CHICAGO | General Developments

[SolarWind]

June 6, 2022

[SolarWind]

June 7, 2022

[SolarWind]

June 7, 2022

[SolarWind]

June 9, 2022

[SolarWind]

June 14, 2022

[SolarWind]

June 14, 2022

[marothisu]

New 4 story, 18 unit building with ground floor office and cafe space with 18 parking spaces permitted for 3953 W Dakin (Dakin & Pulaski). This is a vacant lot and right near an entrance for the Irving Park Blue Line. Sucks that it has that many parking spots right near the Blue Line though it makes sense as it's literally next to the expressway..

Guess the good news is, goodbye to another vacant/surface lot:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9527...7i16384!8i8192

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by marothisu

New 4 story, 18 unit building with ground floor office and cafe space with 18 parking spaces permitted for 3953 W Dakin (Dakin & Pulaski). This is a vacant lot and right near an entrance for the Irving Park Blue Line. Sucks that it has that many parking spots right near the Blue Line though it makes sense as it's literally next to the expressway..

Guess the good news is, goodbye to another vacant/surface lot:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9527...7i16384!8i8192

More of this on the NW side please, ideally with less parking.

[SolarWind]

June 16, 2022

[gandalf612]

The one on Ravenswood north of the Chase Bank



The one on Lawrence west of the Chase Bank








The 2nd one is a courtyard building facing the alley? With a random annex? I don't remember seeing renderings for this project but it looks weird.

[gandalf612]

Broadway & Wilson




Kenmore & Wilson




Cannot overstate how transformational the Broadway and Wilson development is to the corner

[Randomguy34]

Saw the city's press release about the new TOD ordinance, it's dense and has a lot of interesting stuff: https://chicago.legistar.com/Legisla...vanced&Search=

- Pretty much every major bus route now counts as a TOD district, and CTA/Metra stations have their TOD boundaries extended to 1/2 mile

- TOD projects in Inclusionary Housing Areas (IHA), areas of the city that need more affordable housing, can now get FAR bonuses for every parking spot they remove. So if a parking space takes up ~ 320 sqft, developments can increase their FAR by 320 sqft X #of removed spots. This means something with a DX zoning can increase their FAR by up to 2-3!

- Projects in IHAs that have on-site ARO units can now force a vote from the Zoning Committee and City Council if their project hasn't been approved within 6 months of submitting their zoning app. This should mean developments could score approvals without needing the local alderperson. Would be interesting to see how effective this is in places like Lincoln Park and Jefferson Park.

- RS zoning that's in IHAs and near transit now allows three-flats as-of-right. SFHs are banned in RT & RM, two-flats are banned in RM. This basically opens a huge chunk of the North, Northwest, and Southwest Side to apartments. Lol someone could now tear down a mansion in Norwood Park, build 12 units on that giant lot, and piss off all the neighbors

Map of IHAs: https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/...munity_Map.pdf

[thegoatman]

^great news

[galleyfox]

The Center Square) – Rising interest rates may be deflating demand for lumber in some markets, but in Chicagoland, lumber yard operators say business is “unbelievable” this summer.

Mark Kammermeier has owned Woodstock Lumber in McHenry County for 35 years.

“Business is up another 25%. We can’t keep up,” Kammermeier told The Center Square.

Last year, in spite of the highly publicized supply chain delays and shortages, Woodstock’s business was up 100%, Kammermeier said.

He said he finds it hard to believe that his sales are up another 25% on top of that this summer.

We’ve got 60 deliveries a day,” Kammermeier said. “They are buying everything we can get our hands on. We buy out every wholesaler. We buy out mills. It’s unbelievable growth.”

Everybody is building, he said. From the small do-it-yourselfer who is putting on a deck, to the big guys, everybody is buying, Kammermeier said.

“We have not seen the pullback….as of yet,” he said.

https://www.thecentersquare.com/illi...ce4d16df8.html

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

Saw the city's press release about the new TOD ordinance, it's dense and has a lot of interesting stuff: https://chicago.legistar.com/Legisla...vanced&Search=

- Pretty much every major bus route now counts as a TOD district, and CTA/Metra stations have their TOD boundaries extended to 1/2 mile

Haha! Amazing! Worth pointing out some simple geometry, but going from 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile around transit stations isn't doubling the area available for TOD, a circle with that radius has 4x the area.

[OrdoSeclorum]

I think Bridgeport is the community closest to the Loop that is currently zoned mostly for single family homes. Amending the TOD ordinance so that the Archer, 31st Street, Halsted and 35th Street bus stops can have three flats within a 1/4 mile might mean a lot for the neighborhood.

After that, my guess is the single-family-only areas west of Lincoln Park and Lakeview will see the addition of many new neighbors.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

- Pretty much every major bus route now counts as a TOD district, and CTA/Metra stations have their TOD boundaries extended to 1/2 mile

Not only that, but TOD is now mandatory within most TOD districts (B, C, and D). Developers can't build more than 50% of the required parking for residential uses, unless they get special permission from the Zoning Administrator.

They are also expanding TOD parking reductions to the RM districts for the first time (great news for the north & south lakefront) and to some PMDs. PMDs are often along rail corridors, so while residential is still banned, this will make transit-oriented office uses much easier.

Of course, you can guarantee this will be watered down, so the question is how much, lol.

[VivaLFuego]

The old me would have been excited about this TOD ordinance, but my hot take since moving far south:

This all sounds like yet another good way to tell the South Side to go F itself.

In a city and region that is not growing, any *significant* increase in density in one sub-region means fewer households in another, with the resulting shifts in demand curves and rents falling below economical maintenance levels: i.e. furthers neighborhood death spirals or tips marginal neighborhoods into decline. Once again, Chicago progressives are copying policy and parameters from the coasts to advance the opposite of their stated outcomes.

Reductions in TOD parking requirements: great. Allowing more density in the crucial 1/8 to 1/4 mile shed of high capacity rapid transit? also great. But macro-scale density increases across whole swaths of the north and northwest sides? Even worse than Lincoln Yards.

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

The old me would have been excited about this TOD ordinance, but my hot take since moving far south:

This all sounds like yet another good way to tell the South Side to go F itself.

In a city and region that is not growing, any *significant* increase in density in one sub-region means fewer households in another, with the resulting shifts in demand curves and rents falling below economical maintenance levels: i.e. furthers neighborhood death spirals or tips marginal neighborhoods into decline. Once again, Chicago progressives are copying policy and parameters from the coasts to advance the opposite of their stated outcomes.

Writing laws so that neighborhoods close to the core need to have more parking than necessary and so that buildings need to have fewer homes than nearby infrastructure can support is folly. "Let's make Ukrainian Village worse on purpose in hopes people will be forced to move far from their jobs in the West Loop."

Intentionally hamstringing development in areas close to jobs and attractive amenities like the Red Line and the Lake in hopes that in-fill will eventually sprawl to Blue Island is nuts. I'm glad you're not in charge.

If someone is considering moving to Chicago--and LOTS of people have been--and they would like to live in Lakeview but cannot because its illegal to build apartments there, they aren't going to end up in Roseland as an alternative. They will simply move someplace that has units available in a walkable neighborhood somewhere else. Or they will give up on urbanity and move to Atlanta.

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

https://www.thecentersquare.com/illi...ce4d16df8.html

glad to see the wood is up