South Chicago: Retropect In Revitalization, A Century In The Making

Mid-south lake

posted by Calumetman @ 12:02 PM 0 comments

Necessary Gentrification

Chicago's Southeast Side; mainly South Chicago, the East Side, Hegewisch, and (South) Deering are touted as sharing a "rich and diverse community and history", particularly referring to their common role during the Industrial Revolution, which I certainly agree with and respect. However from the standpoint of Chicago's great history this region, as part of Calumet, has gotten a raw deal from day one-literally. It has been the dumping ground of the city for over a century, from household to toxic waste, which has degraded it's unique natural resources and rare habitats to near extinction. Furthermore the region is hard pressed saving what is left no thanks to the current administrations constant flip-flopping on environmental issues.

As the steel manufacturing workhorse, arguably of the world, at it's zenith the area today seems discarded, dilapidated, and ignored following the racial tensions that accompanied the dwindling jobs and subsequent loss of businesses and population from the 1960s until today. Now there is much resistance to accept Chicago even has a distinct Southeast Side - with a lakefront no less, much of local media doggedly choosing instead to throw this area in with the rest of Chicago's South Side, the boundaries of which extend beyond this Calumet Region.
The rest of the Chicago Lakefront to the north has had and continues to see great strides in beautification, remediation and revitalization efforts. These locations, too, were once overdeveloped warehouse districts, littered beachfronts, landfill and polluted waterways, now enjoying world-class status as a shining, clean, green city burgeoning with recreation and lakefront attractions. Yet with the buzz of reclamation projects, action agency plans and numerous community efforts throughout the 80's and 90's in the Calumet Region results are as yet feeble slow for the Southeast Side. With the long overdue raising of the last abandoned South Works steel manufacturing building on South Chicago neighborhoods lakefront the area has been fenced off from the public for the past four years. The newly developed parkland is in jeopardy (and further delay of being completed) because of Chicago Park District scandal, and the promise of a new light manufacturing facility and the new jobs it would have offered is dashed.
Meanwhile Millennium Park was planned, built and completed, architectural deficiencies and all. Great attention and unorthodox feats have generated positive results for Northerly Island efforts, which against great opposition are nevertheless pushed forward. And the Greater Loop area continues to shine brighter with continuous re-/new development quickly implemented.

South Chicago is a chevron shaped community bordered by the Chicago Skyway (beautifully lit at night) to the west southwest, the Calumet River to the south and Lake Michigan to the east. The Former USX South Works Site on South Chicago's lakefront has acreage larger than the Loop. It boasts views of the lakefront from Indiana to downtown all the way to Navy Pier. The micro-climate is always cooler in the summer and warmer in winter. The location is too far east to easily access the CTA "L", but with its own newly contructed Metra South Chicago Branch stations (known formerly as private Row) connecting directly to the Metra Electric District/South Shore Main Line (the oldest continuous commuter rail line in the world), Metra's only electric powered streamlines, you can access smoothly and quickly to virtually every lakefront park and attraction to the north quietly and with much more ease than from any other public transit in the city. Hegewisch also has it's own Metra station along the Main Line.
If you're going McCormick Place you need not worry about the weather at all because the station is under it. For example, you can attend the yearly Auto Show in a flash and never pay a dime for parking or walk long distances. You can also get directly to Millennium Park in 15 to 20 minutes without a transfer! You're right under the park! Couple that with the proposed re-routing of Lake Shore Drive though the South Works area and you'll have better driving access than ever before along Chicago's beautiful lakefront. Nevertheless for all this convenience (I dare say amenity) it doesn't seem to transfer real attention to this location.
The CHA has also done a double whammy by sending its displaced residents to this area in droves without any planning. I'm not racist or classist. Such notions are irrelevant when it comes to public safety, which has declined for all South Chicago residents over the past two years.

Though home ownership is on the upswing a stagnation has set in. The beautifully landscaped medians of Avenue O ( to date South Chicago's eastern most Avenue) and the E. 87th St. extention to Lake Michigan have been wonderfully paved dead ends for three years and counting. I'm beginning to wonder if the only answer is for the gentrification process, which without fail has brought new life to other declining neighborhoods, should come here afterall. The Skyway was beautifully landscaped along its southwest side facing Calumet Heights when the Department Of Transportation finished contruction two years ago. Today the trees and shrubbery are dying, and invasive weeds have taken over to the point that the area is a neglected unsightly mess.

