Outside Agit Prop Makes Confused Arguments About Local Hotel

-posted by chicago pop

All politics, it has been said, is local. It can even be micro-local, so much so that the framework used for understanding what goes on at one level in Chicago doesn't necessarily translate to another level. 

That appears to be the case here. Once again, a hotel project, supported by a number of non-profit local institutions (the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry), representing the kind of expanded commercial opportunities that a majority of the neighborhood's residents have repeatedly said they want, has been targeted by interests not directly concerned with the neighborhood for use in their own ideological conflict.

Fortunately, they will lose. The hotel, which Hyde Park needs and wants - regardless of conspiracy theories centered on Penny Pritzker - will be built. Said interests will conduct their next skirmish elsewhere.

The hash of an argument presented in the flyer above, although it builds on a handful of genuine concerns, opportunistically mashes them together and forces them to conform to the Procrustean bed of the Occupation Movement's rhetoric. Even more basic, its factual allegations are annoyingly flimsy enough for us to take a few precious moments of our evening to dissect them. 

Were it the summary of a doctoral proposal, we would send its fervent grad student author back to the stacks.

What seems to have triggered this mobilization is the Chicago City Council's decision last month to grant a further subsidy the the Harper Court project of $5.2 million, drawn from the City's amorphous general TIF fund. This was not the first city subsidy, but it was the first since the financial crisis and the emergence of Occupy Chicago. 

What is clear above all is that the creators of this flyer don't like TIFs. TIFs freeze the property tax revenue going to various local taxing bodies, such as school districts, at the level they are at when the TIF is created. Subsequent tax revenue stemming from rising property values associated with a project are used to reinvest in the district, or to pay off the loans raised to pay for it. 

So the $5,200,000 'siphoned' away from the CPS and other municipal services would most likely not have spontaneously materialized had TIFs not existed in the first place, because in many cases (like that of Hyde Park), property values are relatively stagnant and the market is inactive. 

That's not good for school districts, because it keeps property tax revenues down. A hotel hasn't been built in Hyde Park in over 50 years. Growth in local property values has trailed Chicago average by 33%. 51% of existing structures in the district have been cited for code violations. (see p.3, here). Those are the kinds of conditions that can easily tip into a downward spiral of urban disinvestment - and THAT is what sinks local school districts.

More fundamentally, the flyer presumes that the problem of failing urban schools is a dearth of cash. This is deeply questionable. There are many factors going into the failure of inner-city schools, chief among them being the concentration of impoverished families in given school districts. The whole point of court-ordered desegregation policies after Brown vs. the Board of Education was to remedy this demographic imbalance. Throwing money at existing imbalances doesn't solve the problem bequeathed by segregation.

Another reason schools on the South Side are failing is because parents realize they are failing and move away. The result is under-enrolled local schools, like the one in my district. CPS runs a large number of failing schools for only a few hundred students, and this serves neither the students nor the taxpayers. Closing schools to consolidate districts, especially when those schools are underperforming, is by no means a tragedy: it's not that different from certain situations that arose under the system of court-ordered busing.

So when the flyer goes on to suggest that '7 schools from the neighborhood are scheduled to be defunded', it's misleading to suggest that the $5,200,000 could save them if it weren't going to some useless, fru-fru project like a hotel in Hyde Park, the only economic hub in the vast South Side of Chicago. That cash alone won't alter the concentration of poverty in school districts, increase parental involvement in or the valuing of children's education in those same districts, or necessarily improve the instruction they receive from their teachers. It's a simplistic, even spurious linkage.

Theoretically, you could abolish TIF districts and tax the rich all you like, but you're not going to fix the problem that way. 

The more cartoonish aspect of this flyer, however, is the attempt to paint the hotel project as a white elephant resulting from the Pharaoh paying a favor to a nefarious Machine operative, Penny Pritzker, who, from her position on the School Board, acts to divert millions from reinvestment in schools and towards her own business (which her family no longer privately controls) . 

First of all, it was the City Council that decided to funnel this $5,200,000 to the Hyde Park Hyatt, not Penny Pritzker, and not the Chicago School Board. Pritzker had little to do with it. The University of Chicago, as locals know, has been trying to get a hotel built in the neighborhood for half a decade or more, and would have taken a Marriott had not that plan been sabotaged by a truly myopic minority. The City Department of Planning and Development, together with the previous and present 4th Ward Aldermen - neither of them toadies to this or the previous Mayor - have supported the development of 53rd Street as a net benefit to the neighborhood and, by extension, the South Side of Chicago. Nothing in this document provides any reason why this should not be so.

Arguing that the entire project is simply a product of cronyism, a white elephant stemming from a politician's favor to a tycoon, ignores the local history of disinvestment, ignores the dynamics of urban economies, ignores the repeated surveys expressing preferences for expanded local retail opportunities, and above all, ignores the fundamental benefits a hotel would bring to the area -- stabilizing South Side neighborhoods by providing more jobs for workers, more business for local merchants, and a more attractive quality of life for taxpaying families who might decide to move here and commit to local school districts.

So it looks like the Penny Pritzker connection will be a "Gotcha!" one only for weak minds, and for those more concerned to squeeze local particularities into a ready-made ideological template of 99 vs. 1%.

There is undoubtedly a time and a place for that template. But it is not here.

Hyatt Hotel Coming to Harper Court

posted by chicago pop

The symbol of the University of Chicago is, being situated in a city famous for having once burnt to the ground, a phoenix. The symbolism remains vital, as the hotel that Hyde Park almost got in the 5th Ward on Stony Island and 58th Street will now be resurrected and take shape on the site of the old Harper Court, on Harper at 52nd.

The 53rd Street renaissance continues at a dizzying pace.

From Curbed Chicago:

Harper Court Partners released some details this morning about the hotel operator for Hyde Park's Harper Court. Olympia Chicago LLC and Smart Hotels, a company that specializes in campus hotels, have been selected to build and operate Hyatt Place Chicago @ Hyde Park. The six-story, 130-room hotel will be located on Harper, just north of 52nd Place, according to Christopher Dillion from Vermilion Development. The hotel, which is set to open in 2013, will feature underground parking, a restaurant, wine bar, pool, and fitness facilities....

