CHICAGO | General Developments - v2.0

[k1052]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

There's now a pending permit for the Backbeat Hotel at 3255-57 N. Halsted St. Chicago's midrise boom continues.


https://backbeathotel.com/

Figured this and Tryst up the street were waiting until all the summer festivities along Halsted were done for this year.

[catb]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

Speaking of Bronzeville, this seems to be the only neighborhood in the entire city that's still building new greystones. Here's a new 4-flat proposed for 419 E. 50th St, presented at the April Permit Review committee. Certainly a big reason is that many blocks in Bronzeville are landmark districts, so buildings have to match the architectural character of the block. But surely it can't be that expensive to use limestone cladding for the facade, right?

Also for anyone curious, here's the company that's sourcing the limestone: https://www.readingrock.com/custom-cast-stone






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-wTvkg0KUw

This is so beautiful. Perfect infill for Chicago. Hopefully we can get more limestone throughout the city. I sometimes see creative infill in Bucktown/Wicker Park, but often new build three-flat designs are flat and boring.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by sentinel

^^Looks nice, but I really do not understand this desire to look backwards than forward. That design is already dated

RandomGuy did mention that the development is likely located in a landmark district, and thus probably had to adhere to strict design rules.

That said, I think it looks great. The design is less "dated" than it is "timeless", IMHO.

[Jstange059]

Permit should be issued
I’ve been waiting for so long to see this building rise

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Jstange059

I’ve been waiting for so long to see this building rise

Ditto.

I live a couple blocks away, and can't wait to see that ugly-ass vacant lot bite the dust.


Fantastic news!!

It's been so long, what's the unit count on this one?

[dewbs]

Proposal for 4531 N Clark:


9 condos, 10 parking spaces.

Interesting to note that the existing zoning allows for 8 units and a building of the same height, but the proposed zoning change (from C1-2 to C1-3) would allow for one more unit, more parking spaces and more floor area. Because this building would be under 10 units, the city's affordable requirements ordinance (ARO) does not apply and the ward office cannot require them of the developer.

Ald. Clay's office is planning an online community meeting to discuss the proposal at 6 PM on August 27. Clark Street Neighbors Association is the local block club for this proposal.

Replacing this:

[twister244]

As someone who has only lived in the Chicago since 2021..... Is this level of low/mid rise (4-7) story development common across the years? Or this reflective of a trend to build more in the city than was the case before Covid?

I ask as I am still super interested in the trend of Chicago real estate. We continue to buck national trends, and I can't think it's just due to local governance/policy as that has always been there.

The unit next to me (Logan Sq / Bucktown) just sold about $100k above what I paid for my unit in February 2022 - That seems to reflect something going on here that I haven't quite picked up on yet - Other than Chicago is an amazing fucking city and maybe people are suddenly realizing this.......

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by twister244

As someone who has only lived in the Chicago since 2021..... Is this level of low/mid rise (4-7) story development common across the years? Or this reflective of a trend to build more in the city than was the case before Covid?

I ask as I am still super interested in the trend of Chicago real estate. We continue to buck national trends, and I can't think it's just due to local governance/policy as that has always been there.

The unit next to me (Logan Sq / Bucktown) just sold about $100k above what I paid for my unit in February 2022 - That seems to reflect something going on here that I haven't quite picked up on yet - Other than Chicago is an amazing fucking city and maybe people are suddenly realizing this.......

I've lived here almost my entire life, and I feel strongly that this 4-7 story infill trend is pretty recent, and thankfully, growing like crazy! It's pretty wild seeing so much new quality housing infill in gap areas all around the city.

And yeah, I think it's a combination of post-Covid realities, current national political climate and affordability that is making a LOT of people from outside the area wake up to what Chicago offers (ignore all of the recent tornados!!)

The newer terminology is still slightly nebulous to me, but would these type of structures be defined as "missing middle" housing, or is that primarily defined as single-family, 2 or 3-flats?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by sentinel

The newer terminology is still slightly nebulous to me, but would these type of structures be defined as "missing middle" housing, or is that primarily defined as single-family, 2 or 3-flats?

"Missing middle housing" doesn't have an official OED definition, but it's most commonly used to refer to any housing that's between a detached SFH and a full-on apartment building.

The line between small-scale MFH (like flats) and a full-on apartment buildings can be nebulous, but in the case of Chicago, I think an upper limit of 9 units makes sense, because that's the point at which a lot of our local rules change regarding MFH.

Pretty much all of these infill mid-rises starting to line the arterials all over town are 10+ units, so i would exclude them from "missing middle", which is a term much more aligned with our city's legions of flat buildings.

But it doesn't much matter what we call any of it; I say bring it on! Bring it all on!!!

High-rises, mid-rises, 3-flats, whatever..... let's build more MFH!

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

"Missing middle housing" doesn't have an official OED definition, but it's most commonly used to refer to any housing that's between a detached SFH and a full-on apartment building.

The line between small-scale MFH (like flats) and a full-on apartment buildings can be nebulous, but in the case of Chicago, I think an upper limit of 9 units makes sense, because that's the point at which a lot of our local rules change regarding MFH.

Pretty much all of these infill mid-rises starting to line the arterials all over town are 10+ units, so i would exude them from "missing middle", which is a term much more aligned with our city's legions of flat buildings.

But it doesn't much matter what we call any of it; I say bring it on! Bring it all on!!!

High-rises, mid-risess, 3-flats, whatever..... let's build more MFH!

