Thanks to Daniel Burnham

Why are we thanking him? Well most Chicagoans and historians credit Daniel Burnham's plan for Chicago as the reason we have such a beautiful city today. Although the plan hasn't been followed exactly, it has served as a template and inspiration during the past 100 years. Since it's the centennial year for the Burnham plan many Chicago institutions (such as the Chicago History Museum) are featuring his work as well as other plans that look to shape the future of the city for the next 100 years. The Chicago Tribune has a great story summing up his legacy and how he shaped Chicago:

The Burnham Plan charted a course that made the city—especially downtown—the vibrant, livable urban center it is today. It redefined not just the city's map but its character, affirming for its citizens the belief that big plans—such as the 2016 Olympic bid—can yield spectacular results and that Chicago, with its history of powerful alliances between business and political leaders, can bring them off.

Smoke Free Apartment Building

Last year the City put into effect a smoking ban in all restaurants and bars, but apparently this apartment building at 900 S. Clark took it to another level.

Your Brain on City

Interesting read in the Boston Globe about how living in a city hurts your brain. As one would probably expect, the stimuli of a city makes living in one exhausting and harder to remember things.

For most of the article it makes the argument that living in more "natural" spaces is better for people. However, at the end it touches upon the fact that city living tends to produce innovation and creative solutions.

So at the end it's inconclusive in my mind...regardless I would advise enjoying Grant Park and the various parks throughout the Chicagoland area.

Do You Have $2.3 Million?

If so, you can have a spectacular condo in One Museum Park, which is the immaculate new building on the south end of Grant Park. What this gets you is 3 bedrooms, 2,910 square feet and ridiculous views:


For more One Museum Park coverage check out these Sloopin stories.

A Look Back at 2008 in the Sloop

Although we know that it's now January 8th, 2009 and people are done looking back at 2008, we still thought you should see this wrap up article from the Chicago Journal taking a look back at the year that was in the South Loop. They talk about a variety of topics that we covered as well. Below are some of the Chicago Journal's headlines as well as Sloopin's coverage of them. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

The new infrastructure: Sloopin's take on Infrastructure
The day development died: Sloopin's take on Development
They're busy over there in Grant Park: Sloopin's take on Grant Park
Sea change coming to selective schools: Sloopin's take on Schools

Freight Trains Could be Diverted Out of the South Loop

The Chicago Journal has a follow-up article about a story we were following in early December. Canadian National, the company that runs the freight trains that often pass through the South Loop, have won their legal battle to acquire a different company that has the rights to train tracks that go around the city of Chicago. What this means is that the trains that pass through the downtown area (and South Loop) could now be diverted around the city instead of through it.

For residents in the South Loop (particularly those that live close to the tracks) this is great news. Hopefully they won't hear trains laying on their horns in the middle of the night. However, the ruling is being contested by various suburb groups that are trying to block this move as it will make their communities more congested and busy with the diverted trains. Stay tuned...

More on Sloopin Real Estate from Crain's

Brief news bit on Real Estate in Chicago and specifically the South Loop. Gail Lissner, VP at Appraisal Research Consultants, is "cautiously optimistic about the South Loop" in the long run (1:46 seconds in)...

Bob Ctvrtlik and the Olympic Bid

Who is he and why do we care? Well besides a weird name, he will be instrumental in helping the Chicago 2016 bid reach and connect with the often ornery IOC members. If you're really interested in the Olympic bid check the story out on Chicago Sun-Times, if not don't bother...

Interesting Discussion at YoChicago about SL

For those of you who don't know, YoChicago is a website devoted to covering the real estate market in Chicago. And as you can imagine, the South Loop is one neighborhood that is often covered due to its recent growth.

