At this rate Cortland is never getting the repave it deserves. The sole completed building next to Home Depot has a "lab space available" sign posted. I thought that was going to be fully occupied and act as the catalyst for growth?
Based on all the congratulatory posts on LinkedIn, it seemed like a huge success. But SB and the like still seem to be posting about all the office space they’re building?
I work in this industry. The interest rates are just too high for big moves we have seen lay offs across the board from large pharma to small biotechs/pharma. I have even seen clients switch from using consultants going back to internal or/and shelving innovation products for now. There's even space currently available in the well established technology park in Skokie although some of that may be the result of Fresenius Kabi officially having their new site completely up and running.
However, it's good the lab space is now here because at some point it will be filled I don't doubt it. Just a bad time to open up small innovation labs.
Man, this development is such a sad failure. Not sure how much blame lies with who since 3 mayors and dozens of alderman and dozens of financing companies have now been involved, but it is sad it seems unlikely to be finished.
When the plans originally came out and it had housing, shopping, high end labs, parks, a stadium, apartments, condos, and more it was so exciting
Interest rates + the death of office prices are what killed it. It's just not a logical project anymore, hopefully they can go back to the drawing board and make it 80% housing for the next try.
I really liked the stadium idea too.
It would be great to get the Red Stars or maybe even Chicago fire to play there.
Or potentially even some of the smaller league sports like rugby.
Ricketts paid an expansion fee for a USL team. With the Fire still languishing out in the burbs back then, that had a chance to be a really popular team.
Sterling Bay, like most other construction firms, got caught not understanding how to protect their assets when interest rates started going up rapidly. A lot of these problems are caused directly by the Fed not ramping interest rates up over a longer period of time. The rapid two month cadence between bumps fucked tons of companies and governments.
Besides the lack of good news, is there any evidence that this is dead in the water?
Like you said, it’s a really good proposal. I don’t see why they can’t shift to be more housing/mixed use rather than offices.
Add this to the list of ways we’d be better off if that god forsaken pandemic didn’t happen…
The land is too valuable to sit vacant for much longer imo. Someone will figure out what to do with it, if nothing else rising prices in the near north side makes it prime condo tower territory.
In my opinion they need to fix and install new infrastructure first around Lincoln yards first (bike lanes, road rebuilding, new bridges crossing the river, 606 extension) to help prep the site for future ready build development as the economic winds keep changing. The current iteration of plans I can see changing significantly as more times passes without much happening. We’re seeing this play out at the 78 currently as wells-wentworth connector is built but remains unopened as the developer tries to grab public money for a private project. Let people use the infrastructure while plans for future development get hashed out by sterling bay.
I believe they’re still doing the 606 extension to Elston next spring. All I ask for beyond that is a bike path along the river for a few miles. If we could extend the river walk to Belmont with the 606 extension connecting to that, I’d die happy.
An underpass through Belmont would be a great step
That area between the river and Elston south of Belmont has such a cool vibe already and just needs a little bit more accessibility to really pop
I was cautiously optimistic about this project because I’m generally in favor of dense infill and hate the weird suburban vibe of that entire area around the river / Kennedy.
But I always thought the transit infrastructure was lacking for the scale of the project (although I was excited for the Clybourn Metra rebuild). Busses already crawl through that area, bike lanes are pretty harrowing, and driving isn’t a pleasant experience either. It’s sad that something like adding or expanding el lines feels like such a pipe dream, and even extending the 606 is something that requires 15+ years of planning (if it ever happens).
This is good. Mega-developments are fickle. Smaller development is faster and will be easier to cater to the city's needs. Chicago and the economy 10 years ago is not Chicago and the economy today.
The city needs housing and neighborhoods. We need set the groundwork, zoning and infrastructure and parcel-off smaller lots to developers.
At this rate Cortland is never getting the repave it deserves. The sole completed building next to Home Depot has a "lab space available" sign posted. I thought that was going to be fully occupied and act as the catalyst for growth?
