Anyone driving down Chicago’s beautiful lakefront in the last few years has noticed a forest of new condominium towers rising in the South Loop. The neighborhood has undergone a spectacular rejuvenation. Some of the buildings are impressive both in their size and their architecture. Who lives there, one wonders? Apparently someone very lucky.
Well, maybe not that lucky.
Daniel Libit writes in CNC’s lead article today that the sweet dream of home ownership has turned sour for many owners of new condos in the South Loop. Their sparkling new buildings have come with expensive problems.
Condo associations have sued developers alleging shoddy construction, hoping to recoup some of the expense of repairing their new properties. But they frequently don’t get full satisfaction, accepting a partial settlement or just running out of the will to keep fighting a years-long battle.
So, Libit writes, home owners get slapped with steep special assessments to cover massive repairs. The city can help, but only to a degree. Libit takes a close look inside one development on South Prairie Avenue, where severe water leakage forced $6.5 million in window repairs. The residents are in court, they’ve complained to City Hall, they’re not giving up the fight for reimbursement. “There is justice to be served,” one owner told Libit.
But they’re also paying $850 in special assessments to cover the cost of new windows. Like many in the hot new neighborhood, they’re trying to move on past the discouragement.
Elsewhere today, columnist Jim Warren takes a look at recent demographic numbers and finds that African-Americans are leaving the city for the suburbs in surprising numbers.
What’s going on? One legislator tells Jim:Â ”African Americans are the same as most. They want a bigger house, better schools, a better quality of life than they can get in the city.”
The trend has significant political ramifications, Jim writes, particularly since Illinois and every other state will be redrawing legislative and Congressional boundaries after the 2010 Census.
Meanwhile, CNC’s Jessica Reaves ponders the legacy Al Capone still maintains in this city decades after his death. He just won’t go away, as much as civic leaders may want to diminish his profile. The gangland tours continue, people around the world link Capone with Chicago, and now a new book revisits the gangster’s demise here. We can’t get rid of him.
Finally, Lori Rotenberk takes CNC readers to an odd but delightful little spot: The tiny Piccolo Theatertucked into the Main Street train station in Evanston. Metra trains run on one side of the station, CTA trains run on the other, and the theater operates in between. Big trains make big noises, which become an unusual part of the theater-going experience. The novelty pays off, too. Piccolo sells about 95 per cent of its seats.
We live in one interesting town, no doubt about it. Today’s report on ourwebsite and in the New York Times certainly makes that point.
We hope you enjoy reading it.