Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Musings On Another Empty Storefront...

A reader asks: "Does anyone know what is going on with that vacant office & retail space at the corner of Winnemac/Argyle and Broadway? This new-construction building has been vacant for years, yet it appears to have a beautiful penthouse terrace. The sign on the building once said the space was for lease by Pacific Realty. I walk by it daily and see it tagged with graffiti regularly.

Such a shame that just around the corner, businesses fight for the Argyle Business District, but on Broadway nothing can hold its own around here. The Broadway Business Center just closed up just two doors down..."

13 comments:

  1. There's a big sign in front that says "Office for Lease."

    Obviously, there are no takers yet. Not surprising based on the extreme downturn in the commercial real estate market.

    Next question.

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  2. And yet...the question remains unanswered.

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  3. Bradley:

    Driving the streets of Chicago and its suburbs, I could ask that "question" about a lot of properties commercial and residential.

    Im sure no one is intentionally keeping this building unoccupied. We could blame Helen Shiller and be done with it.

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  4. So who's stopping you from inquiring about these other buildings?

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  5. Bradley:

    Im not the one making a post implying "suspicion" as to why the building at Argyle and Broadway isnt occupied.

    What I am implying is that any reasonable person who pays attn to current events would understand that unsold and unleased buildings are a part of the country's current economic landscape.

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  6. I didn't infer any "suspicion" from the post. A person who, evidently, lives and/or works in the neighborhood had a question about their neighborhood. It wasn't even until you brought it up bj that I considered it "intentional" but that may be a viable argument.

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  7. Don't live there; don't work there; haven't invested there; not my priority. So no, I don't know at a micro level why each building in Vegas, Orlando, etc. is vacant and what efforts are being made to mediate the damage. Being a resident of Uptown however I am concerned that with the surplus of vacant space our tax dollars are being used to build more.

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  8. IT'S A LIQUIDITY CRISIS!

    OK, sort of. If at first you do not lease, lower your rates.

    There's a lot of vacancies in Uptown. There's a lot of new construction vacancies in Uptown. Too many to be honest. But if you build too many units and you don't have the victims, er tenants, to lease them then you eat it and be merry.

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  9. I think it is not the cost or slow market. Thnaks to Shiller our area has become a noted area for punks, drunks and gangs and I think they feel its unsafe to open a business here specially when you see the punk and homeless all hanging around the front of alot of shops here in our area. I am scard to walk our uptown streets let alone to open a business there too....

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  10. Same scenario in Detroit about 15 years ago. Ya'll are a little behind the times here.

    Anyway, it could be used as a released felon (oh, I mean "homeless") shelter, one of them Currency Exchange/"remittance" places ya'll have going on here to ship $$ out of the country in the sake of diversity.....or maybe even a drug den posing as a "record shop".

    I know! How about the corporate office of 1-800-STOP-ZERO-DOWN-MORTGAGES-10-YEARS-AGO.COM

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  11. What about the burned down building on Argyle?

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  12. Good news. We spotted a "Coming Soon" sign in the street level space of this building today advertising a travel agency.

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  13. a travel agency? does anyone think that this type of business will last long in Uptown? I thought that if someone took over the whole building, and converted it to a multi-use facility.. example.. dance club main floor, restaurant 2nd floor, and roof top lounge on the 3rd floor/penthouse.. would be WONDERFUL!

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