From Crain's Chicago Business:

“A quality hotel has been a longstanding need for the community,” Dave Cocagne, president of Chicago-based Vermilion, says in the statement. “It will play a key role in the development of the 53rd Street corridor.”

Financing for the hotel is being provided by Recovery Zone Facility Bonds to be issued by the Illinois Finance Authority. Smart specializes in campus hotels, though no properties are identified on the company’s website, while Olympia operates 16 hotels, according to Vermilion’s press release.

Vermilion tapped the Smart Hotels-Olympia venture after issuing a request for proposals from hoteliers last fall.

Mr. Cocagne in January said Vermilion had letters of intent for 60% of the project’s roughly 80,000 square feet of retail space. The first phase, which has a roughly $100-million budget, is to include the hotel, retail and a 150,000-square-foot office building to be used at least partially by the university.

And, from the developers themselves:

Smart Hotels/Olympia Chicago LLC has been selected to build and operate the hotel, planned for Harper Avenue, just north of 53rd Street. Plans call for the LEED-designed hotel to have approximately 130 rooms, [and be] a destination on evenings and weekends, as well as during the work week.

Ed Small, President of Smart Hotels, said his team looks forward to presenting the preliminary hotel design to the community in March.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for us to bring a quality, environmentally-friendly hotel to Hyde Park," Small said. "The University, the City, IFA and MB Financial did extraordinary work to help us secure the project financing."

Hyatt Place Chicago @ Hyde Park is scheduled to open in 2013, to coincide with Phase I of the Harper Court redevelopment, which will also include retail, office, and outdoor spaces. Chicago-based LEgat Architects has been engaged to design the hotel.

The Olympia Companies has been in operation since 1969 and currently operates 16 hotel properties.

"We are excited to extent our portfolio of hotels to such a dynamic community and world-class university," said Kevin Mahaney, President and CEO of The Olympia Companies.

Harper Court: Rosy Future or Vermilion-Tinged Fantasy?

posted by chicago pop

Let's Party Like it's 2006?

Harper Court Redevelopment Site Plan: Looks Good, But...

$194 Million Redevelopment Cost: Who Will Loan the Money
in Current Credit Crunch?


And Don't Forget, Someone Else Also Has Big Plans for Next Door
Including 170 Residential Units and Dozens More Retail Spaces



Proposed Antheus-Financed, Studio Gang-designed Project Along Lake Park and 51st Street
Presumably in Dry-Dock
(July 2008)


Back to Reality:
Expect Some Nice Chess Tables

Harper Court: It Can Be Done (Even Here)

posted by Richard Gill

The February 8 public meeting of the 53rd Street TIF Advisory Council was surprising indeed. The surprise wasn't the proposed Harper Court redevelopment, which has been the subject of large quantities of public input and communication. It was the tone of the meeting that was the big surprise. It was downright pleasant and cordial, far from the angry and disruptive meetings for which Hyde Park has become notorious.

Afterward, a number of us joked that we must have come to the wrong meeting, because Hyde Park meetings "always" have some angst and bile (recall meetings about Promontory Point, Doctors Hospital, 57th Street, the Co-op and so forth). This one did not. It was respectful, it was informative, it was civil, and most of all, there was general approval of the proposed redevelopment. How did this happen?

The TIF council, led by chairman Howard Males, has been diligent in practicing openness and communication, including very productive workshops. The University of Chicago (current owner of the property), the City, and 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle have gently but firmly moved the project forward and have left little doubt that there would be a project. The Request for Proposals was made public, and included public input. All along, it has been a local TIF project, not "The University of Chicago's project."

Also, there was no longer a corpse to fight over. The Harper Court of the 1960s has been demolished. It is gone. There had been some unpleasantness over preservation versus replacement, but that was long past. The focus now could only be on the new.

For the meeting itself, Vermilion Development, the selected principal team for the project, had done its homework. As they showed architect's renderings, they explained features that reflected public inputs. They were prepared for almost any question or criticism that might be brought up during questions and answers. As he does at all of his meetings, Howard Males clearly explained the meeting's format and length, the process leading up to this point, and the process moving forward. I think his enthusiasm for the project was contagious.

There were criticisms, but they were about availability of funding, project details, traffic, phasing and the like; there were no suggestions that the process had been closed or unfair or rammed through, or would somehow be "bad" for the neighborhood.

I don't pretend to know all the reasons why the Harper Court redevelopment seems to be largely free of public strife at this point. However, as the Point and other projects revive, as they eventually must, the proponents might do well to study the Harper Court process, in terms of securing initial public buy-in and then solidifying it, by knowing the neighborhood, responding to expressed needs and concerns, communicating and working with the public, and Aldermanic leadership.

It can be done.

City of Chicago and University announce developer for Harper Court

posted by chicago pop

Newsflash!

From the U of C's website (January 14, 2010):

The City of Chicago and the University of Chicago on Thursday announced that Vermilion Development has been selected to redevelop the Harper Court retail complex in Hyde Park.

Vermilion, which has extensive experience in mixed–use developments, was recommended by a joint committee comprised of Department of Community Development planning staff and staff at the University of Chicago.

Vermilion was selected from among 12 development firms who responded to a Request for Qualifications that described the development opportunity and requirements for submitting a proposal for the 128,000–square–foot site.

“This creates an exciting opportunity to redevelop this portion of 53rd Street by creating commercial and retail space that complements the surrounding community,” acting DCD Commissioner Chris Raguso said. “The proposed development will complement and enhance other nearby revitalization efforts, helping to ensure Hyde Park’s future economic viability.”

“As a result of thoughtful and creative input from Hyde Park residents and business owners, we have an excellent development proposal that will serve both the neighborhood and the many visitors to Hyde Park from throughout the city and beyond,” said Ann Marie Lipinski, Vice President for Civic Engagement at the University. “The commitment to Hyde Park’s vitality by both the city and the university is very strong, and this project is a powerful demonstration of that commitment.”

“I am grateful to my staff, DCD personnel and University of Chicago staff for their hard work over the last year on this project,” said 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle. “The development team which was chosen will transform commercial development in Hyde Park.”

The project is a partnership between the City, which owns an adjacent parking lot on South Lake Park Avenue just east of Harper, and the University, which owns the current retail properties.

