some news from Joliet..

The downtown experiment

March 18, 2007
By BOB OKON Staff writer

JOLIET -- The Sapphire club's closing last week was a benchmark moment in another downtown Joliet experiment.

Downtown has Harrah's Casino & Hotel, Joliet JackHammers baseball, and popular restaurants like The Olde Keg, Barolo Ristorante and McBrody's -- stable businesses and institutions with long-term viability.

But the city's effort to liven up the downtown district also has led to a number of ventures that test the market potential. Some succeed, like the JackHammers and McBrody's. Others don't make it.

» Click to enlarge image
Sapphire Club owner Peter Gelis will close the bar on Cass Street in Joliet for about a month, redo the interior and reopen the club as a live entertainment venue.
LIZ WILKINSON ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

"You've just got to find your niche," said Peter Gelis, owner of Sapphire.

Gelis said he believes in the potential of downtown Joliet and is ready to try again. His plan is to remodel the Sapphire club and open again in May with a new place called Venue, which will feature bands and other live entertainment.

Sapphire, which opened in 2004, may have been the most experimental project attempted in recent years in downtown. Gelis and his partners created a nightclub that they hoped would rival spots in Chicago and show a new side of Joliet. The club had a second level that was to be a members-only section but never attracted enough interest.

Still, Gelis said, "The night club worked. The problem we had was that it only worked one night a week."

Saturday nights were busy. Others -- not so much. Venue will be designed to attract more people throughout the week.

Urban condos

The big push this year in downtown Joliet development is for urban condominiums.

City officials want more residents downtown. That, they say, will lead to more business development.

Most of the condo projects have yet to come. But Mike Petry for nearly two years has been working on the redevelopment of the old Universalist/Unitarian Church, a late 19th Century building, into 17 condominiums priced between $175,000 and $275,000.

The street level of the building is home to Barolo Ristorante and the Athletic Shoe Warehouse. The former Champions restaurant is being remodeled for what Petry says will be a bridal shop.

But Fitwell, a longtime Joliet clothing store and part of Petry's building, is closing.

Petry said he wanted some changes in the business.

"I wanted him to upgrade his store," he said.

Fitwell previously had bars in the front window and still is locked during business hours. Customers ring a bell to be let in.

The bars and locked door didn't fit into Petry's new plans for the building, but he said he was willing to keep Fitwell in the building with some changes. The owners decided to close, he said.

Senior Suites

The biggest project in the works downtown is the $18.7 million redevelopment of the historic YMCA building into apartments for residents 55 and over.

The project is a unique venture for both downtown Joliet and the developer, Senior Lifestyle Corp. The company has built 15 similar Senior Suites buildings in Chicago. Senior Suites of Joliet is its first such project outside of Chicago.

Oak Park advances plan to reopen Marion Street

By Victoria Pierce
Special to the Tribune
Published February 22, 2007

For the first time since 1974, cars may soon be able to drive through the Marion Street Mall in Oak Park.

The new concept plan, which was enthusiastically accepted by the Oak Park Village Board last week, will include a brick street, a fountain, benches, new lighting, extensive landscaping and additional parking.

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The project could be completed by Thanksgiving.

Westgate Street, a block with several English Tudor facade buildings, will be opened to one-way westbound traffic off of Marion.

The plan harks back to the Marion Street of the early 1900s, but with contemporary upgrades, including storm-water reclamation for landscaping and heated sidewalks to eliminate extensive salting and shoveling in the winter.

The project is estimated to cost about $5 million. The board is expecting the final budget figure in early April, when it could give the final go ahead for construction to begin.

"The goal is to create a really special space," said Village President David Pope.

At one time both Lake and Marion Streets were closed off to vehicular traffic to become pedestrian malls, a trend that surfaced in the 1970s as towns tried to compete with the new large shopping malls. The plan was fairly short lived, with Lake Street reopening to traffic in the late 1980s.

But Marion from Lake south to North Boulevard remained a pedestrian mall with trees and benches creating an extended courtyard effect. In recent years, the business climate has suffered, with some new businesses opening but many closing.

Many of the business owners support the project but fear construction could keep customers away.

"It will be helpful to the businesses," said Meme Gaudyn, owner of Meme's Antiques at the corner of Marion and Westgate in the heart of the mall. "If we can just make it through."

While many in the business community and historic preservation crowds are on board with the reopening of Marion Street, some residents are not happy that the area will be reopened to automobiles.

More than 100 people, most of them Oak Park residents, have signed an online petition opposing the project.

Many of the comments on the petition lament the loss of a quiet pedestrian-friendly spot in the midst of downtown Oak Park.

But Scott Freres of the Lakota Group, the urban planning and design firm helping to develop the plans, said many of the elements in the design will help keep Marion pedestrian friendly. A brick street helps slow traffic, he said, and at the central intersection of Westgate and Marion there will be a raised crosswalk that will further encourage motorists to go slow on the street.

Naperville parking deck design OKd

By Rhianna Wisniewski
Special to the Tribune
Published March 2, 2007

A controversial $14.9 million parking deck that would bring 410 new spaces to downtown Naperville is closer to reality.

The Naperville City Council this week approved the design for the deck, a 31-foot building to be built outside the Nichols Library. It will have three levels of above-ground parking along Eagle Street and four levels of parking, including one below-ground, along Jefferson Avenue. Patti Roberts of the Downtown Naperville Alliance said additional parking is necessary to meet the needs of a growing population and an increasingly busy downtown.

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"Where I do hear complaints ... is the frustration of visitors when they come to downtown and they are looking for parking spaces. If they're frustrated, they're going to go somewhere else to do their shopping and that hurts everyone in the downtown," said Roberts.

Of the city's 3,374 public and private parking spaces, 2,410 are public spaces, many of which are full during lunch and dinner hours, city officials say. The new deck will have a total of 540 spaces, replacing the library's current 130 surface-space lot.

Naperville Project Engineer Kim Grabow said the Nichols lot fits the model of keeping parking on the periphery of downtown. But the location doesn't please everyone. There have been at least two organized protests by residents arguing that the deck's proximity to a residential area would intrude on homeowners nearby.

Jason Weese, who lives a few blocks away from the library, is concerned that the deck could be the beginning of downtown pushing farther west into the residential areas. "I'm not against building a new parking garage, but you're bordering up against residential and I don't think that it's an appropriate use for the land," he said.

City officials are still debating how to fund the project.

Construction is expected to begin in January 2008 and be complete by November 2008.

http://www.globest.com/news/878_878/chicago/159515-1.html?type=pf

Land Sells; Hotel/Condo Water Park To Come
By Gina Kenny
HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL-Waterpark H2Otels Prairie Stone LLC, based in Lakemoor, closed recently on the purchase of 22 acres at the northeast corner of Interstate 90 and Beverly Road in the Prairie Stone Business Park. Waterpark H2Otels bought the property from Sears Holding Corp. for an undisclosed price.
“It was a multimillion-dollar deal,” says Joseph Buralli, a managing member of Waterpark H2Otels. The firm plans to construct a 14-story building with a hotel, condominiums and an indoor and outdoor water park.

Sun Island Hotel Water Park will have between 490 to 506 keys with approximately 395,000 sf of hotel rooms and condominium units in the 525,000-sf building. The rooms are still being configured and there may be some “ultra large suites” for families, he says. The hotel will be managed by Columbus, OH-based FLG Hospitality, formerly known as Focus Lodging Group LLC. FLG Hospitality will also co-develop the project. The hotel brand has not been determined yet. “We are in negotiations with two different flags right now,” he says.

The upper six floors will have approximately 200 condominium units with between 1,500 sf to 1,800 sf and three separate entrances to the hallway. The units will be sold for “approximately $199,000 and up.” Condominium owners will “have the option to enter into a rental program operated by the hotel and, by doing that, they would have a revenue share with the hotel,” Buralli says. Condominium owners will not have a limit on the amount of days per year they can stay at the park but they will not be able to live there as a resident, receive mail there or send their children to school from there, he says. The developer is receiving “non-binding letters of intent” for the condominium units and will begin taking deposits in about 90 days, he says.

The development will have a 70,000-sf indoor water park and a 20,000-sf outdoor water park. Additionally, there will be an indoor play area of about 15,000 sf to 30,000 sf with electronic and arcade games. Together, the indoor/outdoor waterpark complex will feature wave, activity and toddler pools, tube and body slides, a rafting river, mat racers and a master blaster water-propelled coaster. The building will also have at least two restaurants and a 20,000-sf conference center, Buralli tells GlobeSt.com.

Buralli says he has received village approval to have a building as tall as 16 stories but does not plan to have more than 14 stories, unless there is a lot of interest in the condominiums. At 14 stories, the development has enough surface parking but, if the building is 16 stories, a parking structure will be needed.

Construction is expected to begin in the late fall and will take between 14 to 18 months to complete, Buralli says. Leopardo Construction, of Hoffman Estates, is the construction manager and Chicago-based VOA Associates Inc. is the architect.

Downtown Elgin gets a Yoga studio....



New yoga studio postures itself in center of city

April 1, 2007
By Julie Mullen SPECIAL TO THE COURIER NEWS

A healthy body begins with a healthy mind, say owners of the new Fusion Mind/Body Studio, and they promise to deliver both to those who venture on their path of enlightenment.

Located within Simple Balance Holistic Center at 221 E. Chicago St., Elgin, the new yoga studio has not only found its center in town, it also seeks to help others find their spiritual center.

The centuries-old art of yoga is thought to improve inner awareness, teaching practitioners to tune into body and mind through proper breathing and physical postures, said Fusion Mind/Body Studio co-owner Jodi Shimabukuro.

» Click to enlarge image
Juanita Allas-Monaghan (left), a yoga instructor at Fusion Mind/Body Studio in downtown Elgin, leads Linda Schaaf of East Dundee, during a class Tuesday afternoon.
BRIAN LOEB/SPECIAL TO THE COURIER NEWS

"Physically, yoga tones the body completely, improving strength, flexibility and balance," Shimabukuro said. "It is also mentally very calming. With a busy life, the opportunity to focus on yourself is a very peaceful feeling."

Former yoga classmates Shimabukuro and Juanita Monaghan run a six-day per week class schedule. The classes compliment offerings already found at the Simple Balance Holistic Center, courtesy of Dr. Jaena Stanley-Gonzaga.

The Elgin chiropractor and holistic healer provides one-stop shopping to those who are stressed, have poor posture, or any other ailments that they may or may not know they have.

Stanley-Gonzaga's 3,000 square-foot wellness center, which opened in 2003, is geared towards physical and spiritual healing, and health education and balance in all aspects of life. The center offers chiropractic care, acupuncture, electro-meridian imaging, neurostructural and bioenergetic synchronization techniques, nutritional and preventive medicine counseling, massage, and reflexology.

It took three years of planning for the yoga studio and the right owners to run it, as Simple Balance Holistic Center slowly builds out its wellness space.

"This is what Elgin has been waiting for," Stanley-Gonzaga said.

Pilates, too

Shimabukuro, who owns Fusion Mind/Body Studio with Monaghan, said that yoga classes aren't readily found in the area, without joining a huge health club. When Monaghan, who lives in Elgin, told her yoga partner about the studio available at 221 E. Chicago St., the pair jumped on the opportunity.

"We want Fusion to be THE yoga place in Elgin and the northwest suburbs, where yoga enthusiasts and beginners will feel welcomed," Shimabukuro said. "We are happy to be the yoga pioneers in Elgin."

Condos OK with panel

By Sara Faiwell
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, April 05, 2007


A proposal for a new six-story housing and retail development in downtown Palatine has gotten a nod from the village’s plan commission.

If elected officials sign off on it later this month, construction could start in August for Palatine Place, the newest addition to the downtown scene.

Northfield-based Focus Development is proposing 109 residential units and approximately 11,500 square feet of retail space for the area known as Block 27. It’s bounded by Wilson, Brockway, Wood and Bothwell streets, where the former Mia Cucina restaurant sits.

Plan commissioners voted nearly unanimously Tuesday night to recommend the project to the village council, which has the final say. One commissioner, Ben Applegate, abstained because his law firm represents the developer.

“It’s a great addition to downtown Palatine,” said Chairman Dennis Dwyer. “They have gone to great lengths with the design and architecture to have something that is interesting.”

Six residents spoke about the plan, mostly in support, but some asking questions about the price and whether the retail spots would be filled or if there would be enough parking.

Ann Ryba, a downtown homeowner, said the architecture is attractive and the entire thing is better than the “ugly block” that sits there now.

“I never thought I would be standing here to say this is a fantastic project,” she said. “Let’s let someone who has a proven track record come into our village, fill up some retail and give us a place to eat.”

Other projects done by Focus Development are Lincoln Court in Skokie, Courthouse Square Condominiums in downtown Wheaton and Madison Commons in Forest Park.

The building height would be six stories along Wilson Street and five stories along the other streets, significantly lower compared to the nearby Providence.

If approved by the council, construction would start in August with a target completion date of late 2009.

Palatine might be the real sleeper in the urban suburban development scene. Quietly, it has become one of the leaders in the walkable new urbanist movement. Apparently, it's not finished either.

found an image for Palatine Place

http://www.focusdevelopment.com/LIBRARY/MEDIUM_RES/MC4yNzk2MDUwMCAxMTU4Nzc2MDA3



Palatine Place

Coming Soon to the heart of vibrant downtown Palatine, Focus Development's most recent venture will be opening for sales in 2007. Located within walking distance to dozens of restaurants, shops, and the Metra train, Palatine Place exemplifies in-town living at its finest. The 1, 2 and 3 bedroom condominiums, penthouses, and rowhomes, will offer the most luxurious finishes, like stainless steel appliances and granite countertops in homes with flowing floorplans and intelligent design. Every unit will include indoor heated parking and access to the beautifully landscaped green roof. The significant architecture of our community will blend seamlessly with the rest of downtown Palatine, while establishing its address as the place to be. Although this community is not yet available for Sale, register today in order to receive an invitation to our Grand Opening. Those that register will be added to our priority list, and will be the first to receive floor plans and pricing.

not sure if this has been posted

River Street Plaza opens doors
By DAWN LASSITER - editorial@kcchronicle.com
Comments (0)
River Street Plaza, a new mixed-use development featuring condominiums and restaurants located along the Fox River in downtown Aurora, recently opened its doors to its first residential occupants.

Located at River and Benton streets, the newly developed project will feature two twin four-story buildings along the riverfront, as well as a 10-story tower utilized as commercial and residential space and a two-story unit exclusively set aside for commercial use.

The two four-story buildings, which are faced with Chicago Common brick and Renaissance Stone, are being completed in Phase One of the project.

“Our primary goal for River Street Plaza’s residential component is to provide luxury condominium living for both empty nesters and young urban couples and professionals, at an affordable price point” said Robert Allan, executive vice poresident of marketing and sales for The Vanstrand Group, the Aurora-based developer. “I think we have achieved that goal.”

Allan said that the two buildings of Phase One would feature a first floor devoted to various restaurants and three floors of condominiums.

The buildings will house 48 residential units and have the potential to include eight restaurants for each building.

“We have begun talking with numerous restaurateurs, including national brands as well as Chicagoland-area brands,” Allan said, adding that the restaurants would range from fine dining to casual and coffeehouses.

Each also would have the opportunity to include café-style outdoor seating facing the river.

“We are nearing the completion of discussions with a couple of our targeted restaurant operators and will be announcing them soon,” he said.

Although the close proximity to the train station and downtown destinations made the appealing to developer, Allan said that the site also was chosen because it was one of the very few undeveloped areas along the Fox River.

“The scarcity of riverfront areas, combined with the great opportunity to establish a development in the downtown area, pushed us to really look twice at this property,” Allan said. “We believe this is the perfect development for this site and the perfect site for this development.”

River Street Plaza opens doors
By DAWN LASSITER - editorial@kcchronicle.com
Comments (0)
River Street Plaza, a new mixed-use development featuring condominiums and restaurants located along the Fox River in downtown Aurora, recently opened its doors to its first residential occupants.

Located at River and Benton streets, the newly developed project will feature two twin four-story buildings along the riverfront, as well as a 10-story tower utilized as commercial and residential space and a two-story unit exclusively set aside for commercial use.

The two four-story buildings, which are faced with Chicago Common brick and Renaissance Stone, are being completed in Phase One of the project.

“Our primary goal for River Street Plaza’s residential component is to provide luxury condominium living for both empty nesters and young urban couples and professionals, at an affordable price point” said Robert Allan, executive vice poresident of marketing and sales for The Vanstrand Group, the Aurora-based developer. “I think we have achieved that goal.”

Allan said that the two buildings of Phase One would feature a first floor devoted to various restaurants and three floors of condominiums.

The buildings will house 48 residential units and have the potential to include eight restaurants for each building.

“We have begun talking with numerous restaurateurs, including national brands as well as Chicagoland-area brands,” Allan said, adding that the restaurants would range from fine dining to casual and coffeehouses.

Each also would have the opportunity to include café-style outdoor seating facing the river.

“We are nearing the completion of discussions with a couple of our targeted restaurant operators and will be announcing them soon,” he said.

Although the close proximity to the train station and downtown destinations made the appealing to developer, Allan said that the site also was chosen because it was one of the very few undeveloped areas along the Fox River.

“The scarcity of riverfront areas, combined with the great opportunity to establish a development in the downtown area, pushed us to really look twice at this property,” Allan said. “We believe this is the perfect development for this site and the perfect site for this development.”

