Its not, that's kinda the point, lol. I'm a big believer in getting the highest quality education possible even if you have to stretch to afford it and would send any future offspring of mine to the Lab School in a heartbeat (assuming they get in, lol).

Changes to UChicago Medical Center
 

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...xpansion-plans

Here's a first look at U of C Medicine's $270 million trauma center, expansion plan
By KRISTEN SCHORSCH

Looks like they will be building vertically over the new parking garage. The article includes some conceptual renderings, but no design/architect has been chosen.

Photo from the article:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/apps/...20160218091152

Did anyone attend the 2/18 Plan Commission meeting? Each of these should have gone before the commission for approval. The latter site has sat fallow for some time now.

The townhouses planned for the latter site are flat and uninspiring, but both projects were approved.

Solstice will be rental instead of condo, hence the increased density. They've also positioned the tower further to the south, closer to the street. I was told they'd like to begin construction in the fall.

Solstice on the Park development plans approved

http://i67.tinypic.com/mwv5hd.jpg

I just love this boom going on right now in Hyde Park. When was the last time, before this boom, that anything even close to this scale went up in HP?

The Hyde Park Tower Apartments opened in 1990, as did the The Montgomery Place. The former tops out at 255 feet, while the latter rises to 148 feet.

The developers behind the new hotel at 53rd/Dorchester showed off a new rendering last night:

http://i.imgur.com/duC5gUQl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/duC5gUQ.jpg
(sorry about the quality, only had my phone with me to take pictures)

The PD paperwork has been filed, and they hope to begin construction this summer, though they admitted that it might actually take until fall.

Do you know which hotel flag?

It's going to be a boutique hotel run by SMART Hotels (http://www.smarthotelsgroup.com/)

I noticed that a building permit was issued for 5315 S Maryland:
Pretty small potatoes, but always good to see. There's already a 3 flat condo building going up at 55th and Woodlawn. I'm hopeful that we will see a few other vacant lots in HP gobbled up this cycle, at the very least the ones that UofC sold to a student housing manager/developer.

Right next to Starbucks.

There aren't that many vacant lots in the area.

The SE corner I assume? Nice, I really like the massing and the corner presence. Hard to tell the quality of the materials from this image, but it's got promise. A good fit for that corner.

Good, hopefully they make a killing gobbling up whatever scraps of land are available in the central part of Hyde park and move on to the North and NW. I could see the boom in Hyde Park starting to spill over into the surrounding areas. Eventually HP proper will be filled to the brim and growth will have to find an outlet.

It looked really great in person. I asked the architect and he said they are committed to using brick.

The housing market for the northern end of HP definitely seems to be trending up since I first started watching the market a year ago in preparation for buying a condo. For now there are still some deals to be had, and a bunch of rehab opportunities (if only I had the time and money...). I think we might see at least two-three more high rises (including Solstice) this cycle if we are lucky (I'm hoping that one of these will be the Harper Court residential tower, since entitlements are in place and HP NIMBYs will not be able to delay it).

Here's a quick picture I took this weekend of the progress on Vue53 as seen from Nichols Park:
http://i.imgur.com/HDooT8Gl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HDooT8G.jpg

Fantastic news this morning:
:cheers::cheers::cheers:

^That's great news. Having places like Target, HomeGoods, Whole Foods, etc. to actually buy stuff will make this whole area more desirable and livable.

Speaking of VUE53, here's a construction update from their FB page:

http://s29.postimg.org/fmkhxqryv/107...38568705_o.jpg
http://s29.postimg.org/53ki8kpav/106...50426929_o.jpg

And if Hyde Park can become a major retail district that opens up access to these retail options up to a large number of existing residents in other South side neighborhoods (not to mention the low and middle wage jobs). This trend will improve the quality of life for a lot of people.

Other project updates
 

City Hyde Park looks like it is nearly done or at least occupied.

Photos from City Hyde Park FB
http://s24.postimg.org/5c66gbjt1/127...41216_n_jp.jpg
http://s15.postimg.org/72lwlab97/127...391898_n_j.jpg
http://s7.postimg.org/sisa1wt63/1276...54040680_o.jpg

---
Also came across this old aerial of Harper Court that I liked.
http://s13.postimg.org/5ibafxlfr/46285_11.jpg
Source
Now that City Hyde Park, Vue53, Harper Court (phase 1) are done deals and it looks like Solstice might finally start, I wonder what the next big project could be. Remember that they can still build 3 more buildings on top of Harper Court and Antheus owns the parking lot at 53rd and Cornell (shown above) where a previous highrise was proposed...