CHICAGO | General Developments

[moorhosj1]

Great Crain's article on local TIF tax receipts. Not sure if this goes here, but it includes information relevant to a bunch of development.

Red-Blue Modernization:

Unlike typical TIF districts, transit TIFs are limited in that they don’t siphon off tax dollars that would otherwise go to Chicago Public Schools. They also last 35 years, meaning that absent intervention, the RPM TIF will keep drawing funds until 2051.

A 2016 CTA presentation projected for the TIF to raise $625 million for the project, with the rest of the funding due from city and federal sources. Yarbrough’s report shows that the TIF’s fundraising outpaced projections, and after five years in existence, the district had already collected $632 million.

But Chicago Public Schools claimed more than $300 million of that amount, and the special rules of this transit TIF dictate that 20% of the remaining money passes along to other taxing bodies. That means only about $242 million of the revenue the TIF has collected thus far can be tapped for rail construction and related costs, according to a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development.

LaSalle residential conversions:

The downtown LaSalle Central TIF is unmatched among the city’s traditional, non-transit TIF districts, having collected about $175.5 million from taxpayers last year. The infusion added to the nearly $197 million that was already sitting in the TIF’s fund balance at the end of 2021, according to city planning department records.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has pledged to tap the LaSalle Central TIF district to help fund the construction of 1,000 new housing units, including as many as 300 affordable units, as part of an effort to breathe new life into the flagging LaSalle Street corridor in the Loop.

West Loop transit (Potential $ for A-2 project and Metra station):

The Kinzie Industrial TIF, which includes the booming Fulton Market district and which the City Council voted to extend last month at the planning department’s urging, raised almost $98 million last year, outpacing its revenue from the prior year by more than 36%.

The City Council voted last year to add 12-year extensions to four TIF districts, including Kinzie Industrial.

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

Great Crain's article on local TIF tax receipts. Not sure if this goes here, but it includes information relevant to a bunch of development.

I was mostly shocked to see that 10% of all property tax revenue comes off the top of the city budget and goes into TIF funds. I don't know how one runs a city that way, other than trying to push work that would otherwise be funded by the city budget into a TIF district.

Really poor way to run things and gives residents an uneven result based on city geography.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

I was mostly shocked to see that 10% of all property tax revenue comes off the top of the city budget and goes into TIF funds. I don't know how one runs a city that way, other than trying to push work that would otherwise be funded by the city budget into a TIF district.

Really poor way to run things and gives residents an uneven result based on city geography.

It's a way for the mayor to retain some discretion over the city budget. That way the entire budget doesn't get claimed by unions. The unions know it, which is why they are the loudest voices against TIF.

Personally I think it's important for the city to have a strong (elected) leader who can set priorities and have access to the resources needed to follow through. Obviously sometimes those priorities might be misguided or foolish (relocation/corporate handouts), but I think most of the TIF funded projects are genuinely important and sometimes they are a grand slam success. Without TIF we wouldn't have gotten Millennium Park, for example.

Note that it's not an unchecked power either, since City Council needs to approve each and every TIF expenditure.

I admit that TIF is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Maybe we wouldn't need this kind of financial trick if Chicagoans accepted a higher general tax rate and city employees didn't demand lavish salaries. But, as the kids say, y'all aren't ready for that conversation.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

Red-Blue Modernization:
Red-Blue Modernization:

Quote:
Unlike typical TIF districts, transit TIFs are limited in that they don’t siphon off tax dollars that would otherwise go to Chicago Public Schools. They also last 35 years, meaning that absent intervention, the RPM TIF will keep drawing funds until 2051.

A 2016 CTA presentation projected for the TIF to raise $625 million for the project, with the rest of the funding due from city and federal sources. Yarbrough’s report shows that the TIF’s fundraising outpaced projections, and after five years in existence, the district had already collected $632 million.

But Chicago Public Schools claimed more than $300 million of that amount, and the special rules of this transit TIF dictate that 20% of the remaining money passes along to other taxing bodies. That means only about $242 million of the revenue the TIF has collected thus far can be tapped for rail construction and related costs, according to a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development.

It's true that CPS and other taxing bodies took a big chunk of the money, but that's by design. The $242M raised for CTA's RPM project is still more money than they expected to have by this point. If they can use that money to pay off the debt early and save the taxpayers money on interest, that's a big win. Let's hope the contractor doesn't suddenly hit "cost overruns" after 2.5 years of smooth sailing.

Note the Blue Line (Forest Park branch) is a separate TIF - authorized by Springfield but not actually created yet. If they try, they will run into the same problem as the Red Line South Extension TIF - you can't squeeze blood from a stone. The West Side neighborhoods that line the Forest Park branch have very low property values and don't have much revenue to siphon off.