[img]http://www.riverstreetplaza.com/CONSTRUCTION/construction.jpg

The Heritage of Palatine
4 floors - 48 units
Palatine
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/4323/heritagerendering2cj3.jpg

Palatine Place
5 floors - 109 units and 11,500 sq. ft. retail
Palatine
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4034/palatine20place20renderle7.jpg

the preserves of Morton Grove, don't think anyone's posted this yet..2 condo buildings, townhomes and 11,000 square feet of commercial space. pretty cool location right where Dempster meets the North Branch/Forest Preserves

http://www.thepreservesofmortongrove.com/images/condo_amenities.gif

http://www.thepreservesofmortongrove.com/images/townhomes_splash.gif

Wow...even Crystal Lake seems to be going a bit urban...this is from a local blog from last year....

http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/uploaded_images/Main%20Street%20Condos461-775890.jpg


Without dissent, the Crystal Lake City Council gave preliminary approval a five-story condo with commercial space at the intersection of East Crystal Lake Avenue and Main Street. It will be located on the old Hines Lumber property and sits within the Tax Increment Financing District that was approved late last year.

(If the subsidy from the TIF district to the developer was mentioned, it was after I got to the meeting.)

The developers, the Hummel Group of Palatine not only sought the height waiver, but said it will seek a waiver from on-site detention of water during storms.

Several members of the council were effusive in their praise.

“I’ve seen what Hummel’s done in Palatine,” observed Councilman Jeff Thorsen. “I think it is going to be a real shot in the arm for Downtown.”

“It will help Downtown by having additional neighbors,” said Mayor Aaron Shepley. “When you have a strong Downtown, people want to live in an area like this.”

Shepley did talk about the complaints neighbors raised about the proposed building’s height, saying, “When you look at those buildings, they’re big.” He noted that only three stories would be allowed without a variation from the city’s ordinance.

“If we’re going to talk about whacking floors off, let’s talk about it now," Councilman Ralph Dawson replied sternly. "They should know.”

“Right now, it presents as a grand, gorgeous building,” Cathy Ferguson said, indicating that five stories was all right with her.

Ellen Brady-Mueller, who made the approval motion, asked before the vote,

You can’t take one (story) away at final (approval) can you?

“No, you cannot,” Mayor Shepley replied

More on the Crytal Lake project

Rail yard project moves forward
By REGAN FOSTER - rfoster@nwherald.com
Comments (1)
CRYSTAL LAKE – A plan to relocate three sets of railroad tracks along Main Street moved ahead with the force of a locomotive Tuesday night, thanks to a 6-1 vote from the Crystal Lake City Council.

Council members gave city staff the go-ahead to execute a $412,141.27 contract with Schaumburg-based TranSystems Corp. for preliminary engineering on the relocation of the Union Pacific rail yard west of Main Street. The company’s responsibilities will include the plan’s conceptual development, drafting preliminary plans, and managing funding applications, among others.

Longtime relocation advocate and project originator Ralph Dawson cast the lone vote against the agreement, saying he didn’t agree with spending public dollars to relocate a private company. But his peers on the board said the proposal could hold the key to a redeveloped entrance into downtown Crystal Lake.

“A half-million dollars to do something for [Union Pacific] and a couple of property owners, I have a problem with it,” Dawson said. “I have to support this issue because I think it’s the right thing to move this railroad, but I’m not happy with the way we’re moving it at this time.”

TranSystems in February introduced a $6 million proposal that would include swapping the current Union Pacific-owned land west of Main Street between Crystal Lake Avenue and Route 14 for city property south of Crystal Lake Avenue near the old Oak Industries building.

Union Pacific’s current three-track holding area would be expanded to five tracks, while existing railroad crossings – located west of Main Street into the Jewel parking lot, on Main Street at the Camfill Farr facility, on Main Street in front of the Columbia College campus, and on Crystal Lake Avenue just east of Main Street – would be removed.

They received the necessary stamp of approval from Union Pacific, and city officials since have been researching the logistics and possible funding sources. Mayor Aaron Shepley has maintained that funding will come from state and federal grants or from the Main Street tax-increment financing district, and would not require taxpayer dollars.

“In order to move forward, we need at least a 30 percent plan,” City Building and Engineering Director Victor Ramirez told council members Tuesday. That, he said, would give potential financiers a tangible idea of the project.

“That’s really a key component at this point,” Ramirez said.

Council members David Goss and Howard “Howie” Christensen both said property owners whose plans to develop land near the tracks could move forward from the relocation must help fund the proposal.

Immanuel Lutheran Church plans to build an expanded facility and school and sell off additional lots for a senior-living complex and commercial development west of Main Street. Real-estate developer the Hummel Group wants to build a combined commercial and residential space on the former Hines Lumber site.

“The possibility for downtown Crystal Lake and Main Street is just phenomenal,” council member Jeffrey Thorsen said. “I’ve always felt that Main Street is crippled by those tracks.”

Unfortunately, the plans for a hotel and convention center in Aurora have been cancelled.

In other news...


http://www.globest.com/news/899_899/chicago/160363-1.html

Hotel Under Construction at $300M CityGate
By Gina Kenny

Construction has begun on a $43 million hotel that will be part of the CityGate Centre, a mixed-use development at the interchange of I-88 and Route 59. “We believe that the product is missing in Naperville. There is no upscale four-star hotel in Naperville,” says Daniel Slack, president of Calamos Real Estate LLC. Chicago-based Calamos is developing the $300 million project that will also include office and retail components.

The CityGate Centre Grand hotel will have 144-rooms, with overnight stays expected to be about $200, Slack says. The hotel will also have a European-themed restaurant, a lobby lounge, spa and fitness center. The hotel’s interiors and exterior is being designed by the architectural firm of Lohan Anderson. The hotel is expected to open next summer and will be managed by Portfolio Hotels and Resorts.

The 12-story hotel will have a 500-person banquet facility, board room and other meeting facilities. Slack said the area is missing an area where board meetings can be held. In particular, there is not a facility in the area where a person could stay the night and then attend a corporate event, like a board meeting, without having to leave the building. Currently, a business would have to go to downtown Chicago for corporate events, he says.

The mechanical systems will be energy efficient, locally produced materials are being used, they are using elements that are recycled and they “have a recycling program in place during construction,” Slack says. Once the hotel is open, they will have “environmentally friendly housekeeping,” he says.

The hotel is part of a 31-acre development that will also include a 600-seat performing arts center, 150,000 sf of retail and one million sf of office space. The plan for the mixed-use project is to “create an urban oasis” that is for people “that move to the suburbs from the city to raise their family, but still crave the city experience,” he says. “It will have a corporate feeling during the day but an entertainment feel during the evening.”

The office building CityGate Centre I, designed by Lohan Anderson, and the Shops at CityGate Centre are expected to open this summer. The first phase of the office will have about 213,000 sf and the first phase of the office will have about 57,000 sf. The asking lease rate for the office space is $19.50 per sf and the asking rate for the retail space is between $28 and $29 per sf, net, Slack tells GlobeSt.com. No leases are signed yet but they are in negotiations with several possible tenants for the office space and, for the retail, they have “several letters of intent from retail and restaurants,” Slack says. The center will have “upscale fine dining,” “upscale retail” and some “convenience” businesses such as a coffee shop. The Shops at CityGate Centre are being marketed by Becker Realty and the office space at CityGate Centre I is being marketed by Cushman & Wakefield. Calamos expects the entire project to be complete by 2010.

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5115/chicitygatehoteliz6.jpg

The sales office for Tinley Park Place has just opened.

The site, located on North Street and Oak Park Ave., is currently home to Teehan's Tavern, the Tinley Ice factory, a liquor store, and a few old, but not historically significant, homes.

When complete, Tinley Park Place will be home to 115 1-2-3 bedroom condos housed in two seven-story and one four-story buildings, 44,000 square feet of retail, 16,000 square feet of office, and an 11-screen Classic Cinemas.

North Street runs parallel to, and along the north side of, the Metra/Rock Island tracks, and is just across the street from the new Oak Park Ave. station.

http://tinleyparkplace.com/images/renders/TPP2ndView.jpg
http://www.tinleypark.org/images/NorthStreetDevelopment.jpg
http://www.tinleypark.org/images/OakParkAvenueNorthStreet_000.jpg
http://www.tinleypark.org/images/OakParkAvenueLookingNorth_000.jpg
http://www.tinleypark.org/images/TinleyPrkT14-11b.jpg

Sorry for the small renders; I'm looking for better ones.

In a related development, Hansen Development is awaiting approval from the village on Tinley Park Marketplace, another mixed-use TOD located on South Street and Oak Park Ave.

South Street runs parallel to, and along the south side of, the Metra/Rock Island tracks, and is just across the street from the new Oak Park Ave. station.

Tinley Park Marketplace is purported to have 80 condos, as well as retail and office spaces, in three four-story buildings.

Tinley Park Place's website http://tinleyparkplace.com/index.php

cool for Tinley Park.

any new stuff springing up in wheaton?, being at away at boarding school puts me out of touch with the home

^Well there's Courthouse Square and then another one called Wescott Crossing.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070510dupage-theatre,1,3410342.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Curtain lowers on fight to save theater

By Art Barnum and Burney Simpson
Chicago Tribune
Published May 11, 2007, 12:08 AM CDT

As the last part of the marquee on the historic DuPage Theatre came crashing to the ground Thursday afternoon, so did a saga that tore apart neighbors, politicians and preservationists in Lombard for years.

Deciding what to do with the 79-year-old theater had gone on for more than a decade, and much of it had already been knocked down, but supporters had been furiously filing protection orders hoping to save what was left

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4402/29697574ez4.jpg

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-rosemont_16may16,0,5460250.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed

2 hotels proposed for 'coveted' Rosemont site

By Richard Wronski
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 16, 2007


Plans are under way to develop two more hotels in Rosemont, which would bring the total in the convention mecca to 19 if all the projects are completed.

The two hotels would be built on a long-dormant but high-profile stretch of vacant property in the heart of the village, officials said Tuesday.

Developers are asking Rosemont to approve plans for a "high-end" hotel, possibly a Conrad Hotel, and a Hampton Inn on a 5-acre tract at the northwest corner of Higgins and River Roads, officials said.

"That's one of the most coveted parcels in the village," said Rosemont spokesman Gary Mack.

Rosemont's late mayor, Donald Stephens, tried to have the village purchase the property for many years but was unsuccessful, Mack said.

The two hotels together would total 502 rooms, according to the Rosemont Zoning Board. The project would include a parking garage and at least one restaurant. A hearing is scheduled for May 29.

Mack and Village Atty. Peter Rosenthal said a final decision hasn't been made.

Developers include Raymond Management Co., of Madison, Wis., which specializes in Hampton Inns.

Neither Raymond nor the company's representative, Nicholas Peppers, of the Rosemont law firm Storino, Ramello and Durkin, returned calls Tuesday.

If the hotels are built, it would bring the number of rooms in the 2.5-square-mile suburb to nearly 7,000.

Rosemont already has 14 hotels. Three more–an Aloft, an InterContinental and a Marriott Courtyard–either are being built or have been approved.

Village officials anticipate that another hotel will be part of the proposed Grizzly Falls water park, but plans have not been submitted.

rwronski@tribune.com

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/387458,5_1_WA16_WAUKEGAN_S1.article

$100M dollar development for old News-Sun site

May 16, 2007
BY NICHOLAS P. ALAJAKIS

The company that developed the tallest building in the Chicago suburbs is proposing a new, 13-story, $100 million development on the site of the former News-Sun building in downtown Waukegan.

Developers with Chicago-based Beitler Real Estate Corp. unveiled plans Tuesday for a 500,000 square-foot residential/commercial mix building that could be completed by fall 2009.

Beitler president, J. Paul Beitler, said his company's desire to develop property in Waukegan comes as people from Chicago and Milwaukee continue to move to the north and south respectively.

"Waukegan is in transition right now," Beitler said. "This will certainly wake a sleeping giant."

The project will be located on Sheridan Road, between Madison and Clayton streets. The modern design, with extensive glass, will use a portion of the News-Sun building's facade for a 465-car parking garage.

The 13-story building will feature one and two-bedroom 245 apartment units, that will be converted to condominiums within five years. The lower floors will feature 36,000 square feet of commercial development, including a second-story restaurant. The building will cost between $80 and $100 million to construct, Beitler said.

Robin Schabes, director of downtown development for the city, said she was impressed with the look of the building. "I think it's a good idea to have something (like this) in the downtown area," Schabes said.

Despite showcasing the proposed building to a room of residents on a overhead projector, for roughly ten minutes, Schabes and assistants with Beitler said they did not feel comfortable releasing an image of the building for publication, because they didn't want to get people's "hopes up."

The city is still meeting with Beitler's group to finalize the plan for the tower. City Council is looking to vote in the building as soon as possible, Schabes said.

Beitler said he wants to break ground by fall, and would take 24 months to construct. The proposed development is small by Beitler standards. The company has been responsible for Oak Brook Terrace in Oak Brook and President's Plaza and Triangle Plaza near O'Hare. At 32 stories, Oak Brook Terrace is the tallest building in the suburbs.

The former News-Sun building has been vacant since the late 1990s. The building previously housed the News-Sun from 1967 to 1998, before it was sold to the City of Waukegan for $1. The city has not yet finalized any sale figures with Beitler, Schabes said.

Beitler said he is confident that both sides will be able to work out a deal so that large development, which has not yet been named, will become a reality.

Beitler plans on hosting a naming contest for the building, with the winner receiving $1,000 in cash and plaque on the base of the building. Details on the contest are expected in the next 30 days.

"This will bring people and get a downtown sense of life as fast as possible," Beitler said.

Excellent news for Waukegan. Waukegan actually has the most potential of any of the older urban burbs imo. Mainly because living in Waukegan offers residents a huge job area, spreading from Milwaukee to Chicago.

Here's more Waukegan news, seems as if the city really is on the verge of some major momentum..

Lakeview tower goes condo
Developers bet $3 million on grand view from bluff

May 7, 2007
By JIM NEWTON jnewton@scn1.com

Banking on a good market for lake-view condominiums in downtown Waukegan, a local real estate partnership has embarked on a $3 million redevelopment project for the former Harborview Apartments.

The 13-story building on the northwest corner of Sheridan Road and Washington Street will feature first-floor retail, second- and third-floor offices and a total of 54 condos on the fourth through 12th floors. The 13th floor will feature an expanded penthouse.
» Click to enlarge image
An expanded penthouse and balconies on corner units are part of the $3 million conversion to condominiums at the former Lakeview Apartments building at Washington Street and Sheridan Road, Waukegan.
(Michael Schmidt/News-Sun)

» Click to enlarge image
Rendering of new lakeview condominium.

"We're very excited about it. How can you not like it with the views you have of the marina and the lake. You can even see the Chicago skyline," said Tim McDonald, who is redeveloping the former apartment complex with partner Mark Zall.

McDonald said that at an initial price range of $130,000 to $260,000 per unit, the condos will be an attractive investment target in revitalizing downtown Waukegan.

Model condominiums have already been completed on the fifth floor, and a sales office is scheduled to open May 11.

McDonald said that with the building in easy walking distance of the Metra station and the Lake County Building, the office space will be marketed in large part to the local legal community. The retail space will probably be the last phase of the development, he said.

Ray Vukovich, director of governmental services for the city, said the redevelopment will allow condo buyers "to actually have an equity in the renaissance of Waukegan."

"It's an interesting building," Vukovich said of the 102 Washington St. property, which in previous eras housed the Chateau Waukegan, the Hotel Waukegan and the Harborview Apartments.

"Mixed use is best for that area," he said.

Redevelopment improvements to the building include pressure washing, tuck-pointing and the addition of balconies to residential corner units.

A grand opening party open to interested people is scheduled for 5 to 9 p.m. Friday.

McDonald said he hopes future tenants will be able to begin closing on units and moving in by mid-summer, and that some of the offices will begin opening in the fall.

http://media1.suburbanchicagonews.com/nixoncds/image/WA07_CONDOS_P4_scn_feed_20070506_22_44_50_482-400-292.imageContent

METRO & STATE
Luxury apartments, shops OKd for downtown

Published June 3, 2007

SKOKIE -- Skokie announced it will partner with Avalon Bay Communities Inc. to transform a 2-acre downtown parcel into a mix of retail businesses and luxury rental apartments.

The village made a decision this week after hearing proposals from two other builders who expressed interest in the property bounded by Brown and Oakton Streets, and Lincoln and Floral Avenues.

Avalon's plan calls for two buildings with 186 apartments and 26,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. The projected cost is $45 million.

One reason Skokie chose Avalon's plan was for the infusion of rental units.

Officials said rental units in Skokie have dwindled over the years, as building owners converted apartments to condos.

"I like the idea of rental," Trustee Donald Perille said at this week's board meeting. "I always felt there were not enough rental properties in Skokie."

Walter Rebenson, Avalon's vice president of development, told board members that studio apartments at the green-roofed development would rent for about $1,000 per month and two-bedroom places would rent for $2,000.

The Grand Lofts (http://www.thegrandlofts.com/)
Franklin Park
~200 units
Conversion of a former Motorola factory

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/3114/buildingwy3.gif

http://www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=322925

Condos in works for other side of Arlington’s tracks

By Sheila Ahern
Posted Thursday, June 14, 2007

The rash of condos and stores located throughout the south side of downtown Arlington Heights may be spreading over the railroad tracks to the downtown’s north side.

The village’s plan commission unanimously endorsed plans for a new, eight-story retail and condo building on Wednesday.

The project — called Parkview Condominiums —would feature 49 one- and two-bedroom units and 3,778 square feet of retail space at the corner of Eastman Street and Dunton Avenue.

The building would be 100-feet tall.

The project still needs final approval from the village board. The board will probably vote on the project in July, said village planner Matt Dabrowski.

“The developer has been working with the village for years on this project,” Dabrowski said. “It’s a nice addition to downtown and could be a catalyst for development on our north side.”

Plans call for 17 one-bedroom units and 32 two-bedroom units along with a two-level, underground parking garage. The condos would range in size from 800 to almost 3,000 square feet and cost between $260,000 and $970,000, said Jim Tinaglia, the project’s architect.