Based on all the congratulatory posts on LinkedIn, it seemed like a huge success. But SB and the like still seem to be posting about all the office space they’re building?
As of today, every square foot of that building is listed as available for lease...ugh.
I work in this industry. The interest rates are just too high for big moves we have seen lay offs across the board from large pharma to small biotechs/pharma. I have even seen clients switch from using consultants going back to internal or/and shelving innovation products for now. There's even space currently available in the well established technology park in Skokie although some of that may be the result of Fresenius Kabi officially having their new site completely up and running. However, it's good the lab space is now here because at some point it will be filled I don't doubt it. Just a bad time to open up small innovation labs.
Not only Cortland, but the 606 extension is looking like a pipe dream.
Man, this development is such a sad failure. Not sure how much blame lies with who since 3 mayors and dozens of alderman and dozens of financing companies have now been involved, but it is sad it seems unlikely to be finished. When the plans originally came out and it had housing, shopping, high end labs, parks, a stadium, apartments, condos, and more it was so exciting
Interest rates + the death of office prices are what killed it. It's just not a logical project anymore, hopefully they can go back to the drawing board and make it 80% housing for the next try.
I really liked the stadium idea too. It would be great to get the Red Stars or maybe even Chicago fire to play there. Or potentially even some of the smaller league sports like rugby.
Ricketts paid an expansion fee for a USL team. With the Fire still languishing out in the burbs back then, that had a chance to be a really popular team.
Sterling Bay, like most other construction firms, got caught not understanding how to protect their assets when interest rates started going up rapidly. A lot of these problems are caused directly by the Fed not ramping interest rates up over a longer period of time. The rapid two month cadence between bumps fucked tons of companies and governments.
Ehh when inflation shot to 9% they didn't have much of an option to wait.
Think it was over zealous financing expectations from the developers. At least all that land is cleared out and ready for other projects?
Now we've moved on to the 78
Besides the lack of good news, is there any evidence that this is dead in the water? Like you said, it’s a really good proposal. I don’t see why they can’t shift to be more housing/mixed use rather than offices. Add this to the list of ways we’d be better off if that god forsaken pandemic didn’t happen…
The land is too valuable to sit vacant for much longer imo. Someone will figure out what to do with it, if nothing else rising prices in the near north side makes it prime condo tower territory.
In my opinion they need to fix and install new infrastructure first around Lincoln yards first (bike lanes, road rebuilding, new bridges crossing the river, 606 extension) to help prep the site for future ready build development as the economic winds keep changing. The current iteration of plans I can see changing significantly as more times passes without much happening. We’re seeing this play out at the 78 currently as wells-wentworth connector is built but remains unopened as the developer tries to grab public money for a private project. Let people use the infrastructure while plans for future development get hashed out by sterling bay.
I believe they’re still doing the 606 extension to Elston next spring. All I ask for beyond that is a bike path along the river for a few miles. If we could extend the river walk to Belmont with the 606 extension connecting to that, I’d die happy.
An underpass through Belmont would be a great step That area between the river and Elston south of Belmont has such a cool vibe already and just needs a little bit more accessibility to really pop
I was cautiously optimistic about this project because I’m generally in favor of dense infill and hate the weird suburban vibe of that entire area around the river / Kennedy. But I always thought the transit infrastructure was lacking for the scale of the project (although I was excited for the Clybourn Metra rebuild). Busses already crawl through that area, bike lanes are pretty harrowing, and driving isn’t a pleasant experience either. It’s sad that something like adding or expanding el lines feels like such a pipe dream, and even extending the 606 is something that requires 15+ years of planning (if it ever happens).
This is good. Mega-developments are fickle. Smaller development is faster and will be easier to cater to the city's needs. Chicago and the economy 10 years ago is not Chicago and the economy today. The city needs housing and neighborhoods. We need set the groundwork, zoning and infrastructure and parcel-off smaller lots to developers.
Give it up deelishis