Alders Moreno (1st) and Maldonado (26th) are drafting an ordinance that would increase the demolition fee for residential property, and create a new deconversion fee applied when multiple units are converted to single units, within a currently-unspecified distance of the 606. The intention is to preserve existing housing stock, thus affordable housing, near the Bloomingdale Trail.
In a cursory search, we found seven units lost in six buildings in 2016 in deconversions within 1/4 mile.
Update: Since we published this post this morning in the newsletter, we’ve analyzed demolition permits and found there were 122 demolition permits issued for residential buildings from 2014 to yesterday, within two blocks.
The DePaul University Institute of Housing Studies published a report last November which showed there was a 22 percent sale price premium on single-family homes bought within 1/5th of a mile of the trail and west of Western Ave. Their report didn’t include for-sale condos because of the varying land price per unit, and excluded rentals because of the lack of data.
Chicago neighborhood news for March 9, 2017
- Norfolk Southern has now moved into eminent domain proceedings to acquire people’s Englewood homes to expand the freight yard (Reporter)
- New analysis of demographic data show that regional economic health would be worse if not for international immigration (Chicago Mag)
- Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) plans to sign a grocery store tenant in Woodlawn next to Cottage Grove Green Line station and its new and renovated developments. The former Dominick’s in South Shore still remains vacant. (DNAinfo)
- Natalie Moore describes her and her family’s wildly different experiences buying homes in Chicago and paying the black tax (WBEZ)
- Another day, another person is quoted saying how people who will be renting in a new West Loop building are going to be “transient apartment dwellers” who are “devastating” the neighborhood (Gazette)
- “Contract selling” (where home buyers get the deed after they pay for the entirety of the home) happens mostly in Cook County communities of color, according to a new map and analysis (Chicago Reader)
- Clemson University (S.C.) researchers show that crime fell faster in areas around the Bloomingdale Trail than in similar neighborhoods away from the trail (DNAinfo)
- The Daily Line is hosting an interview with Chicago planning commissioner David Reifman on March 23. The interview will also be broadcast live on WGN Radio. Tickets are $35/50.
- Whole Foods recently got a new construction permit for the distribution center it’s moving from Indiana to Pullman (a neighborhood that is getting some post-National Park status transportation improvements)
- Michael Reese hospital site redevelopment proposals were due two weeks ago, and the city will choose on April 6 — here’s one from Imagine Development, which features two foreign university extensions