Two top-floor penthouses would each have a private rooftop terrace, he said.

A dry cleaner used to operate on the site, which houses boarded-up storefronts today.

“I’m so glad you’re cleaning up that site,” said plan Commissioner Carole O’Neill. “It’s been so ugly and so blighted for so long.”

The last major development on the north side of downtown was the 201 N. Vail Ave. building, which opened in 1991. Three residents of that development spoke at Wednesday’s hearing and expressed concern about how close the new building would be to their North Vail Avenue building. At some points, only 40 feet would separate the two.

“Close enough to shake hands,” said 201 N. Vail Ave. resident Matt Lombardi.

If approved, construction on Parkview Condominiums would begin in November 2007 and finish in June 2009, according to a village staff report.

About 20 street parking spots would be removed during construction.

Even the most rabid suburban-hater must give kudos to Arlington Heights. What an enlightened """village"""".

LaFox rezoning approval likely
Nearly 1,300 homes would be added

By William Presecky
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 20, 2007
Kane County officials have recommended rezoning more than 1,200 acres of open land surrounding tiny LaFox, an unincorporated hamlet west of Geneva, for a massive new residential and commercial town center.

The County Board's Development Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend the full board grant the rezoning petition by developers Wyndham Deerpoint Homes and Foxford LLC for their planned Settlements of LaFox. The project is expected to take more than 10 years to complete.

The Development Committee voted in February to approve the preliminary plan for the project. It is expected to include 1,275 residential units -- 1,194 single-family homes and 81 town homes -- clustered in neighborhoods that link to a town center and a commuter rail line. The full board is expected to approve the rezoning petition when it meets July 10.

The Settlements of LaFox is designed to cover roughly 2 square miles bounded generally by Keslinger Road on the south, Illinois Highway 38 on the north, Brundige Road on the east and Harley Road on the west. The development area is about midway between Geneva and Elburn.

In recommending approval of the rezoning petition, Development Committee members reiterated their praise for the collaborative planning process, which involved the existing residents of the more than 150-year-old LaFox, that led up to the plan for the Settlements of LaFox.

"This has truly been a unique situation," said committee member Jan Carlson (R-Elburn), referring to the years-long collaboration between the developers and the community that led to a consensus plan for the area.

LaFox, composed largely of buildings from the mid-19th Century, is Kane's only county-designated historic district.





Hopefully they can make it work next to the commuter station and "town center" or whatever. Although there's only 1 residential unit per acre of land used for the project :puke:

http://www.wjinc.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=8135&TM=60913.77

13 stories planned for Lake/Forest
Village would swap land for garage

By BEN MEYERSON

A developer presented preliminary concepts for a building on the northeast corner of Lake Street and Forest Avenue last Wednesday night depicting condos and retail enveloping a parking garage with a recessed multi-story extension on top.

In a presentation to the village board, Sertus Capital Partners LLC proposed a mixed-use building that it envisioned would connect The Avenue Business District with Downtown Oak Park.

The project would encompass what is now the building that holds the Original Pancake House and CertifiedLand, the Grace Episcopal Church parking lot, and the Forest Avenue parking garage.

The presentation, which was the first set of ideas Sertus has shown to the public, depicted retail and condos surrounding a parking garage on three sides, with a recessed seven-story tower extending from a green roof.

As the initial concept was presented, the base of the building would rise six stories, with a seven-story condo tower set along the northern side.

At Lake Street, the building would be 56 feet tall, but the L-shaped extension would reach 123 feet tall at its highest point.

The current parking garage has 349 parking spaces; the new building would provide 510 public spaces in addition to as many as 320 residential spaces for the 208 condos.

Two floors of retail-totaling approximately 23,000 square feet-would face Lake Street and Forest Avenue. Condos and retail would make up the rest of the building, masking the parking garage except for its entryways on three sides.

Sertus principal Michael Glazier repeatedly emphasized at the meeting that the firm was extremely flexible, and that the presentation only depicted a rough set of preliminary concepts.

However, Glazier said he believes the mass of the current sketch is roughly what is needed for the project to be economically feasible.

The current retail building on Lake, Glazier said, "is not of the critical mass that I think Oak Park is desirous of."

Sertus bought that property in March 2006 for $9 million, and has also since made an agreement with Grace Church to purchase its parking lot.

The group hopes the final piece of land for the project-the L-shaped municipal garage-would be entered into by the village, creating a public-private partnership under the pretense that the village would pay for construction the new public parking deck within the project.

As Sertus presented the concept, money would not change hands between the two sides. Glazier also added Sertus would not ask for subsidies from the village to fund the privately owned portion of the building.

"We don't believe that the private sector needs any subsidy," said Glazier.

Glazier said Sertus is aiming to get zoning approval for the project by the end of the year, but is willing to wait if progress is being made at that point.

Former village Trustee Robert Milstein said he was against any more condos in the downtown area and was wary of Sertus' statement that the building's proposed size is necessary to be profitable.

"Our job as a village is not to guarantee a particular profit to individuals," Milstein said. "It has never been one of our deciding factors. [Sertus's] margin of profit isn't my or any villager's concerns."

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2996/8135aaw9.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/420/8135bum7.jpg

Wrong thread, spy. This should go in the (confusingly-named) Westside/Suburban Development News thread, which includes Oak Park, Cicero, River Forest, etc.

http://www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=327726

Village considers condos, shops

By Sheila Ahern
Posted Saturday, June 30, 2007

...

The condo building would be called the Chestnut Courtyard Condominiums and would be located on the northeast corner of Chestnut and Sigwalt streets. The building would have 55 one- and two-bedroom condos.

The developer is Mark Anderson. Anderson has developed other downtown projects, including the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, Village Green and Metro Lofts.

To build the six-story condo unit, Anderson would need to demolish three homes and a vacant two-story apartment building, according to a village staff report.

Plan commissioner Joe Lorenzini said the site is important because it’s a buffer between downtown and some residential homes.

“It seems reasonable, but if a lot of people object, we might have to look at it again,” Lorenzini said.

Anderson said he plans to meet with neighbors to discuss the project.

Downtown Tinley popular with buyers
Area’s redevelopment driving demand
July 30, 2007
BY MIKE DUFFIN
For years, the section of Tinley Park east of Harlem Avenue had been the proverbial stepchild of the village. With mostly older and outdated homes, this part of town became an afterthought for buyers who could afford to live elsewhere.
But with a downtown revitalization underway, demand for homes within walking distance of the Oak Park Avenue Metra station has dramatically increased.
http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/homes/news/489603,Tinley.article

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-highwood_09aug09,1,2817019.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

Twin tower project will get more public hearings
August 9, 2007

At a meeting last week, officials with the development firm Mega Realty of Chicago told residents, who feared the plan would win approval without additional vetting, that they had scaled down the Highwood Towers to a 94-foot, eight-story structure with 140 units.

http://www.globest.com/news/976_976/gsrmidwest/163395-1.html

$65M Mixed-Use Plan To Rise Near Stadium
By Gina Kenny

Martin Capital Group, based in Chicago, is planning a mixed-use development adjacent to Toyota Park, the soccer stadium and outdoor venue at 71st Street and Harlem Avenue. The $65 million project will be on about 9.5 acres at the northwest corner of the intersection and east of the stadium, says Seth Martin, founder of Martin Capital.

Wheaton Property Partners
Wheaton, IL

http://http://www.opuscorp.com/assets/img/projects/IL_WheatonPropertyPartners_01_L.jpg

This build-to-suit office/retail facility is located in the western Chicago suburb of Wheaton, at the intersection of Liberty Drive and Cross Street, in DuPage County.

The architecture of the building will feature a monumental, neo-classical design that conveys the stability and durability that are traditionally associated with financial and civic buildings. The classic style architectural precast will feature rusticated surfaces, keystones, cornices and arches. The site totals 1.64 acres and will include a four-story, 141,600-square-foot, garage providing parking for approximately 428 vehicles with executive basement parking. The first floor of the building is intended as retail space.

The building's base is two stories in height and employs a tall arcade on two sides at the ground level to provide covered, pedestrian-friendly circulation alongside shop windows and past the main lobby entrance. A projecting cornice defines the top of the building's base. The remaining, upper two stories employ a series of tall piers that support arched openings. Color contrasting curtain will window framing and spandrels infill the arched openings. A frieze and projecting cornice crown the top of the building.

Wheaton Property Partners will own the property and First Trust Portfolios will be the anchor tenant on the third, fourth and fifth floors of the five-story building.

Vacant buildings fall for Waubonsee (http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/518552,2_1_AU21_WCC_S1.article)

The structure is the first of 15 buildings to be demolished to make way for Waubonsee Community College's $50 million downtown Aurora campus.

Proposal in Oak Park, near an L stop, 8 story building with residential, retail, parking--being touted as a great example of TOD:

http://chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=26359

http://chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=26355

Too Bad they didn't make it 20% taller when it was first built . 20 Storeys!!

(Crain’s) — Less than a year after opening the Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, the project’s developers are already talking about expanding the 412-room hotel.

A development partnership led by Harp Group Inc. is “seriously considering” adding 90 rooms and as much as 12,000 square feet of meeting space to the hotel’s existing 37,500 square feet, says Harp President Peter Dumon.

The hotel at 601 N. Milwaukee Ave. opened last October. Its revenue is about 20% higher than initial projections.

“For our heavy demand periods, we’re turning away a lot of business, so we think it makes a lot of sense,” Mr. Dumon says.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=37881&src=1

Massive project proposed near I-90, Route 53
By Ames Boykin

Despite its size, the developer wants to maintain a pedestrian-friendly, "Our Town" feel. A town square that could host art fairs would be surrounded by two department stores, two office towers that could be up to 20 stories, senior housing and a hotel.

They could have made that Westin in Wheeling 50 floor and it wouldn't have mattered. Street facing parking tucked in by two quais-expressways (Milwaukee and Lake Cook). I would rather have a 4 story complex with better design then that shite. It would be nice if one of those major hotel chiains would build near a Metra stop in the burbs but that is likely pie in the sky.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=37881&src=1

Massive project proposed near I-90, Route 53
By Ames Boykin

Despite its size, the developer wants to maintain a pedestrian-friendly, "Our Town" feel. A town square that could host art fairs would be surrounded by two department stores, two office towers that could be up to 20 stories, senior housing and a hotel.

The (basic) renderings of this project that were included in the STAR Line documents are quite encouraging, including a ped bridge over I-90, with or without the station, and additional office buildings on the south side of 90, creating a mini-downtown district for Schaumburg.

It's also great to see Schaumburg, of all places, planning in advance for a transit line that is 10-15 years in the future at best.

^^ Speaking of TOD in the Chicago region, I came across an interesting proposal today for something called Tollway Station Point. It would be built between downtown Belvedere, IL and I-90, centered around a Metra stop. (The commuter rail extension is being evaluated along with the Amtrak Chicago-Rockford-Dubuque proposal)

It's still quite conceptual, but the idea is well-thought-out. It mixes residential, commercial, and even heavy industry, which you don't see addressed in most TOD proposals.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3033/tollwaystationpoint597wg9.th.png (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tollwaystationpoint597wg9.png)

<img src="http://www.opuscorp.com/assets/img/projects/IL_WheatonPropertyPartners_01_L.jpg">

this is the project that is going on in wheaton. down the street from the courthouse.

http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/homes/599277,HOF-News-todlead12.article

Developments in transit
More and more, mass transit is becoming part of the community plan

October 12, 2007
BY CRAIG BARNER

A visitor to downtown Palatine a decade ago might make a double-take today.

Since the year 2000, about 1,000 residential units have been constructed in the city center near the train station, said Michael Jacobs, deputy village manager of the northwest suburban community. A mix of dwellings has been constructed, including row houses, brownstones and condominiums.

^ A great read, and a great trend. I thought I'd post this excerpt of the article:

Changes in Chicago

Chicago is implementing changes to take advantage of TOD, said Samuel Assefa, deputy commissioner for the Chicago Department of Planning & Development.

For instance, a zoning ordinance the city approved in 2004 allows a planned residential development within 600 feet of transit to reduce parking requirements by 25 percent.

In fact, the city will grant density bonuses to developers in exchange for public benefits, and the extra space can then be used for other purposes.

"We encourage developers to implement the principles and key elements of TOD," Assefa said. These include bicycle storage, parking for the I-GO or Zipcar Inc. car-sharing service, green space and mixed-use commercial environments. Moreover, the city is advancing TOD through land acquisition.

About a year and half ago, property was acquired at 3148 W. Lake St. in East Garfield Park, a Request for Proposal was issued and a joint venture, Kedzie GreenLife LLC, bought the land at a quarter of the appraised price because it agreed to incorporate TOD principles for a 30-condominium complex.

"We're going to look at [other properties] on the [CTA's] Green Line as you go west," Assefa said. "There is underutilized land near transit in that area."

Real estate near a transit stop plays a "huge" role in purchasers' decisions, especially for those who are first-time buyers and relatively young, said Beth Ryan, broker with Ryan Realty & Associates Inc. in Chicago. "A mile from the train is going to [cost] less, but it's not as desirable when you're not by trains even if you go to the suburbs," she said.

Recently, 208 two-bedroom properties between $250,000 and $400,000 were available near transit from 3600 to 4400 north and east of Western Avenue in Chicago. The median price was $319,000 for a two-bedroom condominium at 701 W. Bittersweet Place, only a couple blocks from the Sheridan stop on the Red Line.

West of Western, 57 properties were available in the same price range, with a two-bedroom condominium at 3300 W. Irving Park Rd. for $314,900 as the median. A commuter would need to catch an eastbound bus to the Irving Park stop on the Brown Line to get to a job in the Loop.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2007/A-Daisy-of-a-House/

A Daisy of a House

Ginevra King, the model for The Great Gatsby's Daisy Buchanan, spent her youth in this Lake Forest house that is now for sale.

By Dennis Rodkin

One of Chicago's significant literary landmarks, the Lake Forest home of the self-possessed society belle who was F. Scott Fitzgerald's first love and the model for the radiantly self-centered Daisy Buchanan in his novel The Great Gatsby, is for sale for the first time in more than 50 years.
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6287/dealestate1dc1.jpg

-----
http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/October-2007/Housing-BulletinaA-New-Owner-for-Pickellas-Lakefront-Property-in-Highland-Park/

A New Owner for Pickell’s Lakefront Property in Highland Park
By Dennis Rodkin

Wendy and Jim Abrams are the new owners of a coveted parcel of land on Lake Michigan in Highland Park. Last week, the developer Orren Pickell announced that he had sold the A. G. Becker estate (better known lately as the Mickey Segal estate) to a buyer who intends to keep intact the 17.5-acre parcel—with its Jens Jensen landscaping—rather than subdivide it as Pickell had planned. “[The estate] dodged a bullet and is now out of the hands of developers for at least another generation,” says Daniel Kahn, head of Highland Park’s historic preservation commission.
------------

So while the Segal Estate has been saved for now, the beautiful Lansdowne estate in Lake Bluff seems at risk of being subdivided for McMansions.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=63106

Naperville council to vote on plans for Riverwalk
By Jake Griffin

Naperville's city council paved the way for commercial development along the city's prized Riverwalk Tuesday.

Developers presented plans at a council workshop for several buildings that would line the riverfront along the one block stretch of Water Street, just east of city hall. The buildings -- some as tall as five stories -- would house retail shops, restaurants, condominiums, offices and possibly a theater of some type.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/arts/chi-1104_optima_p1nov04,0,4467124.story?coll=chi-homepagetravel-hed

Instant skyline
Architect-developer marries form and finance along the Edens

By Blair Kamin
November 4, 2007

Want to take a drive-by architecture tour? Forget the boat ride down the Chicago River. Try the Edens Expressway, preferably when the road crews out in force these days aren't making traffic slow to a crawl. Near the Old Orchard shopping center in Skokie, you'll whiz by one of the most exhilarating new high-rises to emerge from the Chicago area's current building boom.

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/6274/33590202rd8.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/269/33590200nn0.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/1245/33590205ug3.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/4575/33590206fg9.jpg
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/7898/33590207qu3.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/realestate/commercial/12chicago.html?ref=business

Betting That a Suburb Wants a Taste of the City

By ROBERT SHAROFF
Published: December 12, 2007

One of the Chicago area’s richest men, John P. Calamos Sr. of Calamos Investments, is making an ambitious attempt to gain a foothold in the world of commercial real estate by building a 1.2-million-square-foot development in this western suburb of Chicago.

The project, a modernistic steel and glass complex called City Gate Centre, will ultimately include three office buildings, a hotel, retail space and a performing arts center, at a total cost of $350 million.
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5206/12chicago6501oq6.jpg

It's really stunning in person - Calamos has good taste in modern design, and the modern architecture is really refreshing after a long drive down Rt. 59.

I didn't know about a performing arts center, though. Hopefully with its good highway access, it can compete with the venues in that area, many of which are based at community colleges.

Mixed-use developments lure shoppers
December 21, 2007
BY BILL CUNNIFF Sun-Times staff writer
Mixed-use developments are creating new shopping districts in several suburbs.

Santa Claus was on hand for a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony at Burr Ridge Village Center. Officials for the village and the developer said the festivities at the 20-acre mixed-use development will become an annual event to usher in the holidays for all village residents. The site is Burr Ridge's first true downtown in the village's 50-year history.
http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/homes/news/708147,digest21.article

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=27573

1920s Joliet theater undergoing makeover

Inside Rialto Square Theatre, which opened in 1926 and underwent a restoration in the 1980s, shining columns rise into a celestial dome full of intricate sculptures. A Duchess chandelier dominates the rotunda. Cream-colored marble walls line the lobby and cherubim flutter into the auditorium.

The Will County Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority, which operates the theater, began the restoration 18 months ago with the help of a $5-million fundraising campaign that is a little more than halfway to its goal, said Tina Postel, director of development.