Southworks Development LLC has hired the world-renowned design firms of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Sasaki Associates along with Lubert-Adler Real Estate Fund IV, McCaffery Interests, Inc., and Westrum Development Company to create plans for the redevelopment of Chicago’s Southeast Side lakefront with world-class urban development. But they're not a community based outreach with affordable ideals in mind, but globally renowned high-end development groups with such credits as the Sears Tower and Hancock Building, the Washington Mall and London's Canary Warf. Unfortunately nothing else has worked better than this to bring retail, business and vibrancy to floundering communities, albeit at the risk of higher taxes - and displacement. But I, for one, am tired of waiting. A Jewel-Osco, maybe. I imagine a Cold Stone Creamery, Quiznos, or Rita's Italian Ice and a Smokey Bones Barbecue fronted by lakeside parkland. I see Target, Barnes & Nobles and Starbucks catching the sunrise off the Lake. I can also see the neighborhood corner stores along E. 87th Street & S. Commercial Avenue much cleaner and well stocked.

posted by Calumetman @ 9:57 PM 0 comments

South Chicago Will Rise Again

Chicago is called "the city of neighborhoods."
South Chicago, formerly known as Ainsworth, located on the southeast side of the city, is counted as the 46th of the 77 official community areas of Chicago, Illinois, It is arguably the oldest to form outside of the old city limits, but within the vast Hyde Park Township. It is 14th out of Chicago's 15 lakefront neighborhoods.

The chevron shaped community is bordered on the north by E. 79th St., South Chicago Avenue (Chicago Skyway) to the west by southwest, a portion of E. 95th St. to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, and the Calumet River runs south by southeast. Once a separate city from Chicago, the community was formed to provide a local labor force for the Joseph H Brown Mill, founded in 1875. It became U.S. Steel Southworks in 1901, continuing to attract immigrants from Ireland, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Italy. South Chicago was incorporated in 1883, and at it's zenith, made Chicago the leading producer of steel products in the nation. The Sears Tower and the Hancock Building were built from South Chicago steel.

While South Chicago has a sizable African American population, other existing ethnic groups, continue to have strong ties to the community as well. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the oldest Mexican parish in the City of Chicago serving a sizable Mexican residency that stretches into East Side and Hegewisch. For over 80 years, Immaculate Conception and Saint Bronislava have served generations of South Chicago's Polish residents, whose relationships and community activism also extend into the neighborhoods of East Side, Hegewisch and Deering, which, together with South Chicago, are not merely the South Side, but truly and uniquely the Southeast Side, located even farther east of State Street than any other lakefront neighborhoods.
Off the grid from the rest of the city's major avenues, Southeast Side neighborhoods share their own list of distinctive streets, which link together the whole with South Chicago; Saginaw, Marquette, Manistee, Burham, Muskegon, Escanaba, Exchange, Commercial, Houston, Coles, Baltimore, Baker, Bond, Brandon, Burley, Mackinaw, Green Bay, Harbor Drive, and Ewing. There are, of course, the Lettered streets as well, starting with Avenue A thru O, for which South Chicago only shares Avenue O with the rest of its more eastern Southeast neighbors. This is due, however, to the, as yet, undeveloped Southworks site.
Much of the business and shopping is done "uptown" along S. Commercial Avenue. Several privately owned businesses such as clothing stores, furniture and retail, beauty salons and barber shops, a Polish deli, and many restaurants from Nigerian to Italian cuisine, are found in South Chicago. New businesses are up all along Commercial from around E. 83rd St. south. I love to walk "uptown" and see the sights. It's always clean. Maya's and Cocula, are favorite stops. I love Saturday morning breakfast at C&G Restaurant. They have the best pancakes in town, and the ham is off the bone.

Every summer there's a big sidewalk sale along the strip. You can buy ethnic cuisine from vendors and shop the stores for bargains. We even have a yearly carnival with rides with all the amusement park-style faire.
Despite the low economy and lack of services compared to the business glutted northside, "Mom and Pop" stores flourish throughout South Chicago's residential areas, more than any other neighborhood. If you need something quick, like personal items, eggs, milk or butter you can just run to the corner. You can also find seasonal fruit and vegetables.

The intersection of E. 92nd St. and South Commercial Avenue has attracted many corporations and banks, like LaSalle, Charter One and Chase, into the community, while new businesses are growing from East 83rd Street south along the revitalized Commercial Avenue.
Bessemer Park is one of the first planned parks in the city, designed by renown landscape architect Frederick Laws Olmstead of Central Park and World's Columbian Exposition fame. Connections to the The Burnham Greenway Route also wind through the community.

