Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Dan
That's interesting, I've never thought it about that way before, but the bolded is probably why chicago still sees so much small unit-count multi-family construction.
It's not that developers out in the neighborhoods wouldn't build more intensely, if allowed, but because they can easily snatch up individual underdeveloped 25'/50'x125' lots and throw up a 3/6-flat as of right, as opposed to going through a costly and laborious entitlement process (not to mention all of the increased construction costs of elevators, structured parking, etc.), 3/6-flats get built around me with unsurprising regularity.
So a lot of it really is zoning.
And local building culture.
When you've got an entire cottage industry of small-time players that know how to build 3/6-flats (and make a modest profit doing so), and the path of least legal resistance is to just build more 3/6-flats, guess what?
you get more 3/6-flats.
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Culture and ready teams sound like a big factor...but I bet developers would love one-acre sites in the high-demand parts of Chicago where those three-flats are happening.
But is looks like those are hard to find. I'm trying to find candidate properties on the free version of Loopnet...not seeing much, and what exists is mostly commercial, other than a sizable corner of Rosehill Cemetery (unused I hope!).