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=27573

1920s Joliet theater undergoing makeover

Inside Rialto Square Theatre, which opened in 1926 and underwent a restoration in the 1980s, shining columns rise into a celestial dome full of intricate sculptures. A Duchess chandelier dominates the rotunda. Cream-colored marble walls line the lobby and cherubim flutter into the auditorium.

The Will County Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority, which operates the theater, began the restoration 18 months ago with the help of a $5-million fundraising campaign that is a little more than halfway to its goal, said Tina Postel, director of development.

Stories like this make me happy.

Crystal Lake panel favors downtown homes plan
Planning commission push for fewer units for City Square project
Tribune staff report
6:34 PM CST, January 3, 2008
A proposal to build more than 50 row houses next to City Hall in downtown Crystal Lake has won preliminary approval from the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

The three-story townhouses would be priced around $375,000 a unit and would be pitched to "transit-oriented" residents who work in Chicago and want to live within walking distance of Crystal Lake's restaurants and shops, said developer John Green of Chicago-based Centrum Properties Inc. The site is about two blocks from a commuter train station.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-crystalhomes_04_bothjan04,1,2026271.story

cool, TOD 53 miles from the loop. Who says sprawl is always bad?

Crystal Lake panel favors downtown homes plan
Planning commission push for fewer units for City Square project
Tribune staff report
6:34 PM CST, January 3, 2008
A proposal to build more than 50 row houses next to City Hall in downtown Crystal Lake has won preliminary approval from the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

The three-story townhouses would be priced around $375,000 a unit and would be pitched to "transit-oriented" residents who work in Chicago and want to live within walking distance of Crystal Lake's restaurants and shops, said developer John Green of Chicago-based Centrum Properties Inc. The site is about two blocks from a commuter train station.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-crystalhomes_04_bothjan04,1,2026271.story

Why not just move to the City??:lol: Man I hate suburbanites, even as a former one!

You hate suburbanites for trying to do TOD?

That's a little overzealous....

http://chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=27721

Muvico, Hyatt cued up for Northbrook development
By Eddie Baeb

The developer of a proposed $150-million mixed-use development in Northbrook says he’s close to finalizing deals for a 155-room Hyatt Place hotel and a 12-screen Muvico movie theater that will allow construction to begin in March.

----------------
This is that Center of the Northshore project I posted a long time ago. The article also mentions that the project has 74 condos, 39k sf of office space, and has other tenants like Panera, Pompei, Spirit Café, and E-Trade.

http://chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=27721

Muvico, Hyatt cued up for Northbrook development
By Eddie Baeb

The developer of a proposed $150-million mixed-use development in Northbrook says he’s close to finalizing deals for a 155-room Hyatt Place hotel and a 12-screen Muvico movie theater that will allow construction to begin in March.

----------------
This is that Center of the Northshore project I posted a long time ago. The article also mentions that the project has 74 condos, 39k sf of office space, and has other tenants like Panera, Pompei, Spirit Café, and E-Trade.

Is there such a thing as over-saturation of movie theaters? The only thing I like about this part of Northbrook is the Ron of Japan where until I was 18 I always ordered kids shrimp which was so much less expensive than the adult version.

Is there such a thing as over-saturation of movie theaters? The only thing I like about this part of Northbrook is the Ron of Japan where until I was 18 I always ordered kids shrimp which was so much less expensive than the adult version.

There aren't any movie theaters close by, except the AMC 14 at Northbrook Court.

This site is actually close to the site of the Edens Theater, which was a modernist landmark until it was pulled down in the early '90s. I hope Muvico decides to go with a similar modern/sci-fi theme in homage to the old theater,

There aren't any movie theaters close by, except the AMC 14 at Northbrook Court.

This site is actually close to the site of the Edens Theater, which was a modernist landmark until it was pulled down in the early '90s. I hope Muvico decides to go with a similar modern/sci-fi theme in homage to the old theater,

Not only is NBC a mere five minutes away, the cinemas at Old Orchard are about ten minutes south and those at Lincolnshire fifteen minutes east. Then there are the the smaller theaters in the North Shore proper.

I used to go to the Edens Theater when I was younger. I think I saw Jurassic Park there.

I'm all for sustainable communities, and the first part of making suburbs more sustainable involves reducing the tremendous distances people have to cover, to do what they need or want to do.

Anyone in Northbrook who chooses to drive to Old Orchard or Lincolnshire to see a movie is wasting a gallon of gas, adding $3.16 to the price of their ticket.

There used to be a theater in Dearbrook Court (I saw Lion King there), but I think it closed.

Anyone in Northbrook who chooses to drive to Old Orchard or Lincolnshire to see a movie is wasting a gallon of gas, adding $3.16 to the price of their ticket.

All movie theaters show exactly the same movies?

Whatever the merits of the new development its mostly for not , its right by the Edens and is a car oriented development while downtown Northbrook is still lame and underachieves and lets the potential of its downtown go to waste.

Just an update on the Shodeen development in downtown Aurora... The developer (Shodeen) received most of the lots they wanted from the City of Aurora for free, and then turned around and pleaded hardship by saying they couldn't afford the environmental cleanup that those lots required for any development to take place.

The spokesman who was tasked with making presentations to the Aurora City Council doesn't know his stuff, so he has repeatedly claimed the site needs no cleanup, despite Illinois EPA studies that show that it does. This has fostered a climate of mistrust between the City and the developer, but the City still desperately wants the development.

All this happened in early December. The weak economy may very well have done in the developer, who relies mostly on cornfield subdivisions.

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5760/view2jpg2007011108253956ia.jpg

New Lenox trustees OK commuter-focused housing

January 29, 2008
By Susan Demar Lafferty, Staff writer
New Lenox trustees on Monday approved preliminary plans for a 230-acre transit-oriented development but expressed concern about a lack of service on Metra's relatively new SouthWest Service commuter line.

This type of development is a first for the village and offers 950 residences and more than 60 commercial acres on the northeast and southeast corners of Cedar and Laraway roads. It offers parking and access to the train station from both sides of the tracks.

The project will include mixed-use buildings of five to seven stories, 61 single-family homes and 888 townhouses and condominiums and 12 acres of park space.
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/764460,012908newlenox.article

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-kendall-census-growth_20mar20,0,5507640.story

Kendall is fastest-growing county in nation, U.S. census finds
Some locals proud despite the area's growing pains
By Russell Working and Darnell Little | Tribune reporters
12:11 AM CDT, March 20, 2008

When you live in a rural area in the shadow of behemoth Cook County, bragging rights can be hard to come by.

Kendall County may be the birthplace of the harvester and home of a retired speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, but it seldom tops the nation on any outsider's list.

On Thursday, however, Kendall County, which has experienced exploding population growth for most of this decade, was named the fastest-growing county in America, new U.S. census estimates show.

Its hard to believe that Kendall is growing faster than Maricopa County in Arizona

611 Green Bay Road
Wilmette
~40 units
LEED
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7466/slide5jq9.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9313/slide2jf3.jpg

The architecture is not very exciting, but it does nicely fill in a vacant spot near a Metra station.

Last updated: March 27, 2008 08:39am
RSC Under Way on $40M Transit-Oriented Project
By Gina Kenny Email this story | Printer-friendly | Reprints

OAK FOREST, IL-RSC & Associates, based in Chicago, will develop a $40-million transit-oriented development with 78 residential units and 37,750 sf of retail. The retail phase will deliver in the fall, shortly before work begins on the residential component.
http://www.globest.com/news/1123_1123/chicago/169402-1.html

Good to see the north sore other then Evanston start to get some TOD, the architecture could be better but its a start. I am trying to think of what stores are there now i am going to have to take a look.

By Michael Sean Comerford | Daily Herald Staff
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=182739


Environmentally conscious engineering may be all the rage today, but HSBC was building "green" into the design of its Mettawa headquarters from the time construction started two years ago.

The London-based company bought the former Prospect Heights-based Household International in 2003 for about $14 billion and recently moved its North American headquarters to Mettawa.

The facility celebrated its grand opening Wednesday.

The state-of-the-art building, which eventually is to house 3,100 area employees, collects rainwater on its roof and regulates sunlight in its offices.

For all the altruistic intentions the bank may have, HSBC building managers say the new building's "green" features will pay for themselves within five years.

"HSBC's European sales top $115 billion, and it is best known locally for home loans.

Brown said HSBC did not deny him any technological tool in building the new headquarters. The building has two 30,000 gallon tanks buried on the 29-acre campus, collecting rain water for toilets and other non-drinking uses.
The 568,000-square-foot building is shaped like an "X" with a centerpiece and interior features that make it one of the premier buildings in the country.

In addition to a 7,000-square-foot workout room and a meditation room for religious employees, the building is so energy efficient that its goal is to be completely "carbon neutral."

That means some energy will be coming from wind farms in Texas, other energy will be captured from the sun. Windows adjust to the sunlight. Up to 35 percent of the building's energy comes from "sun harvesting."

Even employees are strictly environmentally regimented. All desks must be cleared of paper by evening every day. Cleaning crews work days so they don't have to use lights at night to do their work.

The cafeteria only allows workers to have reusable cups and china plates. The building is cashless, all transactions being taken via electronic cards.


Brown is among the workers who do not have a designated desk because up to 20 percent of HSBC employees are encouraged to take advantage of flexible hours.

Also, the building is hot-wired for Wi-Fi access, making any room a viable work space.

In the midst of all the strategy that went into the building design is an international flavor.

Brown, a 30-year veteran of the former Household Finance, said artwork on the walls is meant to change the culture of employees.

"We want people to start thinking differently," Brown said.

HSBC's 'green' headquarters

• 100 percent of power comes from renewable or non-carbon resources

• Rainwater harvested from roof is used for toilets

• Reusable mugs. Each employee gets a mug; no paper cups allowed.

• Duplex printers print on each side

• No papers on desk. Each night desks are cleaned of paper.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=206631
By Bob Susnjara | Daily Herald Staff

Drugs that might treat cancer and other deadly diseases are expected to reach the public faster because of work done at Abbott Laboratories' $53 million research and development facility that was unveiled Thursday

Known as the Formulation Development Center, the $53 million Abbott facility is engaged in transforming complex molecules from a laboratory into tablets and capsules. The idea is for those potential oral drugs to be used in pre-clinical and clinical studies to determine safety and intended results, Abbott officials said.

Promising new compounds in the pipeline for hepatitis, Alzheimer's disease and cancer demonstrate the importance of Abbott's new 64,000-square-foot research-and-development structure, which took about three years to construct, said White.

"We don't build a lot of new buildings, especially here at Abbott Park," White said. "But this building was particularly important to us because of its function and because of what it can do for us."

Hello everybody , newbie on the Chicago forum here :)

Browsing through the floor plans of these developments, it looks like most (if not all) of these buildings are based on the central corridor, single orientation appartment building model !

No appartments buildings are built on an exterior walkway model or "classic multry entry model (as per below) these days in the Chicago area ?

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg69/jdl75/btypes.jpg

(note, the types further explained below :
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=604687 )

Personnally I think these type of buildings should be strictly forbidden !! :)

- single orientation being bad in itself in a single flat even if well oriented
- half the flats are somehow "losers"
- it is structurally inefficient to have passive ventilation, key aspect for an energy efficient building.

How about the older appartments buildings in Chicago, are they also like that ?

If there are a few "double orientation buildings" being built, are they regarded as really a plus, or nobody really cares ?

Historically, Chicago apartments required two means of egress. Thus, virtually all prewar apartments in Chicago are entered from stair-halls rather than interior corridors and have back porches off the kitchen. The classic Chicago courtyard building takes its form from these requirements, with five, seven, or even nine entries from a central courtyard to stair-halls. Prewar walk-up apartment buildings with double-loaded corridors are quite rare in Chicago.

High-rise buildings must have interior corridors for reasons of elevator access. Chicago highrises must have two different exit stairs, in two different fire-containment zones, so Vancouver-style small-footprint towers are virtually impossible here. The main high-rises that come to mind with single-loaded corridors were the now-demolished CHA "gallery" buildings. They were designed that way to give cross-ventilation, to avoid having to heat elevator lobbies, and to give small kids a place to play near the family apartment. It didn't work out very well. I have also been told that Riverbend is single-loaded corridors because the site was so narrow. There are windows on the west side of the apartments and the corridors, so the apartments get western light (but not ventilation).

Historically, Chicago apartments required two means of egress. Thus, virtually all prewar apartments in Chicago are entered from stair-halls rather than interior corridors and have back porches off the kitchen. The classic Chicago courtyard building takes its form from these requirements, with five, seven, or even nine entries from a central courtyard to stair-halls. Prewar walk-up apartment buildings with double-loaded corridors are quite rare in Chicago.

High-rise buildings must have interior corridors for reasons of elevator access. Chicago highrises must have two different exit stairs, in two different fire-containment zones, so Vancouver-style small-footprint towers are virtually impossible here. The main high-rises that come to mind with single-loaded corridors were the now-demolished CHA "gallery" buildings. They were designed that way to give cross-ventilation, to avoid having to heat elevator lobbies, and to give small kids a place to play near the family apartment. It didn't work out very well. I have also been told that Riverbend is single-loaded corridors because the site was so narrow. There are windows on the west side of the apartments and the corridors, so the apartments get western light (but not ventilation).

Thanks for your answer, it is somehow a common point that regulations regarding ventilation for kitchens and bathrooms ruled out double loaded corridor buildings around pre ww2 period, and that basically mechanical ventilation, allowing to put bathrooms and kitchens around a common middle core made these double loaded single orientations buildings possible, but we are not really talking high-rise here, more like 6 or 7 storey buildings, and here the reason for double loaded corridors is more pure optimisation by getting the building fatter, typically 18 or 20 meters thick compared to 9 to 12 meters, and reducing the numbers of verticals communications cores.
The concept of the "central entry with lobby", security etc, being also important, interesting to know that the multiple entries in pre war Chicago buildings appartments were more from the court than from the streets.

In any case these double loaded central corridor access "condos" buildings are gross, and should be totally forbidden, it's obvious :) (even in China they wouldn't dare making such monstruosities, in Russia maybe ...)

Buildings of 5-7 floors are very uncommon in North American cities. Buildings over five or so stories require multiple elevators and typically must meet high-rise construction and fire codes, so it is uneconomic to not build even higher (10 to 40 stories). The few exceptions are in suburban towns worried about buildings being out of scale with existing two-story business districts.

For high-rise buildings, it is almost impossible to avoid double-loaded interior corridors.

By the way, building high rises retaining a certain sense of dignity for the quality of the flats, that is double orientation, is of course possible. This is what Foster's is doing with the index in Dubai, or what Nouvel plans in LA century city, but it should be reminded that, skyscrapers, or let's say towers, regarding housing, are basically a completely moronic shape, that is it is counter efficient compared to slabs or coutyards with respect to the optimisation of square meters builded per square meters available under a constant natural lighting constraint.

Buildings of 5-7 floors are very uncommon in North American cities.

That's basically what this thread is presenting though (and true high rise "plain tower" type housing buildings should also be forbidden btw)

I'm not sure what argument you are making, or what type of housing you think should be permitted. Natural lighting is certainly not the only consideration, and in a northern continental climate (cold short winter days/hot long summer days), natural lighting is actually fairly unimportant. Residents will be away during winter daylight hours, and must shade summer daylight. Heating is important, so you want to keep interior hallways short. Elevators are required, must be in heated areas, and must be grouped together for redundancy. Many American flats are more than 100 square meters. Luxury apartments in new highrises are often 150 square meters, and towers may have only two to six units per floor.

You seem to be using several terms interchangeably... although I'm glad you provided a diagram.

You also seem to working under the assumption that renters/condo buyers care about natural ventilation and sunlight orientation - in other words, you're thinking like an architecture student. These are important concerns in a building, but keep in mind that other factors - ego, views, parking considerations, et al. - influence the shape of a building more than energy efficiency and optimal density. Plus, as Mr. Downtown has mentioned, local building and zoning codes limit the possibilities.

For example, we were talking a few months ago about a certain tight site in Chicago's South Loop. It could fit large, luxury-sized units in an "outside corridor" configuration, or it could fit smaller studio apartments in a "central corridor" configuration. However, in order to meet the demands of buyers for parking, it needs to have a parking podium - and the site is too narrow to create an efficient parking garage that provides enough spaces and proper auto-circulation routes. Hence, there is little interest in this parcel from real-estate developers. I assume it will be filled in later with some usage that requires less parking - offices, student dormitory, retail, rowhouses, etc.

To Mr Downtown and ardecila, first of all sorry about the maybe a bit "harsh" tone of my messages on this thread, wrote that coming back from a party and a bit drunk ...

I'm not sure what argument you are making, or what type of housing you think should be permitted. Natural lighting is certainly not the only consideration, and in a northern continental climate (cold short winter days/hot long summer days), natural lighting is actually fairly unimportant. Residents will be away during winter daylight hours, and must shade summer daylight. Heating is important, so you want to keep interior hallways short. Elevators are required, must be in heated areas, and must be grouped together for redundancy. Many American flats are more than 100 square meters. Luxury apartments in new highrises are often 150 square meters, and towers may have only two to six units per floor.

To me natural lighting is still very important, and in any climate, how about the week ends ? Working from home ? Would you say the same about a detached house ? Or a row house ?
Also about shade in the summer, the sun is also much higher in summer, so typically the above balcony or "floor advance" (not sure about the term), can typically provides the shade, leaving the way for the lower winter sun to provide the heat (special glass can also be used), basic rule for a green building is most windows at the South (it is the west or east sun and windows that are major problems in summer)

Otherwise it's clear that the "double loaded corridor access type" allows to minimize the number of vertical communications cores (basically one per building), and also leads to having a "grand entrance"/lobby in a slab style building, like for a tower. But if you consider a 7 storey appartments building with at least 2 big traversing flats per landing, the "classic multry entry type" requires one elevator shaft (with one or two) for at least 14 units or 2100 square meters (22 600 sqft), which doesn't necessarilly seem ridiculous or "too much" (knowing that for 7 storeys an elevator failure is not dramatic like it could be for all elevators in a 20 or 30 storeys building).