So, my guess is they will try to get Federal or state money to pay for most of the work. They've already announced the first chunk which will rebuild Racine station and the tracks from Damen-Halsted. But if they can't get more Fed/state money for future phases, then they will turn to the same play they used on the Red Line South Extension - soak the neighborhoods close to downtown where property values are high. That means West Loop and Little Italy.

[Kngkyle]

As far as I can tell TIFs are the only way we make any progress in this city. I'm all for 'em.

[marothisu]

New plans for 246-62 W 22nd Pl in Chinatown. New 7 story, 52 unit building (mostly or all affordable housing) with 11 parking spaces. Height would be 79 feet. Back in 2018, city council approved zoning change for an 8 story, 89 senior housing unit building here but COVID basically canceled those plans. The site today is where the Chicago Chinese Benevolent Association is and they would go on the first 2 floors. The next 5 floors would be apartments. Name of this new complex would be the CCBA Apartments (Chicago Chinese Benevolent Association). So basically the current 2 story building for CCBA and the small plaza/parking lot next to it would be replaced by this (https://www.google.com/maps/place/24...!4d-87.6338499)

The developer is The Michaels Development Company, which is based in NJ but has an office in Chicago (and multiple other cities). Architect is WJW Architects from Chicago.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by JuliusDoaner

Not to get off topic, but I admire how the Chinese build up their communities and practice group economics. Chinatown sits on prime real estate but is still majority Chinese and isn't gentrified. Something I wish the black, mexican, and other communities in this city did more.

I found this rendering thru a Chinese article from a national Chinese publication (there's a zoning app up for next week). The article actually talks exactly about how they want to make this affordable housing to make sure the community is covered at the lower/lower-ish income levels as prices rise in the area in Chicago (as well as the entire country). I think switching from senior housing to all age levels is probably a good long term idea. There is another 7 or 8 story development nearby slated for Chinatown with a bunch of new housing. I would love to see more of this happen. There has been a handful of 4 story buildings built in the last few years in Chinatown but it would be nice to see a bunch of 7+ story ones go up like this.

There is a PBS documentary from last year about history of Chinatowns in Boston, DC, and Chicago. They focus mostly on Boston and DC but both of those Chinatowns have really reduced in Chinese population/business big time exactly because they kind of gave in more to outside development. They make it a point in the documentary to talk about how Chicago is still one of the only Chinatowns in the US that has resisted the tide and is still heavily actually Chinese, and expanding. One of the representatives from Chicago on that documentary mentions how Chinese people from all over the US have been moving to Chicago lately. I have seen a little of that anecdotally at 88 Marketplace in East Pilsen. A lot of cars with out of state plates there (NY, NJ, CA, WA, etc) doing grocery shopping. Manhattan's Chinatown to an extent but they have had development in and around the area - not as bad as DC and Boston for erasing but there's increasing pressure there. Flushing in Queens is almost a better way of looking at it. They have new high rises and such and it's almost exclusively from Chinese developers. The new housing there is much better than the old housing in Manhattan's Chinatown. There has been some movement lately like this in Chicago. I guess SF and Philadelphia are like this to an extent. I wish the documentary covered more of Chicago, but I think they covered the other 2 to show how they gave into non-Chinese developers and show how Chicago isn't like that.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I

There is a PBS documentary from last year about history of Chinatowns in Boston, DC, and Chicago. They focus mostly on Boston and DC but both of those Chinatowns have really reduced in Chinese population/business big time exactly because they kind of gave in more to outside development. They make it a point in the documentary to talk about how Chicago is still one of the only Chinatowns in the US that has resisted the tide and is still heavily actually Chinese, and expanding.

That’s the “A Tale of Three Chinatowns” documentary?

• Video Link

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

That’s the “A Tale of Three Chinatowns” documentary?

Yup. I wish they spent more time on Chicago but the message in the documentary for Chicago's Chinatown is definitely more positive than DC and Boston.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yup. I wish they spent more time on Chicago but the message in the documentary for Chicago's Chinatown is definitely more positive than DC and Boston.

Couldn’t be helped. Chicago’s Chinatown is just too particular in geography and history to serve as an example for other Chinatowns.

The director’s inspiration was the DC Chinatown, and since Boston’s Chinatown is on a similar trajectory, that’s where the time and focus lies.

Narratively, Chicago is included to tone down the film’s bleakness, and imply that the American Chinatown lifestyle and culture probably won’t disappear forever. That Chinese Americans and immigrants will still be drawn to Chinese community and history, wherever that may be.




https://www.amazon.com/Through-China.../dp/B07VWLC35T

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

Couldn’t be helped. Chicago’s Chinatown is just too particular in geography and history to serve as an example for other Chinatowns.