Vermilion’s proposal calls for redeveloping the 40–year–old shopping center located at 5211 S. Harper Ave. by demolishing the existing center and replacing it with a mixed–use development.

The proposed $200 million development will be built in three phases that may include a mix of unique dining, entertainment, retail and office uses.

The City and the University will enter into negotiations with Vermilion and prepare a redevelopment agreement for approval by the City Council at a later date.

Herald's Chicken: Local Paper Confronts its Irrelevance

posted by chicago pop

Herald to world: "We are a little piqued."

World to Herald: "Who cares?"

The Herald is feeling a little left out these days. The University of Chicago has finally begun demolition at Harper Court, something we've known would happen for months now. They didn't tell the Herald the exact date when it was going to happen. Now the Herald is calling people names. They've lost access, and bemoan the fact in their most recent editorial ("Searching for U. of C. cooperation", Wednesday, August 19, 2009).

So what's the problem? It appears to be the fact that there is a new "Office of Civic Engagement", headed, as we know, by Ms. Anne Marie Lipinski. The Herald feels that, despite its name, the Office is not Engaging. Or, to be more precise, it is not giving the Herald the information it wants. So here's my question: given the way the Herald writes its editorials, why should it? What or who does the Herald represent, exactly? The "community"? That seems doubtful. So why should anyone cooperate with them?

The destiny of Harper Court has been known for some time now. There has been extensive coverage of the acquisition of the land, the community and TIF meetings updating people on the state of play. At some point, the buildings at Harper Court, legally emptied of their tenants and now on the market for redevelopment, had to come down. This week some of them did.

What didn't happen was that the University's Office of Civic Engagement gave the Herald a date and time when the bulldozers would roll in, giving our local paper everything it needed to run another loopy editorial summoning all old Harper Court die-hards to come chain themselves to fences, lamp posts, and railings in order to block demolition.

Engagement means interaction. It doesn't mean rolling over.

"But the pique of the Herald staff is not the issue," we're told. "We will get over it."

That's a relief. Meanwhile, bring on the new Harper Court.

Maravilla's Restaurant, on Lake Park

posted by Elizabeth Fama

Maravilla's is open on Lake Park and 55th, in a storefront of the Deco Arts Building. The owner, Carolina Cossyleon, is in the process of obtaining a liquor license (margaritas, here we come!).

The old Maravilla's in Harper Court (which also has a liquor license) will close up shop in June, according to the waitstaff. The University is clearing out Harper Court tenants while it waits for responses to the RFP (request for proposals) that it released in November of 2008, along with the City of Chicago, to prospective developers.

The restaurant is small inside, with a bar (not quite visible in the back, right, of the photo above), four booths, and six tables. The food we ordered was OK. We had nachos, tacos, enchiladas, and a tostada. There are also breakfast items on the menu, as well as sopes, soups, tortas, burritos, and hamburgers. I'd prefer it if they offered black beans in addition to refried pinto beans, and some sort of vegetable sides. What we ate (at least this time around) was on the order of food from Chipotle, without the free-range-chicken guarantee. The guacamole, however, was excellent, and aggressively spiced.

The new location seems like it could be good for college-student walk-bys, although I wonder if that will change when the Shoreland closes. In general, the staff said, business has been good.

Maravilla's Restaurant
5506 S. Lake Park Ave.
(773) 955-7680
Monday through Saturday, 10 AM - 11 PM
Sunday, 11 AM - 10 PM
Hyde Park and Kenwood delivery service.

Chicken tostada, nachos, guacamole, refried beans.

Developing the 53rd St. TIF: It's Hard and We're Not Quite Sure How to Do It

Results of the Third and Final 53rd St. Visioning Workshop

posted by chicago pop

Rendering of a break-even development concept at McMobil Site,

53rd and Kenwood

Over the last year or so, a variety of municipal agencies, community groups, and the office of 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle have sponsored a series of three neighborhood workshops dealing with development within the 53rd Street TIF district.

The first two were designed to educate neighborhood attendees about the basic concepts and parameters affecting real estate development in the corridor, and to help illustrate positive correlations between such factors as density of households and the viability of urban retail districts.

Overall, the workshops were well received, drew input from a wider demographic spectrum of Hyde Parkers than the typical and impressionistic "community meeting", and demonstrated a broad consensus on the demand for improvements in the neighborhood's retail offerings liveliness.

The workshops also gave grounds for a cautious optimism regarding public acceptance of the need for higher residential density as a prerequisite for the commercial revitalization of Hyde Park.

People aren't necessarily opposed to getting dense, if it's done right and the economic necessity of doing so is made clear by running the numbers on possible projects. This is exactly what the third and final visioning workshop set out to do: illustrate the limits within which any urban development project is economically feasible by highlighting the economies of scale that come with density.

Reviewing the various development concepts from the November 15th workshop, it's clear that the facilitators tapped a rich well of creativity in the participants. Most of the concept proposals -- for the McMobil lot, the Dorchester Commons strip mall, and Harper Court -- are interesting, and some are attractive.

Aerial Map of Possible Development Sites Within Hyde Park's 53rd Street TIF District

Unfortunately, none of them is economically feasible. It seems that while Hyde Parkers may be growing accustomed to the idea of density, none of the workshop proposals was dense enough to offer the kind of return that would attract a real-world developer.

Even with up to $6.2 million in subsidies from the 53rd Street TIF fund.

Workshop participants used blocks and a map to mock up a development proposal which they then gave to some real estate people who crunched the numbers then and there.

The chart below lists the development concepts that were graded as feasible, i.e., not money-losing. Of the 8 concepts that made this cut, only 4 of them would have generated any profit for a developer, and none of those came close to the threshold of 15% return on investment that was used as the no-go line beneath which few developers would risk their money.

Economic Profiles of Workshop Site Proposals

Model and Rendering of Site Concept for Harper Court

Three factors seem to pose the biggest hurdles to these projects: 1) 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle's firm and praiseworthy commitment to a minimum of 15% affordable housing in any residential project; 2) an opaque and mysterious local market in real estate that may inflate the cost of land acquisition; and 3) a public hesitation to go even denser.