Like most Chicago neighborhoods, South Chicago also has its sub-communities within, which were in fact separate communities from South Chicago in the 1890s, and not as commonly recognized today like Bucktown or Little Italy. Cheltenham's eastern edge was once a Native American village, and Millgate; the place where each subsequent immigrant group settled first, which is the oldest, located south between E. 87th St., E. 95th St., and the Bush neighborhood, between E.79th St., and E. 87th St..
Closest to the lake, South Shore Drive and S. Commercial Av. are the western boundaries of these latter two sub-neighborhoods.

Today Bush and Millgate communities are ear marked for major revitalization,
with Lake Shore Drive slated for extention through the Southworks area
along the lakefront. Since the de-industrialization of South Chicago's once inaccessible shoreline in the late 1970s, E. 87th St., the main thoroughfare through the heart of South Chicago, is consider an important asset, and a proposed greenway through the community. It has been extented and widened east of S. Mackinaw Av. to 4 lanes as it approaches the shore of Lake Michigan. The former Southworks site brownfield, the largest in the nation; a cleared and remediated table of slag and concrete, is currently being transformed into Chicago's newest lakefront park with development plans underway from notable developers McCaffery, Sasaki and Owens. Avenue O (South Chicago's most eastern roadway) is also extended south to Harbor Drive, with a beautifully landscaped midian of native grasses, shrubs and trees. With a park and grocery store planned, the vacant land surrounding it is prime realestate for building. With clear views of every lakefront neighborhood to the north and the downtown skyline, the project will certainly make "Ainsworth" one of the most desired places to live in Chicago, now at the center of the city's largest (albeit unheralded) lakefront redevelopment efforts in the 21st Century.

areas, South Chicago Neighborhood's Metra Electric District South Chicago Branch has 4 newly built stations,Located as far as 3300 east of the CTA Red Line in some which teminate in the heart of the business district, between E. 92nd St. and E. 93rd St. along S. Baltimore Av.. This Metra Branch is the community's primary commuter service to downtown Chicago. CTA routes are few, and there are constant discrepancies over the amount of service provided to points outside of the community. Considered a suburban commuter rail service, the Metra South Chicago Branch is the only outbound terminus within the city limits.

The ride to downtown Chicago is a truly luxurious one, hearkening back to the days when the South Chicago Branch was called "private Row." I like to sit on the upper deck of the electric powered streamliners. If you live at least 2800 east, you're within a comfortable walking distance from a station, but anyone living on East 79th Street, west of Jeffery Avenue will find the E. 79th St. Main Line Station in Avalon Park much closer than E. 79th St. Cheltenham. The trains aren't like the "El", having the sound of steel wheels rolling over nuts and bolts, but quiet, like the sound of a breeze, with the tonal ding of an old fashioned bellstop.

If you travel the length of the route, you'll see that you may access all of Chicago's Lakefront Attractions, starting with Rainbow Beach Park and reaching Millennium Park (the northern end of Metra Electric District Main Line) in 20 minutes. With multiple stops, including, FIELD MUSEUM, the University of Chicago at Midway Plaisance, the Museum of Science and Industry among many southside museums just steps from the stations, I'm let off, virtually at the steps of THE CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER. A train ride to Jackson Park Habor Restaurant, or to a Hyde Park cafe is a unique and romantic excursion. You can even take your bike.

I'm a pedestrian by nature. Although I have private transportation I think I'll stay healthier keeping the car in the garage as much as possible. I've left my house where a CTA bus line is only steps away, road to the train station in less than 5 minutes, and traveled Metra to Shed Aquarium, or to McCormick Place for the Auto Show, where I never step outside - because the stop is under the building. With just an extra bus ride from Millennium Station downtown, I've attended the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier within minutes from home. I love to go to Hyde Park where I have coffee and browse my favorite books at Border Books, just steps away from the station, or do my volunteer work at Nichols Park. It's easier and more pleasant to go there than to the Border Books in West Chatham, because of the congestion, and when I return home from downtown I can take a nap without worrying about missing my stop since my neighborhood is the end of the line. I live parkside next to Bessemer Park and stroll through it to South Chicago Avenue, catch the CTA No. 30 and am dropped right in front of Jewel Osco in East Side. Jewel Osco on E. 95th St. is closer, however, the CTA connections to get there are unduly involved. If I go to South Shore there's a large grocery store right next to the station, and as a commuter, there's hardly anything more convenient, albeit East Side's Jewel is the cleanest, best stocked Jewel I've been to, and very nice to shop at. I have no reason to go west for anything. These are just a few of the conveniences I enjoy living in South Chicago.

posted by Calumetman @ 9:52 PM 0 comments

South Chicago Neighborhood, Hot Property!