In the end it is of course an opinion, and it is true that somehow I "hate" double loaded corridors building types (for housing, ok for hotels for instance of course), so on my scale of "luxury", the double orientation traversing flat feature is indeed much higher than the "central lobby with concierge" feature for instance.

You seem to be using several terms interchangeably... although I'm glad you provided a diagram.

You also seem to working under the assumption that renters/condo buyers care about natural ventilation and sunlight orientation - in other words, you're thinking like an architecture student. These are important concerns in a building, but keep in mind that other factors - ego, views, parking considerations, et al. - influence the shape of a building more than energy efficiency and optimal density. Plus, as Mr. Downtown has mentioned, local building and zoning codes limit the possibilities.

For example, we were talking a few months ago about a certain tight site in Chicago's South Loop. It could fit large, luxury-sized units in an "outside corridor" configuration, or it could fit smaller studio apartments in a "central corridor" configuration. However, in order to meet the demands of buyers for parking, it needs to have a parking podium - and the site is too narrow to create an efficient parking garage that provides enough spaces and proper auto-circulation routes. Hence, there is little interest in this parcel from real-estate developers. I assume it will be filled in later with some usage that requires less parking - offices, student dormitory, retail, rowhouses, etc.


About the terms, the right one for what is labeled "corridor slab" on the diagram seems to be "double loaded central corridor building" , so I will stick to this one. About talking as an architecture student, in fact I talk more as a potential resident, being indeed quite interested in architecture. I've lived in both and to me double orientation is indeed very important, as well as the building taking the sun orientation as a key parameter. About the example you mention I think where ever you can fit an "outside corridor" configuration, you can also fit a "classic multry entry type" (even if you access the multiple shafts in the ground floor), the outside corridor being somehow the "cheap way" of achieving double orientations flats in a slab, compared to "classic multry entry". Regarding optimizing density, the "double loaded corridor" type wins here, as it is typically thicker than a traversing flat slabs but does not really take more room in terms of shadows.

But anyway wouldn't want to divert this thread too much, but do you know about mid rise condos buildings being built these days around Chicago on a "classic multy entry" or "external walkway" type, or are they indeed all (or very high majority) of the "double loaded central corridor" kind ?

All new multifamily buildings in the Chicago area are double-loaded corridor type. Except for the now-demolished public housing buildings, I have never seen a building anywhere in North America of more than three stories with an exterior walkway. In Chicago, the problems of winter cold, blowing spring rain, and ice and snow removal would make such walkways both impractical and unattractive to residents. Exterior walkway buildings are sometimes used for two- and three-story suburban apartment complexes, but this is much more common in California, Florida, or Texas than in the Chicago area.

Theoretical considerations of cross-ventilation and natural lighting are of virtually no importance to potential purchasers of these suburban condominiums. Many if not most of the residents are older people: empty-nester couples or pensioner widows. Nicely decorated lobbies and hallways, pleasant views, new kitchen appliances and countertops mean much more to them.

^^ At least around me, many suburban apartment buildings are filled with Eastern European immigrants...

Time69 does raise some interesting points, though... is the building type labeled as "multi-entry slab" illegal today? I can't imagine the costs of providing a couple of extra stairs and elevators would change the economics of many middle and upper-class developments, but it would allow for a lot of interesting architectural possibilities.

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but 1st Street St. Charles is having a huge rehab.

St. Charles already has a very vibrant downtown for Chicagoland standards.

Here is the link
http://www.firststreet-stcharles.com/the_community.html

I would venture that the Eastern European immigrants live in existing two-story complexes, not in the new seven-story condo buildings being developed near the train stations.

Certainly there are lots of multientry apartment complexes still being built, but they are only two stories high and only have stairs. Once you have to provide elevators, it makes no sense to spread the elevators out instead of placing them where they can provide redundancy to each other.

All new multifamily buildings in the Chicago area are double-loaded corridor type. Except for the now-demolished public housing buildings, I have never seen a building anywhere in North America of more than three stories with an exterior walkway. In Chicago, the problems of winter cold, blowing spring rain, and ice and snow removal would make such walkways both impractical and unattractive to residents. Exterior walkway buildings are sometimes used for two- and three-story suburban apartment complexes, but this is much more common in California, Florida, or Texas than in the Chicago area.



Yes I'm aware of the typical exterior walkway buildings in California, (often with the walkway in the interior of an elongated courtyard, small pool in the middle). Exterior walkway buildings are also not very common in France, but there are quite a few in the south, in Britanny also I think. But overall in Europe there are a lot of them, for instance in Ireland it is kind of the standard schema, a lot of them in Norway too, also Germany.
Otherwise in Europe less and less "double loaded corridor" buildings are being built these days I think.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=217226

Elburn OK's plan for 3,100-unit development near Metra station

Elburn is moving ahead with approving the proposed housing development around the Metra station after what appeared to be a stall.

The Elburn village board approved a concept plan for the 682-acre, mixed use development earlier this month. The project by Geneva-based Shodeen Inc. includes about 3,100 residential units, including apartments, duplexes and single-family homes, north and south of the Metra station, many within walking distance. The station is south of Route 38 and east of Route 47 on Railroad Avenue.

The project had appeared to be stalled after members of the plan commission made several objections at an April 1 meeting.

David Patzelt, president of Shodeen Inc., said he was "disappointed" after the April 1 meeting, but he expressed optimism about the board's approval of the concept plan.

"In my opinion, this means the village is interested in working as a team with Shodeen," Patzelt said. "That team is interested in providing housing in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and price points, and allowing a wide range of the demographic population to live within Elburn. It will be a very diverse population."

Patzelt says this is a "critical time" for a project that is wrapped around a transportation hub.

"People are looking for other modes of transportation with the rising cost of fuel and oil," he said. "The train is green."

Patzelt said the entire project could take 10 to 15 years to complete, but work could begin as early as next spring.

"Approving the concept plan is a first step," Elburn Community Development Director Erin Willrett said. "It's a progression, one of many steps it will take to approve this large project. The next step is working on a preliminary plan. There are myriad of details to be worked out, including street layouts, building and house types, fees and parks, to name a few."

Patzelt said Shodeen expects to return to the village with a preliminary plan within 60 to 90 days. The preliminary plan will include more information on schools, wastewater treatment and public services for the village.

A crucial part of the plan calls for the extension of Anderson Road south from Route 38 across the railroad tracks to Keslinger Road. Another phase of the plan calls for commercial development around Route 38.


wow, this is big time for Elburn. I wish some of the inner core burbs would think so progressive.

Wow. Didn't they just extend Metra to them within the last few years? Good to see that it may be extensively used. I remember when Elburn had a celebration for their first traffic signal (Within the last 10 years).

wow, this is big time for Elburn. I wish some of the inner core burbs would think so progressive.


Elburn has one thing that the inner ring suburbs don't have... 682 free acres...

^^ build up, up, up, and up :colgate: Or perhaps just one up to start.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=259884&src=3

Des Plaines wins 10th casino license
By Rob Olmstead

The Illinois Gaming Board today awarded its 10th casino license to Des Plaines, after a more-than decade-long legal battle that kept the license dormant.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1615/wls122208casino1bi7.jpg
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4681/wls122208casino2tr4.jpg

"Casino Des Plaines"? I sure hope that's just for the rendering. At least it's land-based, and not some fake riverboat monstrosity, spoiling yet another riverfront.

i cant recall the finalists but i know waukegan and rosemont were on the shortlist (i think)
But it seems that Des Plaines would have the most to gain
Its a near suburb of Chicago that is doing okay, but needs something
to liven it up and help with its local economy, I lived there in the late eighties and early ninties, (highschool) and it seems that some parts have improved and some have gotten worse

Waukegan has the lake, harbor and the fixed up genessee and the lake county courthouse and condoized highrise so it will do okay
Rosemont has tons of Hotels, so it doesnt need more.

Gaming board picks Des Plaines, Rosemont and Waukegan as casino finalists ok this was the title to an article nov in trib

i cant recall the finalists but i know waukegan and rosemont were on the shortlist (i think)
But it seems that Des Plaines would have the most to gain
Its a near suburb of Chicago that is doing okay, but needs something
to liven it up and help with its local economy, I lived there in the late eighties and early ninties, (highschool) and it seems that some parts have improved and some have gotten worse

Waukegan has the lake, harbor and the fixed up genessee and the lake county courthouse and condoized highrise so it will do okay
Rosemont has tons of Hotels, so it doesnt need more.

Gaming board picks Des Plaines, Rosemont and Waukegan as casino finalists ok this was the title to an article nov in trib

Des Plaines has actually come a long way in the last 10 years. Their downtown has nearly been redeveloped including probably a dozen mid-rise condo buildings. Very good TOD. They have been cleaning up a lot of the industrial areas too. They have done some flooding projects within the last 5 years and lowered the base flood elevation east of the river, which will ultimately protect homes, increase their values, and probably the demographics of the area.

As for the casino - there really wasn't much going on at this end of town. It is mostly commercial and if anyone will benefit most, it is Rosemont. The casino is really at the corners of Rosemont, Park Ridge, and Des Plaines (Rosemont is across the street and Park Ridge is on the other side of the forest preserve). Of the $25M Des Plaines projects to make each year in increased taxes, they have to give away all but $9M while Rosemont gets to keep all of theirs. Rosemont has a lot of hotels and restaurants within walking distance to benefit. Plus Rosemont has a huge empty piece of land at Higgins and River one block away they had been shopping to hotels to building two hotels and this certainly will drive up the selling price. But maybe it will provide a lot of jobs for Des Plaines residents.

Waukegan probably needed it more than Des Plaines, but the word on the street is they had shady business going on with Blago ties. The board actually mentioned the shadiness of the deal but would not specify.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/12/des-plaines-gets-last-casino-license.html

this shows a picture of where the casino would go

im glad to see that its not going to cut down forest preserve land
its at the northwest corner of devon and desplaines/river road

just some unsightly low rise office buildings, one story and two story ones,
its nice to see that desplaines will profit from being so close to the airport.

didnt know that desplaines extended that far south, funny borders there.

here you can download a good map of desplaines http://www.desplaines.org/ReferenceDesk/Maps/WardsMap.asp

i agree that waukegan does need help, the lake location though should help it in the long run, in the very very long run. I think its the most underrated suburb, as its very much a city in its own right and has a metra stop
and there has been some redevelopment of late that is very nice,
i noticed a nice new pub in downtown of late and some people have been fixing up their homes there. The homes north of waukegan downtown by the lake are very very nice, (not all but alot) also its close to Illinois Beach State Park which is awesome, the downers are there is a comed facility and nuclear power plant nearby and North Chicago is nearby and probably will remain the way it is for sometime, though its downtown has been fixed up a bit.

Personally i was hoping waukegan would get it.
Thanks for the update Printerrowboiler, i agree that the downtown has gotten better, the oakton strip has remained very stagnant and blah however, atleast in IMHO. I lived just off of oakton by riverroad and that area is very dead, but it always was.

[url]
Thanks for the update Printerrowboiler, i agree that the downtown has gotten better, the oakton strip has remained very stagnant and blah however, atleast in IMHO. I lived just off of oakton by riverroad and that area is very dead, but it always was.

That area might be the most ignored stretch in Des Plaines. The City staff is very aggressive with redeveloping the City, but this area has been ignored. I think it really has hurt since the market plunged months ago. A lot of that area is in the floodplain which hurts. They are reconstructing River Road along that stretch, which may help. But it will take a massive flood improvement project to pull that area out of the floodplain before there is some decent investment in it.

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=33937

Mixed-use project in Winnetka approved

The Winnetka Village Council last week approved a 167,835-square-foot retail and residential development at the site of the former Fell Co. clothing store in the affluent north suburb’s downtown. Construction of the $50-million project won’t begin until at least 2010, as developer New Trier Partners LLC still needs financing. The plan for the one-acre site, near Lincoln Avenue and Elm Street, east of Green Bay Road, consists of retail space and 31 condominiums, which would start at $800,000. Lincolnwood-based New Trier can’t demolish the existing buildings until it has financing and won’t begin marketing the condominiums until the economy improves, says Robert Goldstein, a managing partner.
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http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9470/newtrierrenderingfacade.jpg

Oak Park redevelopment plan advances
June 30, 2009 1:51 PM | No Comments

The downtown gateway of Oak Park's Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District may soon look very different with a 19-story glass residential tower, 120-room hotel and new retail space wrapped around a new enclosed parking garage.

The Oak Park Village Board on Monday unanimously approved a redevelopment agreement for the 435,000-square-foot, $85 million project with Sertus Capital Partners, of Chicago. The development would be located at Lake Street and Forest Avenue.

Under terms of the agreement, the village would give Sertus land that is currently the site of a village-owned parking garage that has been in need of extensive repairs or replacement.

In addition, the village would pay $9.8 million for construction of 300 parking spaces in the new garage with the developer covering costs for an additional 188 spaces for the hotel and condos.

For the first two years the village would also subsidize the hotel operations with two $250,000 payments, which are expected to be recouped from the hotel tax.

Monday's approval is only the beginning of the formal approval process. The developer now has 60 days to submit the final application, which will then go to the plan commission and back to the village board for final approval. A tentative timeline has construction starting in late 2010 with completion two years later.

The village subsidies do not sit well with Mike Fox, owner of the Carleton, a nearby boutique hotel that has been in downtown Oak Park for decades.

"You're giving them the land and you're giving them the parking. ... There's only one place they can get business. They will steal it from me," Fox said. "I support my family with it and you guys just don't care."

But trustees and staff noted that various studies and plans over the years have highlighted the need for another hotel to accommodate and increase tourism in the area.

"The notion of a hotel is an adventure worth trying," said Trustee Colette Lueck, who acknowledged that the deal is not fair to the Carleton.

Others raised concerns about whether there would be enough parking. Previous plans called for 750 parking spaces in that area. Pat Zubak, executive director of Downtown Oak Park, noted that the surveys were conducted this spring in the midst of an economic downturn and a slow season.

"It's a very exciting project," she said. "We're very concerned, however, about the lack of parking being proposed. The basis for making these decisions is flawed."

Staff again noted that their models for parking needs and existing vacant spots at various times indicated the mix of 488 public and private parking spaces would be enough. Trustees also noted that this is not the only new garage that will be built in the coming years.

Overall, the financial risk to the village would be minimal, particularly at the start when the land would be the only investment, said Mark Angelini, a development consultant hired by the village to do a risk analysis.

"It's a pretty good risk reward scenario," Angelini said.

In exchange for the land where the aging parking garage now stands adjacent to the former site of a pancake house and a small grocery store, the developer plans to invest more than $70 million in the new project.

Height will be an issue for some residents, trustees acknowledged. But architect Michael Patten of the Epstein firm noted that a 16-story residential building is already located directly across the street.

He said the slim line of the tower and the use of glass will reduce the visual bulk and create a unique structure that doesn't compete or mimic the neighboring landmark buildings, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple, Gothic churches and the newer Oak Park Public Library.

"We wanted to create something that had its own identity," Patten said.

-- Victoria Pierce

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/06/oak-park-redevelopment-plan-advances.html

^^
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/9779/lakeforest1.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9657/lakeforest2.jpg
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4634/lakeforest3.jpg
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/448/lakeforest4.jpg

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=302540

Omnia development idea questioned in Naperville
By Melissa Jenco

Published: 6/24/2009 12:19 AM

Naperville residents filled city council chambers Tuesday to learn about a large-scale development proposal that would be built near the downtown train station.

...The plan calls for a $190 million performance arts center and commuter parking garage. The arts center would include a 2,700-seat performance hall, 950-seat second performance space and 200-seat studio space. Because of the need for a fly tower to move sets, the development would reach a height of 130 feet in some areas.

In addition to the performance center and garage, the proposal calls for residential units - roughly a dozen houses, 45 to 55 townhouses and 500 to 600 mid-rise condos - as well as stores and restaurants.
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http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3048/napervilleomnianw.jpg
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/9962/napervilleomniaaerial1.jpg

Blech, looks like the rejected remains of a bad sports arena. TOD is TOD, though, I guess.

http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/07/22/r_aezea0knsh6irkx7aovhpa/index.xml

Woodstock City Council approves plan for Grace Hall to be torn down
By BRIAN SLUPSKI

The City Council cleared the way for the demolition of Grace Hall on Tuesday night, determining that Woodstock Christian Life Services made a good faith effort to save the building.

The Prairie-style brick building once was part of the Todd School for Boys. The building served as a classroom and dormitory for Orson Welles, among others. The Woodstock Historic Preservation Commission also has recommended that the 7,300-square-foot structure be preserved as a landmark.
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http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5659/69444235.jpg
John C. Trione - The Woodstock Independent (http://www.thewoodstockindependent.com/story.php?id=109)

Photo of a young Orson Welles in front of Grace Hall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26427913@N07/2628281813/

Those city council members in Woodstock should be voted out of office at the next election.

They gave that religious group an upzoning. For no good reason. The land had been zoned for single family homes. That's a zoning that, if kept, would have led to the preservation of the historic Grace Hall.

Instead, the city council got into bed with the developers and the religious group. The well-being of citizens was ignored. The importance of this historic, attractive structure was ignored. Woodstock is the loser. What a shame.