The affordable housing requirement for TIF districts is a Chicago ordinance, and Alderman Preckwinkle is firmly committed to it. It's laudable, but in order to make it attractive for the kinds of projects Hyde Park needs, we need bigger subsidies from somewhere, or a tolerance for still greater density to offset revenue from the sale of below-market rate units.

The market value of land in Hyde Park is a vaguely mysterious subject, as there is so little of it, traded so infrequently, with so much owned by the University of Chicago, that it is hard to know if the going rate is really $75/sq. ft as the workshop proforma assumed.

A perusal of values for a standard-size, 3,100 sq. ft. vacant lot in the areas immediately west and south of Hyde Park puts them around or below $35/ft.sq. The few lots in Oakland/North Kenwood are in the $55-60/sq.ft. range.

Dorchester Commons Concept

But in order to find comparable $75/sq. ft. prices, I had to venture north to Bucktown and Edgewater, where this number represents the lower end of the range. Is this really what the McMobile lot or Dorchester Commons are worth?

One relationship that's not too clear from the document is the relationship between retail and residential space in any of the projects, and how tipping this balance either way works for or against it. For example, the most ambitious concept for Harper Court (pictured above) actually has more retail than housing units (115 to 114); this concept also resulted in the highest (7.8%) rate of return.

Likewise, two of three concepts for the McMobile site had roughly equal retail to housing numbers, and neither of them did more than break even. The question I have for our real estate folks is why McMobile #1, with 44 residential units and 10 retail, did no better or worse than McMobile #3, with 16 residential units and 17 retail.

What are we to take away from these numbers? Do we need more retail at these sites, or more density? If a 1:1 ratio works OK at Harper Court, why not at McMobile, and which way should it go at that site, or at Dorchester Commons?

And how in the world could Hyde Park support 115 new shops as proposed in Harper Court #2?

Whatever the answers to these questions, it's clear that the 53rd St. Visioning Workshops have elevated the discussion of development in the TIF District, and in Hyde Park overall.

No longer will it suffice for a few people to sign a petition and make vague protestations about what they consider acceptable or not at this or that place, based on this or that arbitrary standard.

Now we have a much better set of tools for figuring out what will realistically work at some of these sites, as challenging as it may be. We just need to figure out how make that happen.

Harper Theater: Historically Significant?

posted by Elizabeth Fama

In the last few days, HPP reader "BWChicago" brought up the issue of the historic significance of the Hyde Park Movie Theater (see the comments on Chicago Pop's previous post). He mentioned that the Joffrey Ballet and Second City played there when it was called Harper Theater. He was the first person I've heard articulate reasons he thought the building had some historic merit, and it raised the level of the discussion in the comment section about demolition versus restoration.

San Nicola in Carcere, Rome

I really admire old objects and art, but I'm not a zealous preservationist yet. For instance, one of my favorite buildings in Rome is San Nicola in Carcere, which was built in the 6th Century on the ruins of three ancient temples, using the columns of the temples for one of its walls. It also has a jutting medieval prison tower (back from its days as a jail), and a 19th Century facade stuck on the front. Until the recent tourism era, Italians thought nothing of tearing down and rebuilding to suit current tastes and egos, or heck, just building sopra (on top of). I'm not sure that's such a bad model.

For an average person like me, then, a building in Hyde Park can have historic significance because (a) experts agree it's important architecturally, or (b) something important happened there, or (c) both. With regard to (a) BWChicago argued that the theater is probably nicer than any new structure that will be built there, which time will tell. With regard to (b), there was that Joffrey Ballet and Second City information he provided.

I did some cyber research on Harper Theater, and this is what I could find about its significance:

1) It was built as a vaudeville theater in 1913. (Vaudeville is cool.)

2) In 1995 the City of Chicago finished a 12-year inventory of all structures built before 1940 (the Chicago Historic Resources Survey). Even my house was evaluated (it's "too altered for architectural or historical significance," humph). Harper Theater is one of 9,600 properties listed as "orange" in their ranking system, meaning "possesses potentially significant architectural or historical features."

3) Landmarks Illinois -- which is a private (not state-run) preservation organization -- listed the theater on its 2008-2009 watch-list of endangered properties, after the University's deal with a developer fell through.

4) Bruce Sagan (publisher of the Hyde Park Herald) and his wife, Judith, bought the theater in 1964 to host the annual "Harper Theater Dance Festival." In November of 1965, the Joffrey Ballet -- which a year before had been forced to disband (for contractual reasons) -- staged a one-week comeback at Harper Theater with new dancers and new choreography, putting the corps back on the national radar. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater also participated in the Festival at some point.

From the Newberry Library's Inventory of Judith and Bruce Sagan Papers, 1965-1986:

Founders of the Harper Theater Dance Festival, Bruce and Judith Sagan met while students at the University of Chicago. Bruce Sagan, a publisher of local newspapers, bought the Harper Theater business block in Hyde Park and in 1964 he and Judith renovated the theater in order to present a cross-section of top dance companies, some of them new to Chicago audiences. The festivals provided a full week of performance opportunities at a time when most touring companies were subjected to one-and two-night stands while on the road. Although including both ethnic and classic dance at the beginning, the festivals soon specialized as a showcase for the best contemporary and experimental dance companies in the country, such as Merce Cunningham, Alwin Nikolais and Paul Taylor.

By the third season, Bruce Sagan gave up his active involvement in the dance festivals and Judith Sagan became sole producer. In 1971 the festival, now the Harper Dance Foundation, moved to downtown Chicago to the Civic Theater and then to the University of Chicago's Mandel Hall between 1971 and 1975. After 1975, the foundation became dormant, but was reactivated in 1979 to bring the Paul Taylor Dancers back to the Civic Theater.

5) BWChicago also stresses the fact that Second City played at Harper Theater, but the only reference I could find was relatively insignificant, in an obituary about Byrne Pivens:

Married in 1954, the Pivens left Chicago in 1955 to work and study in New York, but they returned here in 1967 to appear in the short-lived Second City Repertory Company at the old Harper Theater in Hyde Park.

In fact, the two true ancestor groups of Second City -- Playwrights Theater Club and subsequently The Compass Players -- played in bars on 55th Street (University Tap and Compass Tavern) that both fell to urban renewal. The Bee Hive, a highly influential jazz club, was also razed (among other music venues).