South Chicago Neighborhood, Hot Property!

posted by Calumetman @ 9:48 PM 0 comments

Friends Of The Parks pushes South Shore to Connect

Parks group has big plan for S. Side: Proposal would add island,
Chicago Sun-Times, Dec 13, 2006 by Andrew Herrmann

Call it Southerly Island.

A "land bridge" that would feature an island off the city's lakefront between 71st and 75th Streets is part of an ambitious community proposal to make public access along the city's South Side shoreline clear to the Indiana state line.

The plan, developed by the influential Friends of the Parks citizen group, also calls for adding hundreds of acres of beaches and other park amenities on the South Side, including at the former site of the U.S. Steel plant at 79th, and expanding Calumet Park south of the Calumet River.

The island, connected to the shore by bridges, would serve as a kind of natural bypass of the existing lakefront stretch that is currently controlled by condo owners and which forces bikers and runners to detour.

CONDO OWNERS UNHAPPY

The island would be more than 100 feet away from the existing shore, said Friends of the Parks official Eleanor Roemer. Experts have identified a ledge in the water that could serve as a foundation for an island, she said.

Roemer acknowledged that some condo owners have already balked at the idea of an island, worried that their views would be disturbed. A parks alternative would be to use a path along South Shore Drive, she said.

A spokeswoman for the Chicago Park District, which has the final say in the matter, said Tuesday the district welcomed the plan. But spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said it was too early to say if the district would follow any of the plan's recommendations.

Friends of the Parks developed the proposal through a yearlong series of community meetings and with the help of professional architects and planners.

WOULD RETURN PUBLIC ACCESS

Activist groups have been trying to complete unfettered public access to the lakeshore for decades, an effort they say fulfills the promise of Daniel J. Burnham's Master Plan of Chicago, 1909. Burnham also envisioned a series of man-made islands south of Northerly Island.

Four of Chicago's 30 miles of lakefront are in private hands, including the stretch occupied by the condos between the South Shore Cultural Center and Rainbow Beach Park.

The plan also calls for doubling the 123 acres the city now controls at the former USX plant. Last year, parks Supt. Timothy Mitchell said he was interested in building a marina at the site. Roemer said community groups want the harbor to mimic Monroe Harbor with parkland and fishing.

The FOP plan also calls for acquiring land at the so-called Iroquois landing between the Calumet River and 95th from the Illinois International Port District, a state agency. Part of the new space would be parkland built on a covered landfill.

The plan did not carry a price tag.

The Friends of the Parks group will discuss the plan at the downtown Chicago Cultural Center at 12:15 p.m. Thursday.

aherrmann@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

posted by Calumetman @ 9:44 PM 0 comments

South Side lakefront Plans On The Move

South Side lakefront project needs to succeed

December 28, 2006

There has been plenty of talk, for a long time now, about rehabilitating and developing the lakefront on the South Side, where various civic groups have envisioned creating beaches, recreational opportunities and other amenities that are in short supply there. But even as stretches of lakefront on the North Side have been treated to expensive face-lifts and ecological boosts, nothing similar has materialized on the South Side lakeshore.

With public funds being at such a premium, it's difficult to say whether Friends of the Parks' ambitious new plan for the South Side shoreline will ever become a reality. As demonstrated by the epic battle between Hyde Park residents and the Chicago Park District over the city's plans for replacing Promontory Point's limestone embankment with concrete, emotions can fly over such land interests. In fact, the Friends have not yet said how much their project will cost.

But if there is religion in the details, the citizen group's grand design should receive the blessings of the park district. The design, which includes an offshore island 100 feet from the stretch of land between 71st and 75th Streets and hundreds of acres of beaches and park facilities, would demonstrably improve the quality of life for many South Side residents and visitors. As excited as we are about the prospect of getting an Olympic stadium built in Washington Park -- with private funds but extensive city involvement -- we believe this shoreline project might have an equally positive long-term impact.