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=35334

Drugmaker to buy Glenview site, build HQ
By Eddie Baeb, Sep. 02, 2009

Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma U.S. Inc. is moving forward with plans to build a 440,000-square-foot headquarters at the former Culligan International Co. site in Glenview.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3531/astellas.jpg

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=35334

Drugmaker to buy Glenview site, build HQ
By Eddie Baeb, Sep. 02, 2009

Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma U.S. Inc. is moving forward with plans to build a 440,000-square-foot headquarters at the former Culligan International Co. site in Glenview.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3531/astellas.jpg

I hope that is an actual render. Amazing that 94/294 continues to attract big pharma..

Nice design for a suburban office park. To bad these pharmy and other corporates can't find their way downtown or at least near suburban Metra.

^ Maybe not near Metra, but real, real close to Chicago Executive Airport (Palwaukee). And that appeals to the C-level suite and above and they make location decisions. I am glad that the Chicago metro is attracting this kind of investment in our current economic cycle.

New Apple (http://www.apple.com/retail/mainplace/) Store - Main Place - 120 W Jefferson
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6788/photomainplace.jpg
Anyone know if the following two developments are complete and whether they look anything like the renderings?
Town Centre - 14 S Main
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2574/xy7d7f935001584e7e95a6d.jpg
Main Street Promenade extension - 55 S Main
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8307/69948535.jpg

And a nice photo of CityGate Centre and Hotel Arista
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9048/3740825425827d7d1632b.jpg
Michael Brown/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebrown3506/3740825425/)

Park Ridge - Uptown development
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9411/47058094.jpg
Andy Tucker/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mspdude/3989188174/)

Des Plaines - one of the more underrated suburban downtowns IMO. The shops aren't as good as Naperville and they don't have beautiful towers like in Evanston, but they've haven't been total NIMBYs (I think) and there are quite a few midrise buildings downtown, many not even captured in this photo.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1313/32867468.jpg
Andy Tucker/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mspdude/3988433155/)
Prairie Crossing - 40 units
Just west of the white building near the center of the photo above
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5899/prairiecrossingrenderin.jpg

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=321282

Downtowns draw people who enjoy being a part of the action
By Sherry Giewald

As you get off the train, you're surrounded with a bounty of amenities. You head to an Italian restaurant and meet a friend for dinner. Afterward, you stop at the bank and a boutique. You then top the evening off with a Starbucks coffee and head home to your cozy condo.

This downtown lifestyle in the suburbs is gaining popularity with people of all ages who like the concept of living in a new condominium or townhouse, walking to the train and having the library, bank, post office, restaurants, salons and coffee shops all within walking distance of their residences.
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http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/homes/news/1815839,metra_influence_100909.article

Home sales better near Metra stations
October 9, 2009

What's it worth to live near a suburban Metra stop? According to a new survey: 2 to 4 percent of the purchase price. And that's if you can find a home near a stop - the same study finds those homes are scarcer.

During 2009, Chicago suburbs served by Metra commuter trains saw the average price of a home decline less sharply than other areas of the seven-county suburban Chicago real estate market, according to a study of home sales activity by RE/MAX.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=320468

Condo groups join Oakbrook Terrace fight against development
By Jake Griffin

Two Oakbrook Terrace condominium associations have filed a lawsuit against DuPage County and a controversial developer seeking to halt a massive residential and retail project.

...The board's approval in April allowed Royce Realty to build up to 2,000 new residential units on 82 undeveloped acres near Butterfield Road and Ardmore Avenue. At least 500 of the residential units would be set aside for a seniors. The plan also called for a hotel, retail shops and other amenities. Officials from Royce anticipated construction costs for the entire development to run at about $750 million.
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Looking at Royce's crappy website, the project doesn't look to exciting. The site plan (by Fitzgerald Associates) shows two 18 story towers, a 14 story building, and multiple 3-6 story buildings in typical suburban fashion.

The interesting part of the story: the developer spent time in prison after trying to bribe Oakbrook Terrace officials into approving his original plans by rigging a hole-in-one contest at a golf course he owned so that the mayor's son would win a 1931 Cadillac. :nuts:

Gosh corruption linking Chicago politics to anything??? Impossible! :nuts:

And here goes my $100 that the court sides with the corrupt developer and the county.

Lululemon is opening another store, this time in downtown Naperville at 21 West Jefferson.
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http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=355046

Elgin Community College, Elgin swap land, classroom space
By Harry Hitzeman and Kerry Lester

Elgin Community College plans to close its downtown Elgin campus as part of the city's plan to bring a 56-unit artists' co-op and gallery to town.

In exchange for giving the 60,000-square-foot Fountain Square Campus building at 51 S. Spring St. to the city, ECC will receive 16 acres of city-owned land just south of Spartan Drive adjacent to the college's main campus, according to agreements passed by both parties this week.
http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/9783/241953.jpg

A good story about affordable housing in Lake Forest and its benefits. Hopefully more upscale suburban towns become more proactive and try to put some affordable housing near the Metra stations especially.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/advice/ct-mre-0131-lake-forest-affordable-restat20100203,0,5414664.story

Lake Forest searching for affordable housing solution

By Sharon Stangenes, Special to the Tribune

February 7, 2010

Carla Gardner, 72, raised three children and has lived all of her adult life on Chicago's North Shore. A homemaker, Gardner was widowed in her late 30s. Ten years later, when the family's five-store business closed, Gardner sold the family home and went to work.

For the last 12 years, she has lived in a subsidized one-bedroom apartment, part of the Neighborhood Homes Without Walls program, a collaboration of the city of Lake Forest, the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Seniors Center and Lake Forest Place, a Presbyterian Homes senior-living development.

"There is nothing" in her price range, says Gardner of market-rate suburban housing. "They all want $1,200 to $1,500 a month."

Lake Forest is about to help more residents like Gardner. While other communities worry about too much affordable housing thanks to a rising tide of foreclosures, Lake Forest is trying to put some back into its housing mix.

A proposal to build 16 two- and three-bedroom homes, 15 of which will be rented for less than $1,000 a month, began a public review and approval process last month as a first step toward consideration by the Lake Forest City Council.

"It helps our seniors who are often desperate. It opens options for schoolteachers and for people who work at the hospital so they don't have to drive 50 miles and spend all their income on commuting," says Thomas Morsch Jr., a Lake Forest alderman and proponent of the proposed Settler's Green project.

Founded more than a century ago by some of Chicago's wealthiest families, this city of 21,000 residents remains one of the region's most affluent and desirable communities. Perched on prime lakefront property, the town's mix of gracious homes, wide lawns, architecturally historic downtown and array of private schools combine to give Lake Forest a movie-set aura.

Yet several years ago local officials realized Lake Forest — and the nearby suburbs of Highland Park, Northbrook, Deerfield and Highwood — were losing housing for a wide range of people.

Though known for its mansions, Lake Forest historically has had a mix of worker cottages as well as housing for shopkeepers, schoolteachers and other mid-income professionals and service workers, says Peter Coutant, the city's senior planner.

Concern for those living on fixed incomes led to construction of the Senior Cottage Development, composed of five rental homes, in 2003. But even as the first residents moved in, the housing boom had pushed the city's home prices nearly 66 percent above 1994 levels.

The recession slowed increases in property values, but with an estimated median household income that is more than double the national number and a median home value estimated at $900,000, Lake Forest is too expensive for most who work there to live there.

"There is a huge gap between workers and the housing," says Morsch. "Sixty-nine percent of the (five suburb) community-area work force earns less than $50,000 a year, but only 13 percent of local housing stock is affordable for that income."

Morsch, who grew up in Lake Forest, says income and housing diversity has contributed to the suburb's quality of life and he wants to see that continue. But as the region has become a corporate center with such firms as Abbott Laboratories, Walgreen Co. and Tenneco Inc., local housing and traffic patterns are becoming more complex.

"We've lost some key staff because they didn't want to live so far from where they work," says Leslie Chapman, vice president for business affairs for Lake Forest College, a four-year liberal arts college of 1,400 students.

She cites the case of a college official who moved to Indianapolis "to work for Butler University because the housing was closer and more affordable."

Over the years, the college has tried to bridge the gap between Lake Forest's high living standard and faculty salaries. The school has 30 subsidized rental units, most on or near the college campus, for nontenured teachers and to recruit faculty newcomers. It offers a second mortgage program to help faculty members, and an employer-assisted home purchase program for support staff and newcomers meeting certain key guidelines.

Lake Forest Hospital also subsidizes a handful of rental units on the hospital grounds. They are for staffers new to the area or moderate-income employees who want to live close to work or have transportation issues, says Mathew Koschmann, vice president of external affairs and business development.

"The majority of employees do not live in Lake Forest," he said.

"It is important for us to have good response times for employees in times of emergency," he said, noting the hospital's required 30-minute response time for some staffers is increasingly difficult in traffic-clogged Lake County.

Affordable housing emerged as an issue within the last several years and was "acutely noticeable" in 2008 when gas prices skyrocketed, Koschmann says.

In early 2005, Lake Forest adopted an affordable housing plan soon after the state passed legislation with a goal of making 10 percent of all housing affordable to those making 60 percent or less of area median income.

With only 5 percent of its housing in that category, Lake Forest adopted a plan that Robin Snyderman, vice president of community development for the Metropolitan Planning Council, calls "a model for other communities." It is an "impressive" illustration of "good stewardship," says Snyderman.

The plan calls for a housing committee, a demolition tax with a portion of the revenues going to a trust fund to be used for affordable housing, a goal of 15 percent of affordable units in all new developments or redevelopments, expedited or reduced cost of permit fees for affordable projects, and promotion of employer-assisted housing. It aims to increase the city's affordable options and ensure those homes blend architecturally and aesthetically with existing housing and are close to public transportation, shopping and parks.

In September, Lake Forest won $756,000 in federal low-income tax credits from the Illinois Housing Development Authority for Settler's Green. The tax credits are expected to generate more than $5.1 million in private equity to help build the rentals on city-donated property at Everett and Telegraph roads. The housing will be close to retail and a Metra station.

The project faces close scrutiny as it goes through the approval process, however. In March 2009, about 100 residents filled the city council chambers to protest transferring city-owned property for possible development of affordable housing. Some residents were not happy with the site, according to published accounts, because it would increase traffic congestion. Others expressed concerns the city was rushing the project. Questions were asked about what impact "affordable housing" would have on neighboring property values and who would live in the eight duplex buildings.

Officials said there is little evidence the housing would affect property values.

"I am certain that the final development will be a source of pride for the community — well-managed, well-designed, and home to seniors, key workers and other valued households," said then-Mayor Michael Rummel in support of Settler's Green in March. Rummel, whose term ended last spring, had been one of five North Shore mayors who in 2007 reached out to the business community to try to find housing solutions for more area workers.

As to the future residents of the proposed Settler's Green rental homes, Marge Burda, director of the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Senior Center, says, "People don't realize it is their neighbor" who will live there.

"It's the people they see every day, especially in this economic time," she says, citing a 2007 survey that found 250 households of seniors 55 and older qualified for the housing.

..

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2010/02/suburban-towers.html


Suburban sprawl, meet suburban tall; new high-rises offer chance for lively, walkable communities, but suburbs can't decide whether they want to be like the big city or distinct from it

February 12, 2010
Blair Kamin

Skyscraper! The word conjures up soaring towers of steel-and-glass--along with congested streets and blotted-out patches of sky. For years, Chicago has been defined by its skyscrapers, its suburbs by their single-family houses. Yet this age-old dichotomy has little to do with the way we live and work today.

In an arc extending from Evanston (left) to Schaumburg to Oak Brook, a new crop of tall buildings has invaded the placid, wide-open spaces of Chicago’s suburbs. And now, despite the recession, another skyscraper may be coming to some very sacred suburban turf: right down the street from a cluster of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes in Oak Park, including the architect’s very own Home and Studio.

It is amusing to picture a nattily dressed Wright walking out the front door of the shingle-clad Home and Studio (left) and looking down Forest Avenue at the planned, glass-sheathed skyscraper, which at 20 stories would be Oak Park’s tallest building. Presumably, he would have detested it. Wright, who died in 1959 loved to wickedly refer to the clean-lined shapes of modern design as “flat-chested architecture.”

But divining the old master’s reaction to the proposed, $85 million hotel and condominium skyscraper matters less than the broader trend the proposal reveals: This is the age of “suburban tall,” a counterweight to the much-criticized phenomenon of suburban sprawl. Yet many of Chicago’s suburbs seem ill-equipped to deal with the trend, sending confusing signals about whether they want to be like the big city or distinct from it.

“There’s no clarity,” said John LaMotte, principal of The Lakota Group, a Chicago-based planning and design firm. “It’s a fire fight on every single project, and it really shouldn’t be.”

A generation ago, there was little reason for enlightened regulation. In those days, suburban skyscrapers tended to be office buildings along highways. They reflected a pattern of “leap-frog development,” in which growth jumped over inner-ring suburbs like Evanston and Oak Park in favor of suburban boomtowns like Schaumburg. A case in point: The Helmut Jahn-designed, octagon-shaped Oakbrook Terrace Tower of 1986 (left)—still the tallest building in the suburbs at 31 stories.

But the new suburban skyscrapers, as exemplified by the clusters of towers that have popped up in Arlington Heights and Evanston, are typically built in the heart of historic, transit-oriented downtowns. They are examples of what planners call “infill development,” filling the gaps in existing suburbs rather than shaping new ones. Yet their emergence has turned out to be anything but peaceful.

These towers, which tend to be residential, have created a built-in clientele that boosts the fortunes of restaurants, shops and movie theaters. That allows aging downtowns to compete against suburban mega-malls. Yet the scale of the new towers—a dramatic departure from comfy, old Main Streets and residential neighborhoods around them—has raised questions of urban compatibility (below) that their highway-oriented predecessors did not face.

In 2007, for example, a task force appointed to update Arlington Heights’ 1987 downtown master plan recommended reducing height limits in the suburb’s pedestrian-scaled downtown core and areas on the downtown’s flanks. But in 2008 the village board tabled the recommendations after local developers and property owners objected, according to Charles Witherington-Perkins, the suburb’s planning chief. The board felt it still had the appropriate tools “to moderate the height of any new proposed development,” he said.

Such tensions came to a boil in Evanston in 2008 after developers Tim Anderson and James Klutznick unveiled plans to construct a 49-story, 523-foot condominium tower which would have supplanted the Oakbrook Terrace Tower as the talllest building in the suburbs and would have been nearly twice as tall as Evanston’s tallest building.

Chicago architect Laurence Booth argued that his design for a tall, thin, glass-sheathed tower would give Evanston the best of both worlds—energy-saving density without overwhelming bulk. Yet protesters argued that the design would produce an over-scaled monstrosity that would join with neighboring skyscrapers to create a bland high-rise thicket that would raise rents and uproot local merchants. “No Skyscrapers,” their buttons said, even though the downtown was already dotted with them.

The outcome was a compromise with disappointments for both sides. Evanston last year approved a downtown height limit of 35 stories, which will hardly allow the soaring tower Booth envisioned, and gave the project’s developers a three-year extension (until 2013) to break ground, disappointing opponents who are still fighting the project.

The fundamental problem, many observers agree, is that the skyscraper proposal emerged before Evanston had completed a new master plan that articulated its vision for downtown—and how the scale, massing and other features of new buildings should reflect that.

“They were zoning per [individual] site,” said LaMotte, who helped develop the plan. “They weren’t really looking at the big picture.”

A comparable lack of clarity surrounds the controversial Oak Park proposal (left), which is known as the Lake & Forest Development in recognition of the streets that flank it. Oak Park’s Village Board is expected to take up the proposal next month.

Backed by a Chicago-based developer, Sertus Capital Partners, the plan calls for the construction of a 140-room hotel, 85 condos, about 28,000 square feet of retail space and a 510-space parking garage on the site of an aging, village-owned parking garage and a vacant, one-story commercial building that once housed a popular pancake house (below). In addition, Oak Park would pay the developer $9.8 million for 300 publicly owned spaces in the garage and give the hotel a $500,000 operating subsidy for its first two years of operation.

These obligations, which the deal’s supporters say would be balanced by an estimated increase in real estate, sales and hotel tax revenues totaling at least $1 million annually, have naturally raised concerns about whether the deal makes financial sense. But the urban design issues are no less nettlesome, given the high quality of nearby buildings.

To the north, along tree-lined Forest Avenue, is a spectacular row of Wright-designed homes that draw an estimated 80,000 tourists a year. To the east and west stretches the human-scaled Lake Street shopping and residential district, with its alluring mix of Art Deco, Dutch Revival and neo-classical buildings, along with Wright’s Unity Temple, a powerful essay in exposed concrete. To the south across Lake is a clunky, brick-faced residential tower, about 165 feet tall.

Does another tall building make sense in such a context? Oak Park’s 1990 comprehensive plan states that the suburb “does not wish to develop large concentrations of high-density buildings in any one part of the village,” although it opens the door for a possible exception on Lake Street. The suburb’s greater downtown master plan, adopted in 2005, goes a step further, saying that retaining the village’s historic, small-town feel should be one of Oak Park’s guiding development principles. In response, the height limit for the proposed skyscraper site was reduced to 80 feet from 125 feet.

Case closed? Not quite. The design, by the Chicago architectural firm Epstein, does a better-than-average job of diminishing the impact of its big building program while introducing new uses that could jump-start a downtown that many describe as an economic laggard. “Is it Santiago Calatrava? No,” acknowledged Sertus principal Michael Glazier, referring to the renowned architect who designed the stalled Chicago Spire super tower. “Santiago Calatrava isn’t affordable in Oak Park.”

Instead of a single, chunky block, Epstein calls for thin offset slabs with overriding planes of glass, which would de-emphasize the tower’s bulk. In addition, the architects have deftly hidden the project’s parking garage behind a two-story retail base with a lively folded glass facade. And they have wisely placed the tower’s highest point at the corner while stepping the skyscraper downward to the residential districts to the north and east (left). This skyscraper promises to be a good neighbor, not the bully down the block.

