10-10-2013 04:08 PM

City in Focus: Chicago

Leading up to this year’s ULI Fall Meeting in Chicago, Urban Land will highlight projects and topics of interest from the Chicagoland area.
Checking in: Chicago’s Hotel Resurgence
Chicago 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 Ahead
Chicago 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 Servers
Resources 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 Housing
Chicago’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 Meeting
Two-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.
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On Chicago’s South Side, Whole Foods Pursues New Markets
In 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 Level
Work 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 First
In just about every American metro, 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.



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