So while we debate the significance of Hyde Park Movie Theater, I say that we also dig up the foundations of those bars and clubs on 55th, and -- like Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome -- we build new taverns and a nightlife right on top of them. What better way to honor the past?

Hans Morsbach: "I Am [Still] An Old Fart"

posted by chicago pop

About a year ago, Hans Morsbach gave an interview with the Chicago Maroon in which he described himself as an "old fart." ("Uncommon Interview: Hans Morsbach", October 23, 2007. )

For some strange reason the Maroon link no longer exists, but our original riff is here.

Since then, nothing has changed. Morsbach's is one of about 150-170 valid signatures on a petition to introduce the option for an alcohol ban in the 5th Ward's 39th Precinct on the November 4 ballot.

Although he complains about not being able to sell liquor on Hyde Park's 57th Street, and takes full advantage of the opportunity to sell liquor at a location in downstate Illinois, Morsbach doesn't want anyone to sell liquor in the 39th Precinct of the 5th Ward, site of Doctors Hospital.

That is to say, in his own backyard.

If you've followed HPP for any length of time, you'll know that Morsbach recently opened up a restaurant location in downstate Normal, Illinois, where he is raking in liquor revenue from a full-service beer hall near the campus of Illinois State University -- which he laments not being able to do in Hyde Park.

Here's how he described the merits of his new, downstate Medici in the above-cited Maroon article:

It's all about economics. We can have liquor, and it is in a good location close to Illinois State University.

If only students of the University of Chicago were so lucky!

But it gets even better. At pretty much the same time that Morsbach gave everyone a lecture about how the redevelopment of Harper Court would be like a sinful "Second Coming of Urban Renewal," he was taking advantage of a publicly subsidized, municipal land-clearance program in downtown Normal Illinois, setting up shop with his liquor license across the street from -- a Marriott Hotel!

Marriott Hotel Across the Street From Morsbach's Downstate Beer Hall

As with Marriott Hotels, so with booze: both are OK if they are in someone else's neighborhood and are served to someone else's kids.

Here's what his downstate menu has to say about it:

I'd Serve Booze in Hyde Park, But They Won't Let Me!

Humble Hyde Parkers may be forgiven if they, too, dream of something "more spectacular."

Alas, aspiring restauranteurs won't be able to "serve you a glass of wine to enjoy your meal" in the 39th Precinct because Hans Morsbach won't let them.

So Morsbach will be happy to serve you booze, you'll just have to drive 120 miles to get it. He'll take a stand against Urban Renewal in Hyde Park, and the University of Chicago, but not against Urban Renewal in Normal, or Illinois State University.

Residents of the Fighting 39th, you should be proud: those are some principles we can believe in.

Site of the "Second Coming"

Herald's Chicken Classico: No News is News

(Originally posted by Peter Rossi on Thursday, August 9, 2007)

A common occurrence in the Hyde Park Herald is news stories that report no news. This week's Herald (August 8, 2007) contains a classic example. "Mixed Signals at Harper Court," reports that some Harper Court tenants are leaving and others are signing new leases. The events cited in the article (the closure of Dr. Wax Records and the addition of an office for a state senator) are not news -- they have been reported before in the Herald's pages. Instead of news, we are treated to a great deal of editorializing peppered with quotes from local Establishment types from the Hyde Park- Kenwood Community Conference.

These non-events represent a "reversal in policy" at Harper Court. The reporter provides no evidence to back up this claim. Tenants who can't afford the rent and leave as well as the signing of new tenants is standard operating procedure for any retail operation. Can you imagine the Sun-Times reporting with a straight face that there are ominous goings on at Watertower Place because Abercrombie and Fitch moved out and Gap moved in?

The reporter can't even decide which events are consistent with the conspiracy theory and which are not. For example, the departure of Toys et Cetera is cited as ominous evidence that "local businesses" are being forced out of Harper Court. As reported in the Herald and cited in this blog, Toys et Cetera moved to the Hyde Park Shopping Center and is doing very well. So the evidence is that U.S. Computech is moving in. U.S. Computech is a local business that has been on 53rd Street for many years. The reporter is hoping to confuse the reader into thinking that "U.S." Computech is a national chain store.

Even more absurd than the rehash of old events sprinkled with editorial comments are the quotes from HP-KCC head, George Rumsey, and secretary, Gary Ossewaard. Both lead the charge to retard development in our neighborhood. What gets under the skin of the HP-KCC is that they can't control the decisions made by Harper Court management. They believe they are entitled to interfere in private business transactions simply because they have appointed themselves as community spokesmen.

The only tidbit of "reporting" in this editorial is the "confirmation" by "sources" of the identity of new Harper Court tenants. For reasons that we can only speculate on, the reporter doesn't feel the need to cite these sources. Do they even exist?

The Herald seldom publishes editorials anymore. They don't need to. They masquerade as news stories. What is sad about this is that the Herald has at least 3 reporters who could actually report on issues of concern to our neighborhood. For example, the Tribune has no full time staff devoted to Hyde Park but routinely runs circles around the Herald. Today's Tribune reports on the huge success of the Blue cart program (August 9 edition). This is a story about Hyde Park. The Tribune recently featured stories about the "food desert" on the South Side and how Peapod is serving neighborhoods that don't have a grocery store (HP is one of those neighborhoods). This story could have been done by the Herald. The Herald could report in detail on how much longer the Co-op will keep afloat (this would require a lot of hard work but the Herald has the staff to do it).

It is time for the new editor of the Herald to step up the quality of this publication and insist that his reporters report the news.

Ungar's Village Center Back in Play: 53rd St. TIF Meeting Monday, July 14

A lot of rumors have floated around about the fate of the forlorn Village Center at 51st and Lake Park; some of you may remember Peter Rossi's ruminations on the topic from last February.

Well, now Ungar is back with new and improved plans, to be unveiled at the 53rd Street TIF meeting, together with all sorts of other juicy development-related stuff. Stop by and get the download.

The next meeting of the 53rd Street TIF Council is scheduled for:

Monday, July 14, 2008
7PM
Hyde Park Neighborhood Club
5408 S. Kenwood Avenue

The agenda will include the following items:

• 53rd & Harper Update -- University of Chicago
• Harper Court RFP Update
• Report from the University of Chicago Student Retail Task Force
• Proposal for Redevelopment of Village Center -- Elli Ungar, Antheus Capital
• Other stuff

Check it out.