Thanks for the explanation, which absolutely makes sense. And yeah, gimme everything.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by twister244

As someone who has only lived in the Chicago since 2021..... Is this level of low/mid rise (4-7) story development common across the years? Or this reflective of a trend to build more in the city than was the case before Covid?

I ask as I am still super interested in the trend of Chicago real estate. We continue to buck national trends, and I can't think it's just due to local governance/policy as that has always been there.

The unit next to me (Logan Sq / Bucktown) just sold about $100k above what I paid for my unit in February 2022 - That seems to reflect something going on here that I haven't quite picked up on yet - Other than Chicago is an amazing fucking city and maybe people are suddenly realizing this.......

Its funny, I just made a post remarking on this trend as well maybe a week or two ago. As a life long Chicagoan who has been following building trends in the city for some time, it really does feel that the 4 to 7 story building trend really took off after Covid. We were always seeing neighborhood infill of course, but it was mostly relegated to 4 floors or less outside of a few outliers here and there. I am happy to see us building even denser now, and hope that this trend continues. We desperately need more housing in this city, and God knows we have plenty of vacant and underutilized land to do it on.

LFG!

[italy5150]

Daniel Kay Hertz had a great post recently on his blog about the uptick in the 4-5 story infill developments.

TL;DR - 2019 city building reforms allowed for Type III buildings (noncombustible exterior, wood/less-flame-resistant materials allowed inside) up to 5 floors where previously they were required to be all noncombustible.

https://daniel-kay-hertz.ghost.io/the-bi...typology-five-story-infill-or-the-iii-5/

[Steely Dan]

TOD parking reductions have also helped more of these mid-rises get built as well.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by italy5150

Daniel Kay Hertz had a great post recently on his blog about the uptick in the 4-5 story infill developments.

TL;DR - 2019 city building reforms allowed for Type III buildings (noncombustible exterior, wood/less-flame-resistant materials allowed inside) up to 5 floors where previously they were required to be all noncombustible.

https://daniel-kay-hertz.ghost.io/the-bi...typology-five-story-infill-or-the-iii-5/

I like this trend. I'm glad city policy has drifted in the direction of slightly taller buildings on the main streets.

When your building height hovers around the same width as the street, it's like the sweet spot that balances that urban sense of enclosure and safety with access to sunlight and breezes/ventilation. This has been conventional wisdom in Euro urban planning for a long time, but is now backed up with science.

[cloudbod]

Originally Posted by italy5150

Daniel Kay Hertz had a great post recently on his blog about the uptick in the 4-5 story infill developments.

TL;DR - 2019 city building reforms allowed for Type III buildings (noncombustible exterior, wood/less-flame-resistant materials allowed inside) up to 5 floors where previously they were required to be all noncombustible.

https://daniel-kay-hertz.ghost.io/the-bi...typology-five-story-infill-or-the-iii-5/

Fascinating article and infographics, thanks for the link!

[Jstange059]

Went through the city clerk's website again and pulled a number of interesting developments

940-942 W Erie/660-662 N Milwaukee
Little wedge building coming on to this prominent corner on Milwaukee.
48 dwelling units, 24 parking spaces
They have a garage door facing Milwaukee which is definitely a bit disappointing



https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/matter?matterId=42B374BE-5080-F111-AB0E-001DD80F46AC


3300 W Pierce
This nice church building is being converted into 20 residential units. No Parking!



A few months ago, they released a really bad AI rendering which made it look like they were going to replace a bunch of the gothic windows with rectangular windows and strip off a bunch of the architectural details, but thankfully, according to the elevation drawings, this should not be the case

https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/matter?matterId=FE9D4DD7-6380-F111-AB0E-001DD80F46AC


2339-2349 W Grand Ave
Yet another John C Hanna building is rising along Grand Ave.



https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/matter?matterId=49E237F2-7C80-F111-AB0E-001DD80F46AC


4545 N Ravenswood Ave
This commercial building is being converted into 15 units still with commercial on the ground floor, and a 5th floor being added on top. No Parking!



https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/matter?matterId=5876CFAD-7780-F111-AB0E-001DD80F46AC


71st Street (South Shore) upzoning
Much of 71st through South Shore is being upzoned to B2-3 or B3-3. I've always found the street pretty interesting, with the train tracks going straight down the center of the street, hopefully this can spur some more development down this street.

https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/matter?matterId=0ED5263C-BA7B-F111-AB0D-001DD8066831
https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/Matter/?matterId=9431CC76-CE7B-F111-AB0D-001DD8066831
https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/Matter/?matterId=EAFDE31A-C87B-F111-AB0D-001DD8066831


Pocket Town Upzoning
It seems like many if not all of the streets of the "pocket town" neighborhood area, south of Woodlawn and the Oak woods cemetery and West of South Shore, are being rezoned to RT-4, with the empty land at along Woodlawn Ave south of 73rd being zoned to B2-3, which hopefully can bring come businesses into the neighborhood. With the momentum of development that is seen in nearby Woodlawn and the recent schedule enhancements to the Metra Electric, it seems like they may be setting this small neighborhood up for transformation

https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/Matter/?matterId=FA0CF4B2-CA7B-F111-AB0D-001DD8066831
https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/matter?matterId=7DAAD361-CD7B-F111-AB0D-001DD8066831

[Steely Dan]

^ new mid-rises, and adaptive re-uses, and up-zonings, oh my!

Great stuff all around, thanks!