Redeveloping White Sox parking lots could be a home run for Chicago: "We see a prime opportunity for Chicago to create a big, stadium-side residential development that would be a boon to the South Side... Finding a way to finally turn all that asphalt and concrete into a walkable, transit-oriented neighborhood with some structured parking and that great baseball stadium at its core makes good sense." (Chicago Sun-Times)
Chicago officials push infrastructure wish lists: "A $2.3 billion extension of Chicago's Red Line south to 130th Street. More than 600,000 new water lines across Illinois. A $3 billion total remake of North Lake Shore Drive. These are among the scores of projects Illinois state, local and federal officials are pursuing anew as President Joe Biden pushes his $2 trillion American Jobs Plan to shore up and transform the nation's infrastructure." (Chicago Tribune)
How fears of gentrification doomed the Pilsen landmark district: "The opposition came from a grassroots coalition of neighbors and neighborhood organizations... Voices from within the working-class Latinx community made it clear that they were unconvinced that landmarking would provide relief from displacement and gentrification." (Bloomberg CityLab)
A call to get back on the 'L' to save Chicago's public transit: "Chicago's got one of the best public transit systems in the nation, but ridership on the CTA, Metra, and Pace has plummeted during the pandemic... We are desperate to return to normal. When we do, we must do it via the CTA." (Chicago Sun-Times)
Plan to sell the Thompson Center faces an uphill battle: "When Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill allowing the state to sell the Thompson Center, developers salivated over the prospect of overhauling a full city block in the heart of the Loop as companies were pouring into downtown. Two years and one global pandemic later, the odds appear long of finding anyone to buy the property anytime soon." (Crain's Chicago Business)
What's next for the Loop's beleaguered Thompson Center?Shutterstock
Developers should work with the city and artists to create new venues for performing arts: "It's high time to develop some new cultural spaces and both the private and the public sectors will need to get involved. This change of emphasis could be a win-win situation, creating jobs and restoring the vibrancy of the city." (Chicago Tribune)
Wondering where your neighbors moved? Check Phoenix or Dallas: "The pandemic changed many aspects of our lives in 2020, but it didn't change Chicagoans' desire to move someplace warmer. Phoenix, Dallas, and Los Angeles were the most popular destinations for people who moved out of Chicago in 2020." (Crain's Chicago Business)
A closer look at Pullman's industrial renaissance: "Recent investments, which have brought some big names to the region, are not only creating new jobs and bolstering the city's tax base, but helping to reinvent Pullman as the model industrial community of the twenty-first century." (RE Journals)
Developer still working to turn Ravenswood church into apartments: "A plan to convert the 103-year-old [Philadelphia Romanian Church of God] into an apartment complex appeared to be dead a week ago, but now developers say they are overhauling the designs rejected by neighbors and the alderman." (Block Club Chicago)