Baum & Brinshore, the Olympics, Transit, J.Z. Smith, and More

posted by chicago pop

A few links that have popped up in my in-box, and are worth pointing out, in the dim hope that HPP's well-read audience has not already checked them out. Common theme: a bum economy is hampering everything from the surge to public transportation, the expansion of retail chains to development projects nationwide (think 53rd Street), and the Olympics may be a way to solve everybody's problems without having to fix them now.

From Crain's, a story parallels that in yeserday's Herald about the break-up between the U of C and developers Baum and Brinshore. Astoundingly, Crain's gives the Hyde Park Herald credit for breaking this story. Maybe this bodes well for the future of local journalism -- or maybe the University is just doing favors with its press releases. Highlights: retailers nationwide are cutting back on plans for expansion, and B&B couldn't bring home the leases. As recently as fall 2007, the Harper Court & 53rd project had, according to the Herald, an "expanded-service restaurant and a national fashion retailer" lined up for the space. The latter pulled out, and it's back to Square One. So much for The Gap.

Sam Feldman of the Chicago Weekly has an interesting blurb on a recent panel discussion on the pros and cons of Chicago hosting to the 2016 Olympic Games. U of C economist Allen Sanderson made the argument, which had previously appeared in the Tribune's Op-Ed, that private sector investments in an Olympic bid would come with opportunity costs locally, and might better be spent on needed improvements now. Pro-Olympics folks argued that sometimes you gotta dream (even if history seems to show the economic benefits of Olympics are not clear-cut). And besides, how else are we going to stop the El from imploding?

On a related note, given how economic downturn + dreams of an Olympic bailout for crumbling transit infrastructure could all add up to a massive @#$% for Hyde Park and the City of Chicago, it seems worthwhile to point out this article from the Christian Science Monitor, relaying data showing that, despite the surge to public transportation across the country, rising fuel prices for diesel (bus fuel) are forcing some agencies to consider reducing service. Just when people are showing some elasticity of travel preferences! Another argument for the Gray Line folks, I suppose...

Finally, I can't help but mention the off-line, hard-copy but nonetheless fascinating portrait of local academic celebrity J.Z. Smith, who I don't begrudge for having given me one of the lowest grades I received in College, and who also happens to be the guy who lives right next to St. Stephens. Yup, he's one of the folks who threw that contractual lasso around the developer who has made a few attempts to build on the property. See the famous post by our own Dr. Peter Rossi for details.

He also doesn't have a cell phone and has never used a computer. (Grey City, Volume 1, Issue 1 Spring 2008)

And finally, a kind reader encouraged us to reprint this, one of the Tribune's list of alternative locations for the Chicago Children's Museum -- right here beside the Museum of Science and Industry, in the Doctor's Hospital!

I've set the bomb and lit the fuse, now I'm running for cover.

Developing Harper Court: What Evanston Can Teach Hyde Park

posted by chicago pop

Optima Towers, 1580 Sherman Avenue, and Borders Location
13-story, 105 Units, Mixed-Use. Completed 2002.

This blog began with a bit of overheard conversation, so it seems appropriate to continue the tradition.

Back in the day, nearly a decade ago, I was living in a flat in Hyde Park's doppelganger neighborhood -- Rogers Park -- and working up in Evanston. Across the hall was a colleague who was doing the same. We both confronted Evanston just moments before it began its transformation. "It's a nice town, but it's just kind of boring," said my neighbor, shortly before moving to Wicker Park.

No more.

As most people know, Evanston has reinvented itself. The interesting thing is that what happened in Evanston could happen in Hyde Park.

Now that the Harper Court parcel is finally up for redevelopment, there is potential to develop these assets in a way that helps reverse decades of relative decline in Hyde Park's struggling commercial district. Just like what happened in Evanston.

As of 2005, the benefits of Evanston's approach were measurable. Downtown Evanston has increased the total number of retailers in its central district by 27% since 1997, boosted total retail sales by 11.2% between 2000 and 2003, has added to the housing stock while keeping its parking requirements lower than surrounding suburbs.

As a result of increased business activity, Evanston has been able to lower its taxes to levels not seen since 1971. Though similar values would not accrue directly to Hyde Park, they are indicative of the improved health of the local economy, some portion of which would be captured by the 53rd Street TIF, and, when this expires, by the local school districts.

Sherman Plaza
25 stories, 253 Units, 1,600 Car Parking Garage, Mixed Use, Completed 2006

Evanston as Example of Smart Growth

The Evanston build-out is considered by progressive urban planners, such as those who prepared the EPA report from which much of the data below is taken,* to be a model of successful smart-growth, transit-oriented development (TOD). It is now a case-study used to demonstrate a few things about how to redevelop urban centers around a commercial district well-served by transit -- exactly the situation that describes Hyde Park's Harper Court and east 53rd Street.

1. It is possible to add density to a district without significantly increasing traffic congestion. This is possible when:
   
2. Full advantage is taken of existing transit infrastructure by placing density within walking distance of transit stations, or using innovative transportation solutions to link to transit from further away.
3. Entertainment and a 24/7 district are the anchors of "downtown" redevelopment.
4. A successful project will be market-driven and demonstrate close cooperation between multiple actors -- municipal authorities, citizen's groups, master developers, Federal and State funding and regulatory agencies, and merchants. And perhaps most importantly:
5. There is a market for walkable, high-density urban environments. The long-term trends are shifting towards this type of real estate, despite the current market downturn.**

By 2005, many of the goals of Evanston's nearly two-decades old planning process had been achieved. They included the addition of 2,500 new housing units, 2.5 million square feet of new office space, the addition of a 175 room Hilton Hotel, construction of Evanston's first high rise in 20 years, the building of a new 1,400 space parking garage, and -- at the center of it all -- a new multimodal transportation center at Davis Street, which facilitates 1,477 weekday transfers between CTA, Metra, and Pace riders, and is used by over 1,000,000 transit riders annually.

