Saturday, October 27, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
NYT Covers 53rd St. Redevelopment
-posted by chicago pop
From yesterday's New York Times:
University of Chicago Works on Its Neighborhood
By ROBERT SHAROFF
Published: October 23, 2012
CHICAGO — The University of Chicago
is midway through what it characterizes as a “once in a generation”
community redevelopment effort aimed at revitalizing 53rd Street, a
blighted retail district several blocks north of its historic Hyde Park
campus here.
William Zbaren for The New York Times
The Harper Court project in Chicago consists of a
150,000-square foot office tower and a 133-room Hyatt Place Hotel.
The $250 million project includes Harper Court, a new
600,000-square-foot, mixed-use project at the corner of 53rd Street and
South Lake Park Avenue, along with the renovation and restoration of the
adjacent Harper Theater complex, which consists of a long-closed
historic movie theater as well as retail and office space. In addition,
the university is renovating several other nearby retail properties and
is in the early stages of planning a second mixed-use project on a site
it owns further up the street.
The aim, said David Greene, an executive vice president at the
university, is to create something Hyde Park has not had in many years —
a thriving commercial area. If successful, the university will be
following what has become a well-worn path in recent years of urban
colleges and universities serving as redevelopment engines for their
surrounding communities. The University of Illinois at Chicago, for
example, has spent much of the last decade building University Village, a
new residential and commercial district adjacent to its downtown
campus.
“It’s enlightened self-interest for us,” Mr. Greene said. “We’ve always
been very competitive when it comes to providing a great intellectual
community. But we found there was something missing when we looked at
the quality of life for students and faculty who are used to the kinds
of amenities you find in places New York, Boston and Palo Alto.”
Mr. Greene added that revitalizing 53rd Street is part of a larger
effort by the university to rethink its relationship with the
neighborhood, which sits on the lakefront about six miles south of
downtown Chicago.
“Over the years and particularly in the 1950s and ’60s, there was a lot
of development aimed at creating a barrier around the campus,” he said.
“We’re now trying to reverse that trend.”
Will Burns, alderman for the Fourth Ward, which includes 53rd Street,
said that the area “has historically been Hyde Park’s downtown, and
these projects will help restore that vision.” He added that, “Hyde Park
is not really a ward. It’s more of an anarcho-syndicalist collective,
meaning that there are more community meetings than you can shake a
stick at.”
Indeed, reviving 53rd Street has been a much-discussed neighborhood goal
for several decades, but it did not really take off until the
university spent about $9 million to acquire the Harper Theater complex
in 2002 and the Harper Court site in 2008. “The initial impetus came
from the city asking us to help out in terms of purchasing and
redeveloping those properties,” said Mr. Greene.
Joseph Caprile, a senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle, a large
real estate services firm here, who is familiar with the project, said
that the university was in a great position to facilitate development in
the area. “They have a sound endowment and sound real estate
resources,” he said. “They’re also the ones who drive the users down
there.”
The largest project, Harper Court, consists of a 150,000-square foot
office tower, 74,000 square feet of retail space and a 133-room Hyatt
Place Hotel. Harper Court is being constructed by a team of developers
assembled by the university and the city.
The university is acting as its own developer for the remaining
projects. The developer of all but the hotel component is Harper Court
Partners, a partnership consisting of Chicago-based Vermilion
Development and JFJ Development.
The hotel is being developed by Smart Hotels of Beachwood, Ohio, and
Olympia Development of Portland, Me. The lead equity investor is Los Angeles-based
Canyon Johnson Urban Funds, a partnership consisting of Canyon Capital
Realty Advisors and the former basketball star, Magic Johnson. The
$130-plus million project also received about $23 million in city tax
increment financing funds.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Orly's Fails September 20 Inspection
- September 20, 2012 [go here for text of inspection at Everyblock]
- Violations
- 14. PREVIOUS SERIOUS VIOLATION CORRECTED, 7-42-090
Comments:CONTINUED NON COMPLIANCE, EVIDENCE OF RODENTS AND INSECTS ON SITE. NOTED MICE DROPPINGS (APPROXIMATELY 30) SCATTERED IN VARIOUS AREAS BEHIND BAR,IN DRY STORAGE ROOM, IN CORNERS IN DINING AREA,BEHIND BOOTH ALONG WALL BASE,UNDER SHELVES AND ALONG SIDE COOLERS/FREEZERS IN OFFICE/STORAGE AREA,BEHIND EQUIPMENT AND THROUGHOUT. MUST REMOVE DROPPINGS, CLEAN AND SANITIZE AFFECTED AREAS AND HAVE SERVICE FROM PEST CONTROL. ALSO NOTED LIVE INSECTS ON SITE. NOTED APPROXIMATELY 6 LIVE LARGE FLIES IN FRONT STORAGE AREA NEAR UNUSED OVEN,IN DINING AREA AND IN PREP AREA. ALSO NOTED 2 LIVE ROACHES ON THE FLOOR UNDER THE DISH MACHINE. MUST REMOVE INSECTS,SANITIZE AFFECTED AREAS AND HAVE THE PEST CONTROL COMPANY SERVICE AREAS.
32. FOOD AND NON-FOOD CONTACT SURFACES PROPERLY DESIGNED, CONSTRUCTED AND MAINTAINED
Comments:REMOVE RANCID GREASE ON INTERIOR OF FRYERS.
33. FOOD AND NON-FOOD CONTACT EQUIPMENT UTENSILS CLEAN, FREE OF ABRASIVE DETERGENTS
Comments:MUST CLEAN INTERIOR OF FREEZERS AND REMOVE FOUL ODORS. ALSO DETAIL CLEAN WINDOW SILLS AND ALL DIRTY SURFACES THROUGHOUT. CLEAN THE INTERIOR OF THE ICE MACHINE. INSTRUCTED TO CLEAN ALL FOOD AND NON-FOOD CONTACT EQUIPMENT FREE OF DUST, DEBRIS, SPIDERWEBS, DROPPINGS, TOOLS, SCREWS, ETC.
34. FLOORS: CONSTRUCTED PER CODE, CLEANED, GOOD REPAIR, COVERING INSTALLED, DUST-LESS CLEANING METHODS USED
Comments:MUST PROPERLY REPAIR BROKEN FLOOR TILES IN BAR AREA AND UNDER SMALL PREP COOLER. FLOOR MUST BE SMOOTH, EVEN, EASILY CLEANABLE SURFACE.
41. PREMISES MAINTAINED FREE OF LITTER, UNNECESSARY ARTICLES, CLEANING EQUIPMENT PROPERLY STORED
Comments:MUST PROPERLY CLEAN AND MAINTAIN UNUSED EQUIPMENT OR REMOVE.
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