Cedar Street, the parent company of FLATS, has purchased the former Combined Insurance Building at 5050 N. Broadway for $16.1 million and plans to construct a new mid-rise tower with a gym and retail, incorporating the new project with the existing structures. Cedar Street plans to spend about a year working with neighborhood groups and the city to gain approval.
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I live on this block and I'm really sad to see that these guys have bought the building..It's going to increase rent prices and make our nice neighborhood saturated with people and cars..so sad to have learned of this :(
ReplyDeleteSorry that you're about this, AA. But it IS an urban high-density neighborhood, not suburbia. Given the size of the development and the quality/amenities included in Cedar Street's properties, existing units won't necessarily have rents go up to match, unless they can match the quality/amenities in the development. On the other hand, more residents will bring more retail choices. This will be a good thing.
DeleteYou're right, I never mistook my neighborhood/area for the suburbs, i know its high density..this business group already owns a good amount of properties and I'm against one person/business owning so much or our rental options. I'm surprised that someone, or anyone, would ever welcome a 10 story 60 unit apartment building on their block. Our area isn't that bad that we need this to stomp out crime or anything..all this will lead to, imo, is it to be less affordable for the middle class as a Starbucks and a Stonecold Creamery
DeleteYes! Please put a good gym in there. This is really exciting.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting - this will draw more young car-free people (like me) to the area. Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteThis should also assist in promoting more foot traffic across Argyle. There's also some good retail/restaurant opportunities (hopefully) at Argyle and Sheridan at the Somerset, and paired with the beercade coming nearby. If all pans out, the area could be a bright spot for an entertainment district in uptown.
ReplyDeleteDensity does not equate necessarily to more autos -- many of us, young and old, walk, bike, and public transit. This is only good for the Uptown community and we should embrace it with open arms. Commerce, residents, and all within the current infrastructure makes for a terrific project! Bravo!
ReplyDeleteWell can someone tell me what Cedar has developed that IS occupied. All the buildings I walk past, incl. the one across fr. target, are empty.
ReplyDeleteThe one across from Target has residents and also the stupid Mattress store in the bottom of it. There are no balconies so you how do you really know if people are in there.
DeleteIf it's going to increase the rents and drive average working people out, I'm against it. Do we need another rehabbed apartment building, when the new ones we have are half empty -- The Flats on Halsted, for example.
ReplyDeleteLianna, the building across from Target is being converted into offices for Cedar Street, not apartments. Most of the buildings they've bought are in bad shape and go through gut-rehabs, which don't happen overnight. Maybe you'd prefer that they just hose down the floors and use contact paper on the walls so the apartments can be available yesterday at cheap rates, but most people prefer value for their rent--well-built buildings that are well-maintained and safe. The days when Uptown buildings had dirt-cheap rents are gone--because dirt-cheap meant no short-term or long-term maintenance unless you had a good relationship with a pickpocket of an ex-communist alderman who would fling millions of tax dollars at your building because your gang residents were handy political operatives for your ward. No more. And dirt-cheap also means that you probably have a lot of gang-bangers living in your building (particularly Section 8 buildings), which tends to chase working families out faster than a higher rent. Don't believe me? Ask questions of the people you see moving out of Voice of the People buildings, and you'll find out.
DeleteAnd you're against it if it increases rents and drives out average working people...cry me a river. My rent nearly doubled when my lease came up for renewal 20 years ago in Lakeview, and this average working people decided to look elsewhere for something affordable...I landed here in Uptown. It happens. I didn't complain, and I didn't feel ENTITLED to live in Lakeview like some groups feel they're ENTITLED to live in Uptown. You live where you can afford--don't let the door smack your butt on your way out to another neighborhood as this one changes for the better.
And with all that being said, if there are lots of "half-empty" apartments, as you claim, then rents will come down until those apartments get rented. Empty apartments don't pay our high property taxes--but rented apartments DO. I don't see rents in Uptown skyrocketing anytime in the near future, at least until the gangs are driven out, the streets appear safer, and the neighborhood becomes more desirable for people who don't view Uptown as the People's Republic of the 46th Ward. I love that a vacant building is finally being re-purposed for something useful that will bring more economic diversity to Uptown.
DeleteAnd YES, we need another building rehabbed and put back to productive use (and generating property taxes) instead of sitting vacant and empty as a useless eyesore.
DeleteBe happy when the empty one at Montrose and Clarendon (on both sides) is destroyed and rebuilt.
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