The director’s inspiration was the DC Chinatown, and since Boston’s Chinatown is on a similar trajectory, that’s where the time and focus lies.

Narratively, Chicago is included to tone down the film’s bleakness, and imply that the American Chinatown lifestyle and culture probably won’t disappear forever. That Chinese Americans and immigrants will still be drawn to Chinese community and history, wherever that may be.




https://www.amazon.com/Through-China.../dp/B07VWLC35T

Yes. Actually Flushing is a tiny bit better of a comparison to Chicago's due to constraints. Although Flushing has a few less geographic constraints but still has some (Flushing Creek and I-678). That's why, though, some of the leaders in Chinatown were heralding Jefferson Square as important because it jumps outside of the geographic bounds. That area is still constrained though. Expansion into Bridgeport, McKinley Park, etc though is pretty important for this. Most of the expansion of Chinese people in Chicago are those areas along I-55 as well as downtown and a few north side areas. Pretty much the only way that Chinatown proper can expand now is by going more vertical (which would be awesome). Same thing happened in the Main St area of Flushing as well actually. Although it's not technically constrained (to the west is a Korean area) those areas don't have many vacant lots or anything. The areas where they went more vertical there were in place of smaller industrial buildings. Will be interesting to see if Chinatown in Chicago follows a similar path. This plus another recent proposal of similar or greater height...maybe it'll pick up some steam.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yup. I wish they spent more time on Chicago but the message in the documentary for Chicago's Chinatown is definitely more positive than DC and Boston.

The directors did do a lot of discussions and Q&As regarding their thoughts and approach regarding the Chinatowns. Not much in the way of new statistics, but interesting nonetheless.

Basically, the directors weren’t quite aware of the situation in Chicago at first.

They wanted to do DC, but thought that comparing it to other Chinatowns would be more compelling and began doing some research.

They chose Boston because they had well-established contacts but little existing media documentation, and Chicago because a colleague told them it was actually growing at a good pace, (which surprised them a good deal).

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[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by JuliusDoaner

Not to get off topic, but I admire how the Chinese build up their communities and practice group economics. Chinatown sits on prime real estate but is still majority Chinese and isn't gentrified. Something I wish the black, mexican, and other communities in this city did more.

The Mexican community absolutely practices group economics. Pilsen/little village? 26th Street is a powerhouse and it's entirely Mexican small businesses uninterrupted all the way from California to the Cicero border. You'd be hard pressed to find a vacancy. And the community overwhelmingly shops local. You could extrapolate this out to most of the SW side including back of the yards, Brighton Park, Chicago lawn, the near west burbs, etc

In terms of the black community, there are obviously massive historical factors and headwinds at play here which don't entirely overlap with Mexican and Chinese immigrant communities which we don't need to rehash here but is important to keep in mind on this particular holiday. It also helps that the historically Mexican and Chinese communities didn't completely burn to the ground. On the advice of another poster here I wound up reading Family Properties (history of N Lawndale) and despite knowing a lot of this stuff surface level it was still eye opening never the less

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by marothisu

That area is still constrained though. Expansion into Bridgeport, McKinley Park, etc though is pretty important for this. Most of the expansion of Chinese people in Chicago are those areas along I-55 as well as downtown and a few north side areas. Pretty much the only way that Chinatown proper can expand now is by going more vertical (which would be awesome).

I dunno, I think there is not a high pressure of land values to the S, SW, or E of Chinatown. That community can continue to expand into McKinley or even Brighton Park, Armour Square, and Bronzeville.

There's little reason to go vertical (yet) which is why Chinatown is still mostly low-rise, and highrise proposals have gone nowhere. I don't think the Chinese community is aesthetically opposed to highrises like other groups in the city, so they will start going tall the second it actually makes sense to do so. Unfortunately the areas with CTA access are also terrible for development, being sandwiched between expressways and industrial areas. More reason to build an Orange Line stop at Canal...

Also, I like the architecture for this new building. A classy standing seam metal siding on the main building, and then a beautiful brick base with a moon gate entry to a recessed court. The back is hardie panel though which is unfortunate.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I dunno, I think there is not a high pressure of land values to the S, SW, or E of Chinatown. That community can continue to expand into McKinley or even Brighton Park, Armour Square, and Bronzeville.

There's little reason to go vertical (yet) which is why Chinatown is still mostly low-rise, and highrise proposals have gone nowhere. I don't think the Chinese community is aesthetically opposed to highrises like other groups in the city, so they will start going tall the second it actually makes sense to do so. Unfortunately the areas with CTA access are also terrible for development, being sandwiched between expressways and industrial areas. More reason to build an Orange Line stop at Canal...

