Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Development

Planning Study for Finkl Steel Site Needs to Consider Transit and Biking

By Steven Vance | Nov 8, 2013 | 26 Comments

With Finkl & Sons Steel vacating 22 acres along Cortland Street between Clybourn Avenue and the Chicago River, the U.S. Environental Protection Agency has given the economic development corporation North Branch Works $200,000 to create a plan that keeps the area industrial. As part of this process, it’s important for walking, biking, and transit to be integrated […]

Developer Proposes Just What Lakeview Doesn’t Need: Tons of Parking

By Steven Vance | Oct 15, 2013 | 47 Comments

A new development threatens to degrade the pedestrian-oriented nature of one of Chicago’s most walkable neighborhoods by building excessive car parking at a mixed-use project close to transit. In Wrigleyville, M&R Development is proposing 148 houses, 169,000 square feet of retail space, a health club, and 493 parking spaces at Addison Avenue, Clark Street, and Sheffield […]

Metra and Pace Vote For Transit-Crushing Illiana Tollway in Advisory Meeting

By Steven Vance | Oct 8, 2013 | 87 Comments

Chicago-area transportation organizations are poised to shoot themselves in the foot and harm the region by allowing the Illinois Department of Transportation Department to squander limited transportation infrastructure funds on the $2.75 billion Illiana Tollway. On Friday the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s transportation committee voted to recommend moving forward with this wasteful, destructive project, […]

Emanuel: Transit “a Core Piece of Our Economic Strategy”

By John Greenfield | Oct 1, 2013 | 8 Comments

In his keynote address for the American Public Transportation Association’s annual meeting yesterday at the Hilton, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that quality transit is a cornerstone of his economic development policy. CTA President Forrest Claypool warmed up the crowd before the mayor arrived. Speaking on the eve on the federal government shutdown, Claypool noted that […]

Measuring BRT’s Potential to Spur Transit-Oriented Development

By John Greenfield | Sep 11, 2013 | 21 Comments

Today’s roundtable at the Metropolitan Planning Council, “BRT: Moving People, Driving Development” looked at the potential of fast, reliable bus rapid transit to draw investment to urban corridors, and the benefits of transit-oriented development in general. The panel featured CEO Walter Hook and U.S. and Africa Director Annie Weinstock from the New York-based Institute for […]

How Parking Requirements Get in the Way of New Chicago Businesses

By Steven Vance | Aug 6, 2013 | 32 Comments

A proposal to legalize transit-oriented development would make it easier to build walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, in part by halving the car parking requirement for residences and eliminating it for non-residential uses near train stations. The ordinance is set to go before aldermen at the zoning committee’s next meeting in September. Right now, without the ordinance, […]

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