Davis Street Station
Federally Funded and Completed in 1994
Source: http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/davis.html

Evanston, a fairly affluent inner-ring suburb, nonetheless had to deal with a dying commercial core and rising taxes well into the 1990s. It was able to revive its downtown and improve its financial standing by leveraging its urban assets -- multi-modal transit access, a safe and vibrant 24 hour district supported by high residential density -- to effectively compete with low-density, low-tax suburban municipalities.


Evanston as A Model for Hyde Park: Parallels and Limits

There are a few very large differences between Hyde Park and Evanston that should be noted at the outset. Hyde Park is not a municipality with the power to collect taxes, issue bonds, and fund major public goods like the new Evanston Public Library. And unlike Evanston, Hyde Park is not a gateway to a string of wealthy northern suburbs, but is surrounded by considerably poorer neighborhoods.

But there are real parallels that make it worthwhile to look closely at how Evanston was able to turn itself around, and ask if the same strategies could be replicated in Hyde Park. The parallels can be grouped into the categories of disadvantages and advantages.

Like Evanston, Hyde Park proper has relatively few large lots open for development. This offers a strong incentive to develop for density, to build up where it is difficult to build out. Like Evanston, Hyde Park is moderately isolated from major expressways and airports (unlike certain suburban localities), has suffered from population loss and stagnation, and has experienced severe erosion of its commercial center.

On the positive side, both communities are attractively situated on the shore of Lake Michigan, which has historically been a zone of higher-density development. Both lie at comparable distances from downtown Chicago (Hyde Park is 2 miles closer). Both communities are known for their diversity, though Hyde Park is considerably smaller (Evanston has 74,000 residents to Hyde Park's roughly 50,000). Both communities are well served by north-south heavy rail lines. Although Hyde Park has no CTA rail link within its borders, it does have several heavily used bus routes, and more convenient access to Lake Shore Drive.

Evanston and Hyde Park, of course, both host major private universities, both of which play large supporting roles in the local economies, and both neighborhoods are known for their charming architecture, walkable layout, and notable historic districts.

Finally, although Hyde Park is a city neighborhood and not a revenue-gathering municipality, it is conceivable that the revenue-gathering 53rd Street TIF District, at the direction of a focused and determined 4th Ward alderman, and with the active support and foresight of Chicago planning agencies, could help spark, finance, and manage the multiple partnerships that any significant development centered on Harper Court will require.

Century Theater Complex, 1715 Maple Avenue, with Adjacent Parking Garage

Making Room for the Market, Nudging Smart Growth

Planning for Evanston's downtown renaissance spanned two decades. It drew upon multiple funding sources, and required consistent leadership and community commitment over time. It required accommodation to some conventional market realities, such as the construction of a large and subsidized parking garage for out-of-town visitors, and the use of subsidies to encourage emerging market trends, such as the preference for walkable living environments with easy access to public transportation.

All of this could stand as a model for the redevelopment of Hyde Park's Harper Court.

Further, the example of Evanston should immediately put to rest an either-or vision of development in Hyde Park that argues for either absolute community or absolute market control of what goes on. As for the market, it must certainly "lead" as it did in Evanston and the evolution of the eventual retail and service mix.

But markets are most effective when the goods, services, and instruments of exchange have all been standardized, and investors know exactly what they are getting. The real estate market, for example, knows very well how to finance and build suburban shopping malls and suburban subdivisions. It has much less familiarity with inner-city, mixed-used, transit-oriented projects, and therefore needs encouragement.

On the other side of the either-or, the fear that the University will control development for its own purposes should also be put to rest. The days of Urban Renewal and large Federal block grants administered by the University are gone. The University itself does not have the expertise to pull off urban mixed-use development that is transit oriented, although it is an essential player. Likewise, the "community" alone, however represented, will need to compromise and work together with market-driven actors who need to make a profit.

In urban redevelopment, partnerships are the name of the game. No one actor can go it alone. That means making yourself attractive to at least some developers. We'll see if, given the conspiratorial world-view of many more vocal old timers, this is something that can happen in Hyde Park.

*See Cali Gorewitz and Gloria Ohland, Communicating the Benefits of TOD: The City of Evanston's Transit Oriented Redevelopment and the Hudson-Bergen Light-Rail Transit System [pdf]
**See survey of relevant market research in Christopher B. Leinberger, The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, Chapter 5.

U of C: Guardian Angel, Despot, or Sucker?

posted by Peter Rossi

In recent years, our favorite (and only) neighborhood university has gone on a buying binge. First, Doctor's Hospital and the Hyde Park Theatre and related buildings at 53rd and Harper. Then a multi-million dollar bail-out of the Co-Op. This was followed by the purchase of the radioactive Harper Court. Most recently, another transfer payment to take over the Chicago Theological Seminary.

All told, these various purchases and subsidies are close to topping the $75 million mark. We haven't seen this kind of activity since the old Urban Renewal days. It mirrors work that other universities are doing.

The Guardian Angel

There has always been a sense in which the U has been the buyer of last resort for HP, somewhat like the Federal Reserve. If things get bad, we can always count on the U to bail out the neighborhood. The Hyde Park Theater building is a case in point. Neighborhood theaters are a thing of the past (why settle for one screen when you can have your choice of 15 at AMC with parking too!). It was clear no one would buy this abandoned building. So along comes the U, patiently plunking down its millions and engaging a top notch developer to make something of the old Cinema Paradiso.

The same story was played out with Doctor's Hospital. Who is going to spend $50,000 a year to send the kiddies to the U and feel good about it when you can't even stay near the campus? The various units of the U spend millions each year to feed and house visiting faculty and speakers in downtown hotels. It seems very logical to build a hotel on the site of this eyesore. An auction was held and guess who suffered from winner's curse? This whole deal has gone sour as local NIMBYs hid behind preservation and labor issues to stop the U dead in its tracks.

Harper Court has suffered from NIMBY attention. The HP-KCC (in the person of its "preservation task force") rushed in to control this development under the assumption that there would be a long list of suitors willing to develop under the most intrusive conditions. No one was stepping up to the plate, so again our white knight reached into his wallet.

We have been over the Co-Op many times here in this blog. But the bottom line is that the University forgave past due rent and satisfied the Co-Op's creditors with bushels of cash. Again, one could argue that this was absolutely critical for the neighborhood and the U. Who would live in a neighborhood without a functioning supermarket, however great Peapod is?

