Envy Apartment

Mark Painter (Photo: (c)Pamela Ebel) Mark Painter served as a judge for 30 years. He is the author of six books and a member of the Enquirer’s Board of Contributors. In 1965, I lived in a basement apartment in Corryville. It was a vibrant neighborhood – a doctor’s office, two delis, an actual mom-and- pop dry cleaner , and perhaps the best bar and restaurant ever – the original Lakewood Tavern at Jefferson and Lakewood. What’s there now? The entire tax-paying environment was destroyed to build the Environment Protection Agency . Not that it couldn’t have been built on empty land nearby – UC and the Feds just wanted it as close to the university as possible. It’s sterile and ugly to boot. The small businesses were gone. The homeowners gone. Tax- paying property replaced by non-taxpaying property. Population lost. When you destroy a neighborhood, you tear the fabric of the community. Connections lost. Roots lost. And so it goes. Buy Photo Several dozen houses in Avondale -- abandoned ...

See more of the story When Lee Stotts was born in 1968, his parents took him to the cleaners. They brought their newborn straight from the hospital to Edina Cleaners , the family’s longtime business in Edina’s Morningside neighborhood, before they even took him home. “This was my playground,” Stotts, now 49, said. “This is where I spent my entire life. I’ve lived and breathed this company, this location, my entire life.” But now Stotts, in the wake of his father’s death last year and facing slower business , has decided to sell the building to a developer who wants to build a five-story mixed-use structure there. The plans are creating tension in the peaceful neighborhood, where neighbors are wary of the project’s height and density and worry it could set a precedent for more such development at 44th Street and France Avenue. Bob Kearney, who moved to Morningside 30 years ago , said he realizes that “it’s not going to be 1950s Morningside here forever.” “But everybody is also aware tha...

Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood continues to buzz with construction activity. Thanks to its proximity to the city’s central business district , top parks, cultural attractions, and multiple colleges, the area has been especially hot for new rental projects . South Loop hotel construction is also strong as the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority works to expand and transform McCormick Place into a new entertainment and hospitality hub dubbed ‘McCormick Square.’ Here is the latest look at eleven projects under-construction or newly completed in Chicago’s hot South Loop . ↑ One Grant Park Expected to rise well over 800 feet into the air, One Grant Park will be impossible to miss when when it creates a new peak at the south end of downtown Chicago’s skyline. Designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, the 76- story building broke ground in early 2017 and has been quickly climbing at the corner of Roosevelt and Indiana. The skyscraper will deliver 792 rental apartments . A second...