Also, I like the architecture for this new building. A classy standing seam metal siding on the main building, and then a beautiful brick base with a moon gate entry to a recessed court. The back is hardie panel though which is unfortunate.

I was talking about East Pilsen between the river, expressway, etc being constrained. There is room to build there though somewhat. Too bad it appears that the plans to build over 220 new residential and also retail in 6 more buildings across from Jefferson Square is not happening yet (hopefully sometime). Was supposed to be all 6+ story buildings.

The funny part is that University Village from Roosevelt to 16th, if you view it from the Dan Ryan looks exactly like 1 part of Shanghai. I pointed it out to my wife and mother in law and they agreed - laughed their asses off at how true it was.

As my wife put it "do you think a lot of us really want to live in multi unit buildings in China? A lot of us do want houses." There are quite a few villas in China for rich people but even many upper middle class these days will never get that. That is one reason though why Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Brighton Park, etc and also Lincoln Park is so attractive.

BUT at the same time, there are so many younger Chinese people living downtown in nice, more expensive high rises who could easily afford houses in some of those SW side neighborhoods because they don't want that. They do want to live vertically with a lot of things around them. Parts of South Loop are especially popular for the very reason that it is close to Chinatown but you can live in a nice high rise. If Chinatown itself went vertical and was able to build some nice places, I guarantee you there would be younger Chinese people there who make some good money living there who would normally have been living in South Loop, Loop, or Streeterville. To an extent it's exactly what they figured out in Flushing in NYC. The neighborhood has gone more vertical in the last 10 to 15 years and have some pretty nice housing there in those. They've definitely gotten their fair share of people who would have normally lived in or near Manhattan to live there instead. When I was younger and dating someone from SE Asia (Chinese descent 100 years earlier), she and all of her friends loved Chinatown. They wanted to live there but thought the housing sucked. So they all opted for places in downtown nearby and the ones who couldn't afford downtown went to areas like Lincoln Park so they could get to Chinatown on the red line.


For the record, the guy who is mostly behind Pacifica Square in Aurora and behind Pacifica Chicago as I posted on here the other day, is planning a mixed use residential high rise in Flushing and I think another one elsewhere in Queens. I think he does development in Hong Kong too.

[r18tdi]

Two Fish Crab Shack Planning $9 Million Bronzeville Expansion With Rooftop Cafe — And Housing

Owner Yasmin Curtis hopes to complete the project, which envisions 10 two-and three-bedroom units, by 2025.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/01...e-and-housing/

GRAND BOULEVARD — After nearly seven years on 47th Street, Two Fish Crab Shack owner Yasmin Curtis has her eyes on expansion.

Curtis is in the early stages of a $9 million plan to build a new home for her popular restaurant on an adjacent vacant lot that will also include housing. The entrepreneur hopes to complete the project by 2025.

“I got my first set of renderings in 2019. Once I realized that you can build up I thought it would be a great opportunity to create more density in the community and more density on 47th Street because there are so many vacant lots,” Curtis said, adding that owning the building had always been part of the plan.

The Low End native worked with several architectural firms on the renderings and chose a design that would fit in with the neighborhood vibe. She plans on hiring a Black-owned construction firm to carry out the vision, which includes rooftop and sidewalk cafe dining areas and a garden for residents.

As for the housing, Curtis wants to build 10 two- and three-bedroom units above the restaurant. She’s unsure whether they’ll be condos or apartments, telling Block Club she’ll leave it to the market to decide.

Not bad!

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

wo Fish Crab Shack Planning $9 Million Bronzeville Expansion With Rooftop Cafe — And Housing

Owner Yasmin Curtis hopes to complete the project, which envisions 10 two-and three-bedroom units, by 2025.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/01...e-and-housing/

Loving the design. About as good as a four-story building gets (if executed).

[mh777]

Tower crane permit issued for 1104 N Elston. There's already one crane stub in the ground, but with the size of this building I wouldn't be surprised if we saw multiple tower cranes.

[r18tdi]

The skyline view from the Kennedy is about to get way suckier...

[emailspyro@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

The skyline view from the Kennedy is about to get way suckier...

You are so right r18tdi. Coming in from NW side, one of the nicest view points of the skyline will be blocked by a long wall and instead of skyline we will be seeing the trucks parked on the roof.

The city should have never okayed this. The lot is a few minutes walk over to Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village to the West and few blocks to West town to the South. This could have been a nice new enclave for residential with views of the city and access to the river. That would have pushed the city to develop the river frontage that is slated to be a park but without any residents, will probably remain a fenced off lot for years to come.