Still, it is hard not to have mixed feelings about this plan. If the project succeeds, which is by no means a certainty given that Sertus has yet to obtain financing, other developers will likely come along with high-rise proposals of their own. And the same cycle of conflicting principles and bitter debate will start all over again.

What’s needed instead, said LaMotte, is comprehensive urban planning that lays out complementary design directions for developers and architects without being overly prescriptive. “Developers and builders are looking for a clear direction from communities rather than fighting for three years and nothing gets done,” he said.

Clarity is everything as towns confront the new realities of “suburban tall.” But clarity can only be achieved if suburbs take a hard look at themselves and ask: Who are we and how should our buildings reflect that? The recession-induced pause in development may the best time of all to do that—before the next wave of towers hits.

..

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=364482

Libertyville's School Street project revived
By Mick Zawislak

A long-idled plan to create an old-fashioned neighborhood near downtown Libertyville has been rekindled.

...StreetScape is proposing single-family homes based on the fundamentals of "New Urbanism," which promotes walking, offers smaller homes that are close together in a variety of designs and is close to public transit.
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5038/260322u.jpg

Heres some more on the Riverfront Developments in Aurora:

Article from the Sunday March 12th Edition of the Beacon News

Developers taking different paths on riverside

By David Garbe
STAFF WRITER

AURORA — In concept, it would be easy to see the two new downtown redevelopment projects as mirror images, facing off across the waters of the Fox River.

Both are bold attempts to transform derelict riverfront properties. Both are brain children of ambitious, well-financed developers with Fox Valley roots.

Both would build urban-style condos and business districts. Both share a special taxing district that allows them to receive millions in tax rebates from the city.

And, like all mirror images, the two projects reflect some critical opposites.

The River Street Plaza project, proposed by Batavia developer Joe Vantreese for the west bank of the Fox, is smaller but includes very specific plans for multiple buildings with 180 condos and 20 restaurants.

Vantreese has cleared the property and opened a sales center, and last week, the city openly indicated it will provide the tax rebates upon which the project depends: $26 million to be paid strictly from revenues generated by the project itself.

Aldermen made it clear Thursday they would approve the project and the tax rebate when it comes before the City Council this week, but that support emerged only after six months of contentious negotiations.

On the other side of the river, the yet-to-be-named project proposed by Geneva developer Kent Shodeen proposes to spawn hundreds of condos and a variety of office spaces but so far has little to show for it besides soil borings and property options.

Nevertheless, prior months of private negotiations with a few city officials set the stage in January for Aurora to commit at least $13.5 million in tax rebates to the Shodeen project, at least $6 million of which will come in advance of any tax revenues. That deal was approved within barely two weeks of its public announcement.

"We do have two people that have approached this differently," acknowledged Bob Vaughan, the chief of staff for Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner.

Despite the contrast between the "front-door" and "back-door" approaches, Vaughan warned armchair urban planners against reading too much into the development process. "We don't have a mold where you have to approach the city in one way."



Special tax districts


Neither are the two developments competing for a common pot of public money, Vaughan said. "Each of these agreements is going to be self-contained."
The financial incentives for each project are coming strictly from the tax base created by the projects themselves, via a tax-increment-financing district.

In other words, the money that the city has promised to spend helping the two developers is supposed to come directly from the increased taxes they pay on their properties once construction and other improvements begin.

For Vantreese's River Street Plaza project, the city has agreed to rebate $26 million in property taxes over the next 18 years through a "pay-as-you-go" arrangement.

That means money will be paid out only if and when the property is improved enough to generate increased tax revenues.

The city is funding Shodeen's incentives through the same mechanism, but the development agreement for that project requires the city to spend $6 million up front, with the rest coming after the developer's investments begin to grow tax revenues on the property.

The risk in that kind of arrangement is that, if the development never happens, the city is stuck paying off the advance payment without the extra tax revenue.



Building on reputation


In the case of the Shodeen development, backers say the guarantee is Shodeen himself.
"He's not going to get involved with something where he doesn't believe it could happen," Weisner said of Shodeen. The mayor pointed to Geneva's riverfront, where the developer has built residential and commercial projects similar to what he will undertake in Aurora.

As part of the Seize the Future downtown planning initiative, Aurora's economic development staff began courting a short list of prominent regional developers almost a year ago.

Shodeen was the first one — and so far the only one — to bite, said Seize the Future director David Dorgan, who had built a relationship with the developer during Dorgan's career as the city manager of Elgin.

At Dorgan's invitation, Shodeen examined several properties around the downtown but ultimately settled on the large, yet challenging, old Burlington depot parcel.

Dorgan said he asked Shodeen to do a feasibility study.

"He said, 'Why would you ask me to do something that shows there's no market?'" Dorgan recalled.

Shodeen himself has spoken about his project creating a market all by itself. At 37 acres, the property is large enough to have "its own environment and its own features," he said when the deal was announced.

People familiar with Shodeen say he does not shy away from a complex deal. Creating the sprawling Mill Creek development just west of Geneva in unincorporated Kane County, observers say, was a feat encompassing different governmental bodies, environmental and drainage issues.

"If not for Kent Shodeen's commitment to Geneva, it would look very different today," Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns said.

He praised Shodeen but noted, "He's a businessman first and foremost."

One Aurora city official described Shodeen as "hard-headed." He almost walked away from the downtown agreement several times, according to people familiar with the deal.

The deal finally was closed in January, when the city agreed to pay for the first round of cleanups on the site to make redevelopment financially possible.

The unknowns of the project remain substantial: Besides drafting a site plan, Shodeen will have to negotiate the relocation of an electrical substation with ComEd and railroad crossing rights with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Progress of actual work on the project is likely to be slow, despite the relatively quick approval from the city.



Work in progress


When it comes to Vantreese and his River Street Plaza development, city officials have been more cautious, even as the development itself has raced ahead.
Although his detailed plans for the site have been public since he bought the properties last summer, Vantreese did not reach an accord with the city until this month.

Formal City Council approval likely will come this week.

The measured response from the city — especially early on, when the approval process appeared to be stalled — rankled Vantreese, who has some $8 million in private capital tied up in the project and can't afford to move at a leisurely pace.

City officials, though, said they were not willing to rush into a partnership with someone whose development resume is relatively short.

The young investor is somewhat new to the game, having spent most of his career as the owner of a West Chicago manufacturing facility that makes high-tech industrial components. Before that, Vantreese had a brief run in professional auto racing that ended with a 1996 crash in the Barber Dodge Pro Series.

In the last few years, he has built new companies specializing in environmental cleanups and the redevelopment of old industrial sites.

After completing deals in Chicago Heights, the Batavia resident turned his gaze to the Fox Valley.

Vantreese began forming his vision for the riverbank here more than a year ago, when he was working on an industrial redevelopment project on nearby Gale Street.

Now under construction, Vantreese's Bell-Gale Industrial Condominium Park served as his first effort in Aurora. The River Street Plaza project would be Vantreese's first residential project to be completed. His only other attempt at home construction was a similar riverfront condo project at the site of the D.R. Sperry factory in North Aurora.

In that case, Vantreese completed the environmental cleanup of the site but sold the property after becoming dissatisfied with the village government's efforts to help the project along.

Within weeks of Vantreese's canceling the deal, the Village Board fired then-Village Administrator Rob Nelis, largely because of his openly hostile relationship with Vantreese and other developers.

If his background and aggressiveness make municipal staffers nervous, Vantreese's colleagues in the business world say they see a pattern of willingness to take risks to get things done.

"My experience with him is that he has done what he said he would do," said David Faganel, a third-generation owner of Faganel Builders who has developed hundreds of homes in the Fox Valley.

Faganel has joined a variety of local businessmen in investing in the River Street Plaza project, illustrating their confidence in the development's viability.

"(Vantreese) has made a huge commitment," Faganel said. "He's out there moving faster than any other developer could."

- Staff writer Allecia Vermillion contributed to this story.

Transforming the Face of Downtown

Does anybody have any idea what is u/c next to the Glenview Metra station? There is a large brick structure that is pretty close to completion there, but it's not clear from the signs what exactly it will be.

^^ I'm guessing what you saw was the new library that they broke ground on over a year ago.

http://www.journal-topics.com/dp/10/dp100423.1.html

‘Huge’ Development
Billion Dollar Plan To Rebuild O’Hare Lakes Includes High-Rises, Hotels, Walkway To Casino

By TODD WESSELL

...He, instead, continued to plan the redevelopment of his prime 50-acre parcel that’s situated on the north side of Devon Avenue, west of the Tri-State Tollway and literally just yards from Bluhm’s casino site.

On Wednesday, Kozonis unveiled details of his vision during a meeting with the Journal & Topics Newspapers in his O’Hare Lakes office. The plan, which could cost Kozonis as much as $1.5 billion, calls for the construction of eight to 10 high-rise buildings where restaurants, retail, banquet and office space would be located along with two or three hotels. The property would be connected to Midwest Gaming and Entertainment, LLC’s new casino on the east side of the tollway by an enclosed walkway that would span over I-294. Kozonis said he already has in place verbal letters of intent from some interested tenants and once the massive project is completed and fully operational, could bring in as much as $40 million in new revenue to city coffers---as much if not more than the new casino.
http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/9349/dpoharelakesrender.jpg
http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/8329/dpoharelakesrender2.jpg

204 W Van Buren, Naperville
24 units
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3592/204wvanburen.jpg
The underground parking is a nice treat but I don't understand why they didn't include retail on the corner.

I love both of those last two proposals hope they happen soon (if they didn't start the process already)

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=381722

Schaumburg strip mall to be demolished

The small strip mall at the northwest corner of Schaumburg and Roselle roads in Schaumburg will be demolished Thursday to make way for a 14,000-square-foot commercial building with two upper floors of 12 apartments each.
---
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/149/98876748.jpg
Not the greatest architecture, but still. A suburban strip mall being demolished for more density? Whoa.

Not the greatest architecture, but still. A suburban strip mall being demolished for more density? Whoa.

^ Yeah really. We need more of that in the city

The site of the proposal is in Schaumburg's historic downtown. There isn't much left of the historic downtown - before WWII, Schaumburg was just a crossroads with a few houses. Half of what WAS there was torn down for the respective widenings of Schaumburg and Roselle Roads. There's still a small handful of older homes there, the vast majority now serving as professional offices, stores, or restaurants (one of them is Lou Malnati's!) But, envious of Palatine and Arlington Heights, Schaumburg has tried to define this area as its "center".

There's another fairly urban-looking townhouse development a block away, and the large power center strip mall has lots of beautiful public spaces included, as well as Schaumburg's large central library.

It's great to see Schaumburg building more of this stuff, but it's not out of character for a Chicago suburb to allow slightly more urban development in downtown areas... this isn't just some random intersection.

Of course, for a sprawlburb, Schaumburg is fairly progressive, thanks to Mayor Larson. It runs free trolleys connecting the major retail centers so that you only have to park once, which reduces congestion. It has an extensive bike path system and - already adequately served by expressways - is now leading the charge for the STAR Line/Blue Line to Woodfield, as well as a transit component in the Elgin-O'Hare project and numerous smaller improvements like Pace's planned Golf Road BRT.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=384402

'Front porch revival' moves ahead in Libertyville
By Mick Zawislak

A dormant example of the economic downturn is being reworked into a "throwback" neighborhood that its developer says could bring national recognition to Libertyville.

Anchored by the former Central School, which will be converted to loft-style condos, and a menu of homes with big porches meant to evoke another era, the concept of New Urbanism is about to take root.
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/1253/282743.jpg
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1328/282744.jpg

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2010/06/with-a-central-dome-that-resembled-a-flying-saucer-the-three-legged-mall-that-opened-in-northwest-suburban-mount-prospect-in.html
June 21, 2010
Suburbia revised: Confronting shuttered shopping centers and empty big-boxes, developers try turning malls into Main Streets

With a central dome that resembled a flying saucer, the three-legged mall that opened in northwest suburban Mount Prospect in 1962 (left) looked like it had whirred down from outer space and landed in an old farm field at the corner of Elmhurst and Rand roads.

“Randhurst,” it was called in honor of its two main bordering streets, and it was a thing of wonder, the Chicago area's first enclosed shopping center. Shoppers flocked to the air-conditioned spaces beneath its futuristic dome.

But the future proved short-lived. Just forty years later, with shuttered anchor stores and shrinking traffic, the once-proud retail pioneer seemed well on its way to becoming a “dead mall.” Its useful life, however, was not over.

Today, in an act of radical design surgery, Randhurst is being remade into an open-air, mixed-use development that will have many features of a traditional downtown, including shops, movie theaters, offices and a hotel. The dome and core of the mall have been demolished, and next year a developer plans to open an old-fashioned Main Street lined with Prairie Style-influenced buildings in their place (above). There will even be angled parking spaces that promise to let you drive right up to a shop, though chances are you'll really be parking in a vast field of asphalt much farther away.

The revamped mall already has been given a quaint variation of its original name: Randhurst Village.

The catchphrase for this promising — and provocative — type of remake is “retrofitting suburbia.” From Cape Cod to California, its advocates aim not simply to remake dead malls, strip centers and big boxes, but to alter suburbia itself, making it more dense, more walkable, and sustainable — in short, more urban.

That is a tall order, and the credit crunch brought on by the recession has dramatically cut back on the funding available for such transformations. But the downturn appears to have paved the way for future retrofits, especially as towns search for ways to erase the blight of shuttered stores and recoup sales tax dollars they lost when once-thriving malls went slack (left, the long-shuttered Dixie Square Mall in south suburban Harvey).

“For the next five to 10 years, the future is going to be creatively retrofitting existing structures,” said James Conroy, director of Chicago-area development for Casto Lifestyle Properties, the Florida developer spearheading the $190 million remake of the mall.

Not surprisingly, given the history of malls killing off mom-and-pop stores and even-bigger malls stealing business from early shopping centers, the movement has stoked fears. In Mount Prospect, some merchants fret privately that the faux downtown at Randhurst will siphon off business from the town's real downtown (left), which sits about a mile to the south along Metra's Northwest line and is studded with new public buildings and residential midrises.

Others, like 17-year Mount Prospect resident Kevin Griebenow, welcome the change, though he fears the mall's new stores — long boxes that will be split into individual storefronts and sheathed with varied shades of brick — will create architectural blandness.

“My biggest concern is that it all comes off flat and monotonous,” said Griebenow, a dam inspector who doubles as a Chicago Architecture Foundation docent.

But he went on to explain why he is excited by the prospect of the mall's new Main Street. “Our downtown is just dissected and sliced and diced” by the Metra line, Illinois Highway 83 and Northwest Highway, Griebenow said. “There's really no nucleus — no place to stroll.”

.............It is significant that this drama is playing out in a mature, inner-ring suburb about 20 miles northwest of Chicago's Loop. As recession-battered subdivisions remain half-finished on the exurban fringe, they offer fewer customers to patronize new stores. That makes properties in inner-ring suburbs, where thousands of potential customers already live, more attractive. Mount Prospect's population is roughly 56,000.

“We don't need another person to move to Mount Prospect to make this work,” said Conroy, the development director at Randhurst.

The bigger backdrop for the drama is the overbuilding that has devastated the retail industry (at left, an empty furniture store in Chicago's far western suburbs in 2009).

The Chicago region is “phenomenally over-stored,” said Stan Nitzberg, a principal at Mid-America Real Estate Corp. in Oakbrook Terrace. It's the same story nationally. The vacancy rate for U.S. shopping centers, from strip malls to super-regional malls, stood at more than 11 percent in the first quarter of this year — the highest it's been since 1983, when data were first collected, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York City-based trade group.

But the upheaval could open the door to change. When Chicago-based General Growth Properties recently identified 13 malls it is likely to forfeit to lenders when it emerges from bankruptcy later this year, the announcement raised the prospect that opportunistic buyers could snap up the distressed properties and remake them along the lines of traditional Main Streets. There, stores face outward to the street rather than inward to a mall atrium, and businesses, stores and residences are interspersed.

“The recession has accelerated trends that already were in place,” said Ellen Dunham-Jones, professor of architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-author with the City College of New York's June Williamson of the Bible of the retrofitting movement — the 2009 book “Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs.”

As sketched by the Beame Architectural Partnership of Coral Gables, Fla., and 505 Design of Boulder, Colo., the Randhurst Village plans (above) offer a peek into what sort of future these trends might yield: An urban-suburban hybrid that combines elements of so-called lifestyle centers, which cluster upscale stores in pedestrian-friendly settings, and so-called power centers, which feature big-box stores fronted by acres of parking lots.

Big-boxes like the Home Depot will remain on the mall's fringe, while the Main Street at the mall's core will offer inviting outdoor spaces like a landscaped “Carson Court” outside the white box of Randhurst's remaining Carson Pirie Scott & Co. anchor store (left). Cleverly, with an eye toward selling, these spaces have been designed to encourage customers to linger rather than just rush in and out of one store, then back to their cars.

“I suspect that they'll have street fairs there, seasonal events, maybe outdoor concerts,” said David Galler, project manager for the architects. “Though it's not under one roof anymore, places like this become the equivalent of the village green.”

Perhaps, but some weaknesses already are apparent. Early plans from the developer called for 200 apartments to be built above the Main Street shops, which would have given restaurants and theaters a captive market and provided Randhurst Village with a round-the-clock vitality. But the apartments were eliminated because it was determined that they would be too costly to build and therefore too pricey to rent.

The mall's large parking lots will remain, even though they will be dolled up with more landscaping. And while there are plans for bike racks and the project is aiming for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, most customers, even those who live nearby, are likely to drive to Randhurst Village, undercutting the possibility that the mall will cut down on driving and thus promote sustainability.

In addition, recently retrofitted buildings on Randhurst's fringe continue to turn their backs to adjoining neighborhoods, suggesting that the mall will fail to apply the street-friendly design of its Main Street to the areas around it.

