Leading up to the 2013 ULI Fall Meeting in Chicago, Urban Landwill highlight projects and topics of interest from the Chicagoland area.
Chicago’s Novel Infrastructure Trust“The City That Works” is embarking on a big goal: Raising $1.7 billion in private capital to pay for desperately needed infrastructure improvements-and generating a financial return for investors.
Tacking the Legacy of ForeclosureA new land bank in Cook County, Illinois, plans to get vacant foreclosed homes back to productive life.
Checking In: Chicago’s Hotel ResurgenceChicago is experiencing a surge of hotel development—and seeing the repurposing of classic historic structures in the process.
Chicago in Plan: An Insiders’ Discourse on City’s History, Challenges AheadChicago has experienced a dramatic revival in the past two decades. But the authors of Planning Chicago argue, Chicago cannot rest on these accomplishments. It is important to understand not only the development history and planning behind Chicago’s successes, but also the challenges facing its growth.
City of Big ServersResources that drove the industrial economy—a central location and access to power—plus old factories just waiting to be put to use, give Chicago an edge in the data center business.
Transforming Chicago’s Public HousingChicago’s plan to transform the city’s entire portfolio of public housing is still unfinished after 13 years, more than $1 billion in investment, and the displacement of tens of thousands of public housing residents–displacement that continues to this day for some families.
Jeb Bush and Sam Zell among Speakers at 2013 ULI Fall MeetingTwo-time governor of Florida Jeb Bush will deliver the closing keynote address at the ULI Fall Meeting in Chicago November 5–8. Prior to his career in politics, Bush was a partner in what became the largest full-service commercial real estate company in south Florida. He is currently the head of a consulting company whose clients range from technology startups to Fortune 500 companies.
On Chicago’s South Side, Whole Foods Pursues New MarketsIn nearly every way Englewood does not fit the standard definition of a Whole Foods market. And yet the high-end grocer announced this week plans to open a store there in 2016 on the northwest corner of a sparse intersection.
Chicago’s Bloomingdale Trail Takes Rail-to-Trail Concept to Next LevelWork will begin this summer to transform an abandoned 2.7-mile (4.4 km) stretch of elevated railway in Chicago into the Bloomingdale Trail, the city’s only pedestrian greenway and bike path running east to west, which ultimately will connect pedestrians and cyclists to trails that stretch nearly to the Indiana state line.
Chicago’s Transportation Planning Put Walkers, Transit FirstIn just about every American metropolitan area, autos have long dominated city streets and how we think about who uses them, why they exist and what defines them as successful. This summer, Chicago is planning to roll out a small-sounding but seismic policy shift: From now on, in the design guidelines for every effort from major streetscape projects to minor roadside electrical work, transportation work must defer to a new “default modal hierarchy.” The pedestrian comes first.
Urban Innovation Grant Recipients AnnouncedSeventeen grants totaling $250,000 have been awarded to ULI district and national councils through ULI’s Urban Innovation Grant program.
The Future is Not What It Used to BeBy 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will live in just 200 cities. While some gateway cities will continue to prosper, how will the cities on the lower end of that 200 or beyond stay competitive?
Can’t hit the Curve: Keeping Costs Down on Rental HousingThe entire process of developing affordable rental housing could be streamlined to keep costs down, said panelists at the Urban Land Institute’s Fall Meeting in Chicago. But there are ways to do so.
Space, Place and the Future of Higher EducationHigher education is in many ways as vulnerable to disruption by new technologies as retail was a decade ago, said panelists at the ULI Fall Meeting.