The latest and largest (more than $40 million) investment is the take-over of the Chicago Theological Seminary at 58th and University. These buildings will house the new Milton Friedman Institute (there is even a chapel to worship the free market!). It is easy to make the argument that this is a great deal for the university. The CTS buildings are right in the middle of the campus and are also very striking. The Milton Friedman Institute is a smart move to attract donors who want to honor Milton and the economic principles that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, let the University of Chicago win the Cold War.

The Despot

This flurry of activity and huge investment is sure to stir up our local conspiracy theorists. The U is an evil empire that reveals an arrogance that makes Bill Clinton look bashful. The U will only pay lip service to community input. The U and its wealthy donors will build academic temples inlaid with gold and tony shops to satisfy the temporary residents (students) and fussy faculty.

The problem with this theory is that it presupposes that the incentives of the University are different from that of the community. This is clearly false. It is very much in the interest of the University to have a vibrant neighborhood. Those who think that the University only wants luxury condos and expensive shops are woefully ignorant of the U payroll. Thousands of staff members and graduate students pull down modest pay and want to live in our neighborhood.

Never Give a Sucker An Even Break

My biggest worry about this latest spending spree is that the U won't pull it off. The U has an spotty track record in managing and developing commercial real estate.

A review of a few recent episodes is in order. A prime example is the Hyde Park Theater mess. As the Herald reported this week (yes, friends, once is a blue moon reporting can be found there), the U has just fired the developer for this parcel. This is worth thinking about as this developer (Brinshore and Baum) has an excellent reputation. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the whole idea of developing the Theater site is flawed. 53rd street is not Damen Ave. It can barely support a collection of marginal shops (HPP and Freehling Pot and Pan, notwithstanding). Where are the customers going to come from to browse the cute boutiques this development was to feature? The immediate central Hyde Park neighborhood doesn't have enough customers, with enough income to support specialty shops. Either you have to attract customers from elsewhere (but you need to provide parking) or you have to increase the number of residents.

Perhaps, the U fired the HP Theater developer in order to coordinate with the development of nearby HC. However, this does not explain why they chose to start this process with Brinshore and Baum in the first place. Local NIMBYs have been effusive in their praise of the HP Theater development "process." The fact that it proved to be another dead end keeps up their dismal track record.

The Co-Op fiasco is a lesson in commercial real estate management as well. In 1999, the Hyde Park Shopping Center (owned by U of C) was renovated and Co-Op signed to a long-term lease. The plans for renovation were singularly lacking in ambition and mass. There just aren't enough stores in the center to attract customers. The Co-Op footprint is way too small to attract the interest of major chains. Finally, we all know how Whole Foods was shown the door!

There are other examples. There have been all sorts of failures in attracting restaurants to the "golden rectangle." Any one can see the reason (even Hans Moresbach gets it) -- the precinct is dry. This needs changing before you start subsidizing restaurants.

There is also a real concern that the U is not very savvy in negotiating real estate deals. Harper Court and the Shoreland are cases in point. The U paid 6.6 million for HC and sold the Shoreland for a song. The 6.6 million is more than other developers have offered for HC. And these other offers were made in heady times of inflated real estate values. A search of Cook County records tells the tale of the Shoreland. The U sold the property to a developer in 12/04 for $3,750,000 (based on tax stamps). The developer flipped the Shoreland for $10,000,000 in 9/06.

In the end, the success of the U in bringing about a change in our neighborhood is critical for us all. I hope President Zimmer is thinking long and hard about bringing more expertise in commercial real estate to bear on these critical developments. But this is not all, there has to be a concerted effort to increase the density and population of Hyde Park. This means supporting large scale residential development in East Hyde Park and elsewhere.

We can't afford to develop the reputation as the only prime area in Chicago that actively discourages development. We all need to do a better job of selling our local officials on change and making the case that the 50 cranks who show up at "community meetings" don't speak for us all. The U needs to step up and be counted on this one.

Hyde Park Herald Profiles Local Tomatoes

posted by chicago pop

"Mr. Stripey"

I love tomatoes. I can't stand having to go 8 to 9 months between growing seasons for fresh ones. I'm also a FREAK about heirlooms. I eat them like apples.

Which is why I was delighted to read the Herald's discussion of the tomato attraction at the 49th Annual Hyde Park Garden Fair.

It's such a charming piece of journalism, I'd like to share it with you:

Tomatoes were a major attraction. There were indeterminate types, for those with large back yards. Indeterminate tomatoes grow in vines and generally need staking or cages. The determinate, or compact pot-grown varieties, were available for apartment or condo dwellers.

Tomato varieties ranged from the basic Early Girl to another early variety, the Soldaki, which yields a meaty, 14-ounce fruit. Another usual suspect was the ever popular Roma, or plum tomato, with the bold flavor needed for sauces and canning.

Some unusual heirloom tomatoes were especially enticing in displayed photos, helping customers look forward toward summer. "Mr. Stripey," a low-acid fruit with a mild flavor is actually striped orange and red.

In other news, Charlotte Des Jardins made it clear in a letter to the editor that she still doesn't get that no one cares about Harper Court not being an artists' colony.

Which is funny, because there's a lot of art going on in Hyde Park, just not at Ms. Des Jardins' shelter for wayward dinosaurs: the Hyde Park Art Center, the Experimental Station, the Little Black Pearl, the Renaissance Society, and the Smart Gallery.

But Ms. Des Jardins wants an art colony right there, because that's what they meant to do 45 years ago, so it must have been a good idea, and it's still not too late to try to make it work.

Sort of the way they meant to dock blimps on the Empire State Building.

Anyone know how that worked out?

And finally, and most newsworthy of all, the name of Sharonjoy A. Jackson made no appearance whatsoever in a letter from newly-formed East Hyde Park Action Committee, which apparently is distinct from the Lake Front Task Force of Super Hero fame, and seems to be making a point of conducting itself in a rational manner that does not involve being persecuted by the Alderman. This is, of course, to be commended, even if the letter informs the readers of a meeting that took place one month ago.

That's another week of local news, folks. So, in the spirit of the low-acid Mr. Stripey, we'll leave you with a photo of the man who brings you low-acid news, every week.

"Mr. Stripey"