Devised during a year's worth of community meetings, it would double the 123 acres the city controls at the former U.S. Steel plant at 79th Street. It would expand Calumet Park south of the Calumet River. The island would be connected to the shore by bridges. Runners and bikers who currently are diverted from the privately held stretch between the South Shore Cultural Center and Rainbow Beach Park would be provided with a more enjoyable path.

Predictably, condo owners concerned about their view being impeded are loudly opposed to the plan. You have to figure compromises will be made to ease their pain, but their individual needs are overwhelmed by the greater public benefits of this project. The excitement it would bring to this long-neglected area might even compete with the breath of fresh air Millennium Park brought to Grant Park. It would spur real estate development, building on the recent initiative to erect a $60 million condominium overlooking Jackson Park -- the South Shore's first high-rise in some 30 years. If the price is right -- or even if it's a bit of a stretch -- the Friends' plan should be given every chance to succeed.

suntimes.com

posted by Calumetman @ 9:32 PM 0 comments

The Drive To South Chicago

The plans are drawn for the relocation of U.S. Route 41!




Much of it is already constructed, from Harbor Drive to the intersection of the E. 87th St. extention and Avenue O.



This is the one of the hot spots that home buyers should heed. The business that this intersection draws will spark some of the boon of the neighborhood.



Several cross section drawings demonstrate the new infrastucture of the Bush Neighborhood, one of South Chicago's sub-communities.

posted by Calumetman @ 2:01 PM 0 comments

South Works plan boosted

SouthWorks plan boosted

Former steel mill would be new neighborhood on city's Southeast Side

A plan is moving forward to re-energize the city's Southeast Side by transforming a former lakefront steel mill from an industrial scar into a neighborhood.
Two years after agreeing to buy 275 acres of the South Works site, a group led by Chicago-based McCaffery Interests Inc. instead has formed a development joint venture with the land owner, U.S. Steel Corp. It would be the biggest real estate development in the city in many years, with as many as 7,000 housing units, 600,000 square feet of retail, 120 acres of parks and a marina.
If the development team can pull it off, the project would provide a much-needed boost to South Chicago, a working-class neighborhood that has been cut off from Lake Michigan for more than a century.

"This kind of property is just not to be had anywhere else in Chicago because it has this great lake resource," says Daniel McCaffery, president of McCaffery Interests.

Mr. McCaffery and his partners still face challenges, from financing to figuring out how to build on land covered in slag, a rock-like byproduct of the steel-making process. Compounding the difficulty are concrete foundations of buildings that once stood on the site. Some are several feet thick, making the task of building sewers, water mains and other infrastructure complicated and expensive.

ON THE LAKEFRONT
In July 2004 the developer initially agreed to pay $70 million for the property, which lies along the lakefront between 79th and 87th streets. But the uncertainty surrounding the physical challenges proved to be a major sticking point in negotiations with U.S. Steel. So, earlier this month the two sides agreed to become partners instead, with U.S. Steel contributing the land.

Related Industry News Neil Bosanko, executive director of the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce, says the South Works development will be "a boon" to the Southeast Side but worries that it could encourage gentrification. "We really want to make sure this is balanced development, that we don't become a yuppie community," he says.
U.S. Steel once employed 20,000 at South Works, the factory that made the steel used in the John Hancock Center and Sears Tower. The decline of the domestic steel industry in the 1980s led the Pittsburgh-based company to close the mill in 1992.
U.S. Steel agreed in 1999 to sell 118 acres on the southern part of the property to Solo Cup Co., which planned to build a $71-million factory on the site. Solo scuttled that plan last year and is now taking bids from developers for the site. Mr. McCaffery is interested.
South Works would be the biggest development for Mr. McCaffery, who specializes in retail and residential development. His projects include Hotel Burnham in the Loop, Nike Town on North Michigan Avenue and a $650-million mixed-use development in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Mr. McCaffery's South Works partners are residential developer Westrum Development Co. and private-equity firm Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds, both of Philadelphia. The group has spent $5 million so far on the project, which could take 15 years to develop. It plans to develop the site in phases, selling some pieces to other developers.
"Nothing's in stone," Mr. McCaffery says. "It's about as conceptual as it can get."
The city has to sign off on the plan. The project would be eligible for tax-increment financing, though a spokeswoman for the Department of Planning and Development says it's too early to say how much the city would provide.

Article taken from: Crain's Chicago Business

posted by Calumetman @ 12:29 PM 0 comments