Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Development

Thanks to Pressure From Community, Lakeview Will Get Real TOD

By John Greenfield | May 7, 2014 | 20 Comments

After Lakeview residents argued that a huge number of parking spaces was inappropriate for a building located only one block from a Red Line stop, the latest design for the Belmont-Clark tower is much less car-oriented. While the original design featured 100 rental units and 116 parking spots, the new one has 90 units but […]

Parking Craters Aren’t Just Ugly, They’re a Cancer on Your City’s Downtown

By Payton Chung | Apr 10, 2014 | No Comments

Streetsblog’s Parking Madness competition has highlighted the blight that results when large surface parking lots take over a city’s downtown. Even though Rochester, winner of 2014’s Golden Crater, certainly gains bragging rights, all of the competitors have something to worry about: Cumulatively, the past 50 years of building parking have had a debilitating effect on […]

MPC’s TOD Tool Advises Developers About Train Station Bonuses

By Steven Vance | Mar 27, 2014 | 13 Comments

Many developers haven’t yet investigated how last year’s transit oriented development ordinance, passed to encourage development near transit, can make their work easier and possibly more lucrative. Under the TOD ordinance, developers can build bonus density — more floors, taller buildings, smaller units – and fewer parking spaces on sites near Chicago Transit Authority and […]

Wicker Park Trader Joe’s: Good Company, Wrong Location

By Steven Vance | Mar 26, 2014 | 38 Comments

Neighbors of a Trader Joe’s grocery store, proposed by Smithfield Properties for the corner of Division Street and Honore Street in Wicker Park, fear that the development will harm the work they’ve put into crafting a pedestrian-friendly street lined with locally-owned businesses. The store is welcome in Wicker Park, but neighbors say that the proposed […]

Building Another Strip Mall by a Red Line Stop Won’t Help Edgewater

By John Greenfield | Mar 20, 2014 | 20 Comments

View Larger Map The former Piser Weinstein Funeral Home site. Located just around the corner from the Red Line’s Berwyn station, the former Piser Weinstein Funeral Home site, 5206 North Broadway in Edgewater, would make an excellent spot for transit-oriented development. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be its destiny. Edgeville Buzz reports that the funeral […]

To Grow Transit Ridership, Chicagoland Needs to Build Near Transit

By John Greenfield | Mar 4, 2014 | 26 Comments

Testifying before the Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force Friday, the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Peter Skosey argued that the region could significantly increase transit ridership by encouraging jobs and development near existing stations. Governor Pat Quinn created the 15-member task force last summer in the wake of the controversial ouster of Metra CEO Alex Clifford. […]

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