[Tcmetro]

I live in Pilsen and stopped by 88 Marketplace at Jefferson Square today. I'm surprised I didn't hear about it sooner, but I haven't really been getting over to Chinatown (or anywhere really) since the pandemic began.

The 88 Marketplace has to be the largest Chinese supermarket in the city. Good variety on packaged goods. Has a meat counter and some produce. There's also an outpost of Chiu Chon bakery, a place called BBQ King (I think they have a location in Chinatown as well), and a fish market that looked like a sushi restaurant (I didn't get a close look). There's a few home goods (basically pots and pans and the like) but it's similar in size to the Park To Shop on 18th and Canal. The store is actually on the second floor of the building, they have one of cart escalators, which was actually a little surprising. Overall, it's a nice addition to what feels like a very hot market for groceries in Chinatown. A few years ago there seemed to only be two groceries in the area, now there's probably four or five.

The first floor of the Jefferson Square development has the two restaurants. One is a hot pot place that is open. I'm not sure what the other one is, but it's still under construction. Those two are accessed from Jefferson St. There are a few more retail spaces inside. These are accessed from the same entrance with the escalator to the grocery store. One place will be a bubble tea spot, the others are still being constructed and it wasn't apparent what's going in.

This is definitely a place to drive to. They have a parking lot across the street from the building. It's interesting that restaurants have decided to locate here, they must be catering towards a local Chinese/neighborhood crowd, as I can't really imagine tourists wandering over.

The Harbor Square/Hoyt Square project has been slowly replacing windows. When I saw the sign for this project a few years ago I was skeptical it would actually happen, but it's a lot more hopeful now. It will be interesting to see if the residential parts happen, it doesn't seem very desirable given the industrial surroundings but I guess there's housing almost adjacent on the other side of the tracks.

I didn't go down to Canal Plaza, but I was on the Orange Line last week and saw a few signs for various businesses on the second floor parking side that faces the CTA tracks.

The hotel on Wentworth on top of the parking deck seems like it's almost finished. I walked past about a month ago and it looked like they were finishing out the entrance.

I think there was another grocery store or mall proposed at 18th and Canal? It will be very interesting to see if that happens or if the Jefferson Square expansion happens.