and made an offer while standing in the alley. she tells the speculators to go F themselves every time :P (truly, if you are in the business of flipping id avoid knocking on her door, it will not go well for you)

Well, yeah that's true - in the case of my friend's landlord though money was a motivation. You are right though, not everyone is like that but there are some people who end up being swayed who originally don't think money is a factor - until they realize just how much they're talking about. Look at a few of the most recent family owned businesses to sell int he West Loop. It's pretty crazy.

When you have connections from childhood though, that says a lot. My parents built the house I grew up in for 2/3 of my childhood. The housing prices where they live have increased and my mom told me they get about a cold call per week from realtors asking if they want to sell. Apparently a few of the neighbors have given in. Nobody is looking to tear these down either. My parents paid off their house probably 15 years ago and have no motivation to sell. Although I'm not super fond of the city I grew up in, the house still holds tons of memories and I'd hate to see it torn down ever.

yea its true. at some point you wake up and realize that they thing you cherished has changed with the sands of time, whether you wanted it to or not. "you cant go home again" as the saying goes.

that said, her neighborhood is a long ways away from that, which makes it all the more bizarree. certainly no shortage of cheap homes for sale in the surrounding area that theyd need to resort to cold calling, and hers isnt anything particularly special either.

If I may ask, which community area is this? It's kind of interesting.. there are a few areas I've noticed from doing my maps that have a sneaky amount of activity.

LV. this most recent guy was from the far suburbs too, and addressed her by name which was more than a little creepy (i know its all public records but still....)

Lakeview? There's tons of movement going on there whether it's renovations or tear downs for the last handful of years.

^ it would seem to me that property values are already way too high in lakeview to have those kind of cold-call speculators knocking on doors and making phone calls.

no, little village. and the far west no mans land part of it at that.

anyway, the letter went in the garbage and if anyone else here is considering sending her one id think twice :)

Ahhhh, nice. Yeah not too much going on there, but I have seen a small amount of movement in the last few months. Even very far west, but it's not a lot. That is very interesting especially if she's getting a lot of offers. I'm actually kind of surprised. I like Little Village but didn't think it would get offers like that right now.

I almost think this kind of solicitation should be illegal. I worry a lot of elderly folks will get charmed into a bad deal for their homes. It's the kind of business best handled by the owner's attorneys or agents when their property will hit the market, and they are the point of contact for interested parties.

Also, is the autoshop really sold? Even thought it can take a few months to get recorded, still shows the same owner

Go on...

Hate to break it to you guys but Little Village is already there complete with racist hostile anti-gentrification assholes. Here's what I woke up to painted on my historic corner turret six flat:

http://i.imgur.com/NutQoan.jpg

The other side of my building got hit on the fire escape with a huge "TDM" tag last weekend and I had removed it by Monday night. The guy must have been pissed... Pisses me off though since I literally saved this thing from demolition court and put everything I owned on the line to make it pristine. Some people are just twat.