Nevertheless, there is reason to think that the mall's imperfect version of urbanism will cultivate a desire for more of the real thing — and that Randhurst Village's faux downtown may be able to peacefully coexist with the real one a mile away.

“Will one hurt the other? I'm not sure it really has to,” said Tom Nelson, president of the Mount Prospect Downtown Merchants' Association and head of his own computer services store. If shoppers like the mix of stores and the Randhurst Village revamp proves an economic success, more sophisticated retrofits — and a more urbane version of suburbia — seem sure to follow.

I liked that they planned to have apartments above the stores. I don't like the prospects of it coming off well given that apartments will be axed. From the sound of it this will be more "Streets of Woodfield" then the "The Glen" in Glenview which even with its imperfections is about as good as new suburbia is likely to get.

By the way, has anyone read the book mentioned in the article "Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs"?


http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2010/06/a-mixed-track-record-mall-makeovers-produce-different-results-in-schaumburg-and-park-forest-.html

June 21, 2010
A mixed track record: Mall makeovers produce varied outcomes in two Chicago suburbs, Schaumburg and Park Forest

The dramatic makeover of the Randhurst shopping center in Mount Prospect is not the Chicago area’s first example of a suburban retrofit. Two previous examples, the Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg and downtown Park Forest in the south suburbs, reveal what to expect from the trend — for better and for worse.

At the Streets of Woodfield, just south of the larger Woodfield Mall along Interstate Highway 290, 25 miles northwest of Chicago’s Loop, old-fashioned facades with arched windows and peaked rooflines are plastered onto a long building and an adjoining parking garage. Outside restaurants and a busy Starbucks, people sit at umbrella-topped tables with a view of the highway and an adjoining parking lot.....................

..

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/2609236,4_1_JO18_JJC_S1-100818.article

Joliet gives JJC a green light
Community college plans downtown redevelopment
By BOB OKON August 18, 2010

Downtown Joliet would be a changed place if Joliet Junior College moves forward with its plans for a 10-story, modernistic building that would make room for hundreds of new students.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2724/jo18jjcp3scnfeed2010081.jpg
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/8831/jo18jjcp2scnfeed2010081.jpg

^ What a appears to be a pretty nice historic building would be demo'd for that project.

Rialto Square plaza
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/4796/jo3c.jpg
Will County administrative campus
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/9534/jo2r.jpg
Will County court complex
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/8384/jo1f.jpg

^ Cool...

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2617604,6_1_NA20_PLAN_S1-100820.article

Plan Commission OKs Water Street project
By KATHY MILLEN August 20, 2010

Downtown Naperville may be one step closer to getting either a hotel or condominiums.
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Residential + retail
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/1944/30058681.jpg
Theater Building, plaza leading to riverwalk, Loggia Building

Hotel or residential (1 floor shorter) + retail + parking garage
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5175/22256436.jpg

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/9149/14990517.jpg
Hotel or residential building, office building

Elgin

http://triblocal.com/elgin/2010/10/12/funding-set-for-strollable-riverfront/

Funding set for strollable riverfront

By Melissa Jenco
Tribune reporter Today at 2:05 p.m

As Elgin has worked to rehabilitate its riverfront over the past decade, one piece of the east bank has remained an eyesore.

The funding is now in place for that to change.

Elgin has received an $8 million River Edge Redevelopment grant from the state to revitalize the stretch of the Fox River shoreline from Festival Park to Chicago Street.

“When you look down it, it’s beautiful, it really is,” Mayor Ed Schock recently said while standing along the river. “I think we’ll have a riverfront second to none.”

The river has always been an important part of the city, he said, but has undergone “cycles of use and abuse” as it went from providing fish and water to helping generate electricity and power waste.

Today, the riverfront is home to attractions like the Grand Victoria Casino, Gail Borden Library and Festival Park, but the stretch from the park to Chicago Street needed improving. The project designed in 2007 calls for demolishing a parking deck that has been closed since 2003 and creating a promenade to give residents a place to walk along the water. There also would be benches, trees and lighting as well as a bike path and new roadway.

Two overlook plazas would jut out over the river and provide space for large or small waterfront gatherings.

To help improve water quality, runoff would be filtered through bioswales.

The plans were created by Hitchcock Design Group which also designed Naperville’s popular Riverwalk......................

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7595/riversideoverlook460x34.jpg
Elgin's new promenade along the Fox River will include overlook areas that can accommodate large gatherings. (Courtesy of Elgin)
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/5891/riversideaerial300x203.jpg
Elgin plans to construct walking and bike paths, a new roadway and gathering spaces along the stretch of the Fox River between Festival Park and Chicago Street. (Courtesy of Elgin)
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/2039/riversidecurrent300x225.jpg
The stretch of riverfront between Festival Park and Chicago Street in Elgin will be getting a makeover to make it more attractive to pedestrians and bicyclists. (Melissa Jenco/Tribune)

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101005/NEWS/310059768/

Lake Zurich development delayed
By Phil Collins

Lake Zurich’s downtown developer said he has the long-sought financing in place to tackle a key area in the village, but he will need a 10-month extension to properly submit plans for his first project.

...“We have secured financing for our project; it is beyond a commitment, Smith said. “It’s something that has been very hard fought to attain.
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Bunch of images here (http://www.destinationlakezurich.com/).
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/3741/31103816.jpg
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1115/51864613.jpg
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4859/10964242.jpg

I'm glad the developer fought so hard to bring some level of urban development to the burbs...

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/2609236,4_1_JO18_JJC_S1-100818.article

Joliet gives JJC a green light
Community college plans downtown redevelopment

Here are all three designs:
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/3403/36660511.jpghttp://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7738/54836701.jpghttp://img502.imageshack.us/img502/8255/26057125.jpg

http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/homes/2903172,metra-town-prices1118.article

Metra commuters - Enjoy your bump in home prices
Study finds more sales, better prices in Metra communities

November 17, 2010

BY KAY SEVERINSEN - SearchChicago-Homes editor
Metra commuters — your attention, please. The next outbound Union Pacific train to Harvard with intermediate stops at Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Palatine, Barrington and Cary (and a lot of other northwest ’burbs), has caused the number of home sales in your municipalities to be up a robust 57 percent over last year, and your home’s value to go up at least 9 percent over last year.

Though Union Pacific line residents came in tops in a RE/MAX Northern Illinois survey of the impact of train lines on home sales, they aren’t the only areas that have enjoyed the train line bump.

RE/MAX analyzed home sales in a three-town sample along each of the 11 Metra corridors and compared those numbers to home sales throughout the suburban market. Overall, the report found that Metra municipalities averaged 10 percent more home sales growth in the first half of 2010 than non-Metra towns.

So far this year, Metra municipalities in the study had 47 percent more sales than other towns, and had average sales prices of $275,266, compared to the total suburban area average of $239,064.

Within those averages, however, is a lot of variation.

..

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/marcus-theatresr-announces-new-theatre-planned-for-green-oaks-ill-2010-11-29?reflink=MW_news_stmp

MILWAUKEE, Nov 29, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Marcus Theatres(R), a division of The Marcus Corporation /quotes/comstock/13*!mcs/quotes/nls/mcs (MCS 14.10, -0.15, -1.05%) , today announced that it has reached an agreement to purchase approximately 10 acres for a movie theatre as part of a mixed-use center in Green Oaks, Ill., a northern Chicago suburb. The mixed-use project, being developed by Equities Green Oaks, LLC., is located near the Northeast intersection of I-94 and IL Route 176 in the village of Green Oaks, commonly known as the "Lambs Farms" interchange. The mixed-use development will also feature retailers and restaurants and will have easy access from northern Illinois communities of Libertyville, Mundelein, Vernon Hills, Lake Bluff, Waukegan, Lake Forest and others.

"Marcus Theatresis excited to build a new state-of-the-art 100% digital cinema as part of the Green Oaks mixed-use development. The planned 60,000 square foot theatre is being designed to have up to 15 screens and 2,400 seats, including a 70-foot-wide UltraScreen(R). A variety of food and beverage options are also being considered to further enhance this theatre as an entertainment destination in Lake County," said Bruce J. Olson, president of Marcus Theatres. "We anticipate that construction at this location could begin as early as spring or summer of next year."

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110104/news/701049797
1/4/2011 12:29 AM
Des Plaines OKs Cumberland station redevelopment planDes Plaines likes Cumberland concept

By Madhu Krishnamurthy
mkrishnamurthy@dailyherald.com ..O'Hare flight information Metra service advisories Why Not the Best Web site Why Not the Best Web site Why Not the Best
The Des Plaines City Council Monday night approved final concept plans for redevelopment of the area around the Cumberland Metra rail station into a commercial district.

It took more than a year of meetings with residents and planners to develop the Cumberland Transit Oriented Development Plan, funded entirely through a $125,000 community planning grant from the Regional Transportation Authority.

The study encompasses the area within a half-mile radius of the Cumberland rail station, on the Union Pacific’s Northwest line. The idea is to promote development around public transit hubs so people can take mass transit to work.

“The key to transit-oriented development is providing a walkable environment in a station area,” said Steve Friedman with S.B. Friedman & Co., the firm heading up the city’s team of consultants.

The plan calls for creating a mesh of connected streets and a diversity of housing of varying densities in the long term. But any transformation of the area would be developer-driven and not involve huge investment of public money, Friedman said.

The plan includes Metra replacing the aging Cumberland station house with a new building and expanding the parking lot south of the tracks. The station reconstruction would be paid for through the Capital Improvement Bonds Program approved by state legislators in 2009. Yet, the state has not identified any funding sources for the program.

The short-term plan for the Cumberland area includes limited real estate redevelopment opportunities, but there are a lot of smaller enhancements proposed that would provide better access to the train station and improve the environment around it, said Geoff Dickinson, project manager.

Officials stressed the city has no plans to acquire any land in the area for redevelopment and that it would be up to private businesses to spur improvements.............

To view the plan for the Cumberland area visit desplaines.org...

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/marcus-theatresr-announces-new-theatre-planned-for-green-oaks-ill-2010-11-29?reflink=MW_news_stmp

MILWAUKEE, Nov 29, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Marcus Theatres(R), a division of The Marcus Corporation /quotes/comstock/13*!mcs/quotes/nls/mcs (MCS 14.10, -0.15, -1.05%) , today announced that it has reached an agreement to purchase approximately 10 acres for a movie theatre as part of a mixed-use center in Green Oaks, Ill., a northern Chicago suburb. The mixed-use project, being developed by Equities Green Oaks, LLC., is located near the Northeast intersection of I-94 and IL Route 176 in the village of Green Oaks, commonly known as the "Lambs Farms" interchange. The mixed-use development will also feature retailers and restaurants and will have easy access from northern Illinois communities of Libertyville, Mundelein, Vernon Hills, Lake Bluff, Waukegan, Lake Forest and others.

"Marcus Theatresis excited to build a new state-of-the-art 100% digital cinema as part of the Green Oaks mixed-use development. The planned 60,000 square foot theatre is being designed to have up to 15 screens and 2,400 seats, including a 70-foot-wide UltraScreen(R). A variety of food and beverage options are also being considered to further enhance this theatre as an entertainment destination in Lake County," said Bruce J. Olson, president of Marcus Theatres. "We anticipate that construction at this location could begin as early as spring or summer of next year."

^ Wow, just saw this now.

When driving on i-94 down from Wisconsin, the Lambs Farm area looks like a little slice of Wisconsin in Chicagoland. It will be interesting to see that change as this development (and other ones that will surely follow) take place. Looks like the sprawl engine continues to grow...

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110112/news/701139960/

Aurora library plans for new building
By Marie Wilson

The core of the Aurora Public Library’s main branch building has been standing on Benton Street at the south tip of Stolp Island since 1904.

But instead of renovating the aging 43,000-square-foot structure, the library is making plans for a new building one block west that could be ready by the 2014 or 2015.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110207/news/702079776/

Wheeling approves makeover of former Wickes site
By Sheila Ahern

In two years, the transformation of the abandoned Wickes furniture site in Wheeling could well be under way with the construction of cobblestone streets, boutiques, restaurants and a concert venue.

The Wheeling village board unanimously approved the $100 million project Monday, with Village President Judy Abruscato speaking for her trustees after the vote was taken.
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“We’re ready,” she told the project’s developer, Urban R2, a Chicago-based company.

The project would include 170,000 square feet, including a 70,000-square-foot national retailer to anchor the site. The smaller boutiques could include specialty shops, a gourmet food store, a bakery and restaurants. Plans also call for two 12-story residential buildings, a parking garage and a redone Metra station.
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River 595 (http://www.river595.com/) - 60 units
Des Plaines
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The architecture is crap but I absolutely love what Des Plaines is doing with its downtown. All of these dense midrise buildings coming out of nowhere are really impressive.

^just slap a little bit of grit on it and it'll be straight...

^ Wow, just saw this now.

When driving on i-94 down from Wisconsin, the Lambs Farm area looks like a little slice of Wisconsin in Chicagoland. It will be interesting to see that change as this development (and other ones that will surely follow) take place. Looks like the sprawl engine continues to grow...

Yeah pretty weird.
Its an ok place to take your kids if you live locally
so they can see the petting zoo and stuff.
Yeah I know this in general isnt such an exciting
development but my parents live in lake bluff,
so it would be nice to have a new place nearby
to see a movie.

http://triblocal.com/des-plaines/2011/01/04/cumberland-makeover-moves-ahead/

Cumberland makeover moves ahead
By Jennifer Delgado TribLocal reporter Jan. 4 at 10:35 a.m.

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The Cumberland train station could see changes once Metra receives state funding. (Photo by Jennifer Delgado)

An extensive plan to make a piece of the northwest side more transit-friendly and welcoming to businesses has been approved by the Des Plaines City Council and now staff will start looking for funding.

The Cumberland Station Area plan includes a rehab of the Metra depot, a new bus stop shelter, improved intersections and sidewalks, building facade adjustments, and expanded commuter parking, among a score of other features.

“At this point, when you drive up and down Northwest Highway, if you don’t know where to get off, you may not know there is a neighborhood there … you go blasting through Des Plaines and Mount Prospect,” said Geoff Dickinson, of S.B. Friedman & Co., who has been working on the project with other organizations.

One of the major goals is to get the Cumberland-area businesses community, which currently consists of medical and insurance operations, to add more commercial and retail options, like convenience stores, restaurants, and even a laundromat, planners said. Places like the Frisbie Senior Center, the YMCA, Cumberland and Chippewa schools, parks, homes, and a Romanian Baptist Church are all in the area.

The plan also encourages the development of more townhomes, since projections show young couples and seniors will come to Des Plaines looking for starter housing and smaller homes in the next three years, according to city documents.

The renovation of the Cumberland train station would be funded through Metra and could cost $4.5 million. Metra officials said state bonds will pay for the project, but it’s unknown when the money will be available. The improvements could include a new sound system, improved platform lighting, and a new warming facility, said Meg Reile, a Metra spokesperson.

“It would be one of our basic standard designs,” Reile said of the station. “It would be newer. It would be nicer. But unless additional funding comes from the city or some other source, it wouldn’t be fancier.”

The Cumberland stop, which is more than 60 years old, sees about 400 riders daily, city documents show.

Some council members questioned one of the long-term goals of the plan — to consider relocating some existing companies, like the United Feather and Down Company, and clear the site for transit-uses. Aldermen said they don’t want to force anyone out or deny new businesses for not fitting in with the plan. Officials and planners assured the council the plan wouldn’t push companies away, but rather serves as a guideline for future development.

Area businesses and residents said they are excited about the possible changes.

“One of the biggest complaints is that the transportation really stinks in Des Plaines,” said Melissa Kalliantasis, program manager of the nearby Frisbie Senior Center, which sees about 950 people from all over the suburbs. “I think the plan would make Des Plaines more accessible so (seniors) can get to places they’re normally not able to.”

Work on the plan was funded through a $125,000 grant from the Regional Transportation Authority.

jmdelgado@tribune.com



I just find this interesting as I went to highschool in Des Plaines
Bantam Books used to be right by this station.
I had almost forgotten about this station in Des Plaines.

http://triblocal.com/palatine/community/stories/2011/04/r-franczak-breaks-ground-construction-is-underway-at-the-heritage-of-palatine-brownstones/

R. Franczak Breaks Ground: Construction is underway at The Heritage of Palatine Brownstones
By Aimee DeBat

Construction is now underway at The Heritage of Palatine Brownstones, a private collection of only seven distinctive new-construction row homes on Greeley Street at Washington in downtown northwest suburban Palatine.

The 3-story turn-of-the-century row homes are being built by R. Franczak & Associates near downtown Palatine’s Town Square Park and just steps from the Metra, shopping and restaurants.
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"turn of the century" row homes? i suppose we aren't that far from the turn of the 20th to 21st centuries, but i have a feeling that's not quite what they're intending to mean. Perhaps "turn of the century inspired" would be a better description as I assume they don't have a construction time machine.

http://northbrook.patch.com/articles/residents-dream-of-more-restaurants-river-walk-in-downtown-northbrook

Residents Dream of More Restaurants, River Walk in Downtown Northbrook

Community members gather at Village Hall to discuss downtown development.

By Jennifer Fisher
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October 18, 2011

One person suggests that Northbrook should raze its downtown and start from scratch. Another says the downtown needs some cohesiveness of appearance. A third warns that “cohesiveness” might just turn it into Anytown, U.S.A.

These suggestions were among hundreds given for the future of Northbrook’s downtown at a public input meeting at Village Hall Monday night. Attended by roughly 65 people, the meeting launches a weeklong, intensive planning process involving input from residents, business owners, property owners, developers and village staff, with the goal of creating a comprehensive plan for downtown development. The process is led by Teska Associates Inc., a consultant the village hired with a $100,000 community planning grant from the Regional Transit Authority...........
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