About two days ago YoChicago posted a conversation starter comparing the South Loop in its current state to Edgewater a couple of decades ago (According to the website real estate in the Edgewater neighborhood lost approximately 60% of it's value from 1972 to 1992). Although this has garnered a fare share of comments, most of them seem to think that the South Loop is nothing like Edgewater. In my opinion here was an insightful post comparing the two:

I don't think that there is much of a historical parallel (between the South Loop and Edgewater). Yes, the supply of condos in both neighborhoods skyrocketed, and skyrocketed over the a period of 5 years or so, before the market collapsed, but that's probably where the similarities end.

As John succinctly put it, the South Loop location is downtown and attractive, unlike Edgewater. Yes, the South Loop currently has a large inventory of unsold units, however, the South Loop is a very attractive place to live unlike Edgewater was/is - and while it will take quite some time to absorb this inventory, it will be absorbed much more quickly than Edgewater, due to it being so attractive to live in the South Loop.

Also, while I agree with most of what Abuyer had to say, I disagree with his comment that the inventory in the South Loop is overpriced. There may be a couple buildings with units that are overpriced, but most of unsold units in the South Loop are such a bargain compared to other neighborhoods that are close to the Loop such as Lakeshore East, the Loop, Streeterville, River North, Gold Coast, or even the West Loop and River West neighborhoods. When the overall market begins to pick up again, the South Loop's inventory will be absorbed a lot more quickly than the inventory of these other neighborhoods, given that the South Loop is a better bargain.

Will the South Loop's condo prices takea a little bit of a hit, due to the overall market's problems? Of course. But I don't see anything even close to the 60% loss Edgewater suffered between 1979-1992, happening to the South Loop from 2008-2021.

Olympic Prediction

The Sports Business Journal has an article on what to expect in the world of sports for 2009. Although it's a secondary point in their article they do predict that Chicago will win the bid this year (however, they also said it's impossible to predict how the IOC will vote).

Anyway, in light of the article I just posted about the South Loop cooling, I still strongly believe that the Olympic bid would really, really, really help the neighborhood.

Cool Down

In terms of real estate and development, the South Loop is going to feel some pain in 2009 according to an article today on Chicagobusiness.com. This probably isn't the biggest surprise for residents in the South Loop, but as you can imagine it's a little disheartening to hear.

Although I'm not arguing the facts of the article or the current real estate predicament, but if you don't have to sell your place tomorrow I think you should be fine. As the article states, the South Loop neighborhood has a lot of attractive attributes for it's residents, such as close proximity to the loop, lake, Grant Park, Museum Campus, public transportation and major highways.

As they say in real estate, it's all about location, location, location...and I think that should help the South Loop continue to evolve.

Employees Have Fun at Potbelly's in the South Loop

If you haven't been to Potbelly's, you probably don't live in Chicago and you probably don't like sandwiches. If that's the case, you can probably stop reading this post. Like most "faster" food chains, their process is pretty much perfected and as a result the food is always the same (which in this case is good).

So I'm not writing this to review the food, I'm writing to say that employees at the Potbelly's at 45 E. Roosevelt (essentially at the corner of Roosevelt and Wabash) are always joking around and having fun. I'm not saying this is a problem, but just an observation. To be honest, it's kinda nice, usually you get a stale experience at these types of restaurants. Good to know Potbelly's is a little different.

Development Alterations in the South Loop

Chicagobusiness.com has a recent story about two developers that are changing there plans in the South Loop due to the current state of the economy. Although this is the case around the city, country and world for that matter, it's still interesting to study different the ways each developer approaches their current predicament.

The main point of interest in my mind is that the piece of land directly north of Target on Clark (1000 S. Clark) is going to be built as lower end retail. In my mind this is perplexing as it seems like this area now has an abundance of retail space with the already existing Southgate market, Jofco Square and soon to be completed Roosevelt Collection.

However, what do I know....

Grant Park during Lollapalooza

Here is a link to some amazing shots from the crane on top of Trump's new tower. Below is a great one of Grant Park during the Lollapalooza weekend. You can also see some great shots of the South Loop at the top right.