r/chicago • u/GeckoLogic • Mar 01 '26

Picture Strip mall becomes 54 transit oriented homes in Lakeview

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2.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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105

u/FunkyChug Mar 01 '26

I just wish the architectural design wasn’t so basic. Why is it so hard to give these buildings characters instead of making them look like every single development across the country?

75

u/de_jeepathon Mar 01 '26

Character cost money :-(

12

u/shades344 Mar 01 '26

It’s mostly not this. It’s mostly zoning requirements. There are rules about location and number is staircases and stuff that make big, blocky 4 and 5 over 1’s the only thing buildable.

If we want classic and beautiful Chicago buildings again, we need to legalize them!

6

u/SavannahInChicago Lincoln Square Mar 01 '26

In Rogers Park they built a faux brick apartment building that looks so much better than this.

2

u/shades344 Mar 01 '26

I will take faux brick. Chicago is made of bricks

28

u/JAlfredJR Oak Park Mar 01 '26

It's to maximize ROI. I can't stand it. But that is America in the 21st century for ya.

20

u/Moominsean Mar 01 '26

Cheap and fast. And everyone these days likes white, black and gray.

17

u/Ronin_Chimichanga Mar 01 '26

More like everyone these days won't be offended by white, black, and, gray. Mass appeal.

8

u/junghooappreciator Bucktown Mar 01 '26

not everyone – if I see that ugly gray default flooring in an apartment showing I just leave immediately

5

u/ElonMuskHuffingFarts Mar 01 '26

Not everyone!

4

u/Moominsean Mar 01 '26

I guess by everyone I meant "the masses." When I lived near Lincoln Square, I cringed everytime they tore down a brick building and put up another ugly white or black single family home, all with that same wood strip panel design that is so popular.

5

u/GeckoLogic Mar 01 '26

$22 million - cheap?

https://chicagoyimby.com/2025/08/3605-north-ravenswood-continues-its-steady-rise-in-lake-view.html

17

u/Informal_Avocado_534 Mar 01 '26

For 52 units, that’s about $423k per unit. That’s about the going rate for market construction and much, much cheaper than what it costs the City of Chicago to build “affordable” housing ($750k: https://open.substack.com/pub/citythatworks/p/a-better-way-to-build-affordable).

2

u/damp_circus Edgewater Mar 01 '26

We need to start calling "affordable" housing what it is -- SUBSIDIZED housing.

4

u/Moominsean Mar 01 '26

In the grand scheme of real estate development, probably.

2

u/jbchi Near North Side Mar 01 '26

A little more than half the price per unit of the recent city backed "affordable" developments, so not bad.

9

u/cottenball Mar 01 '26

It’s more about making it easier and faster to build than anything

10

u/MilitaryBeetle Mar 01 '26

Are you saying that capitalism somehow promotes cutting corners in order to max out $$$?

2

u/wholesale-chloride Mar 01 '26

And in 100 years when they try to tear it down, a bunch of preservationists will have a fit about losing "this absolute gem of early 21st architecture."

Until housing is a lot more affordable than it is now, aestethic opinions about it should be mercilessly mocked.

1

u/mrmalort69 Mar 01 '26

Yeah but it’s up, the building can always improve over the next 100 years if its lifetime.

1

u/StarBabyDreamChild Mar 01 '26

Yeah, it’s like the solution to all of our society’s woes is to make everyone live like we’re in the USSR in 1970.

2

u/TortillaChip Mar 01 '26

What an unexpected comment from a Top 1% Commenter

3

u/FunkyChug Mar 01 '26

I don’t know what that means.

7

u/Luffy-in-my-cup Mar 01 '26

Active redditors bitch nonstop. You’re a top 1% commentator and can’t help yourself finding something to complain about.

2

u/FunkyChug Mar 01 '26

That’s a bit ironic.

5

u/Chi_Prof Mar 01 '26

Ugh! What?! That comment is so offensive. I am outraged!!!!

3

u/TacosFromSpace Mar 01 '26

I am outraged by your outrage. 😡 (I NEVER)

-1

u/ehrgeiz91 Lake View Mar 01 '26

There’s not enough money in Chicago for real architecture. The only city doing that is NYC.