Once again, the NBOA Summer Soirée lived up to its reputation as one of the real estate industry’s most anticipated events. The weather was picture-perfect, attendance was high, the food and comradery were top-notch and the fundraising was truly impressive.

By:

Alan Goldberg, RPBG Director

The 22nd annual Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest (GAAF) took place on the weekend of August 18-20. As in past years, the event was a huge success.

The festival is the largest public event in East Rogers Park, occupying five city blocks and the Family Dollar parking lot and attracting 10,000 - 15,000 people. The festival showcases the best of Rogers Park but is open to people from across the region and beyond.

One of my first questions when I write a Member profile is always, “how did you get involved in the Rogers Park Builders Group organization?” Almost invariably, the answer is some variant on, “Mike Glasser got me interested and brought me in.”

So, when I started interviewing Mike about his way to our organization, I was genuinely interested in how he found us and got involved. Of course, in Mike’s case, “getting involved” hardly does justice to what Mike has done for the organization, and for small and medium-sized apartment owners across the neighborhood, city and region.

By:

Mike Glasser, RPBG President
Fall, 2023

Our Rogers Park Builders Group website contains a special section – one that I urge you to visit.

Chicago is proud of its “sanctuary city” reputation and will tell anyone who wants to know that it is a welcoming place. No neighborhood in Chicago has a greater claim to being inclusive and diverse than Rogers Park. But the ongoing campaign of busing migrants to Chicago, mostly from Texas but also from other boarder states, is posing a challenge to the city, its residents and its resources.

It was a very long run – literally 111 years. But, effective August 18th, the New 400 Theater at 6747 North Sheridan Road closed its doors. Block Club Chicago has a nice tribute to the theater and the people who kept it going for so long. The company’s Facebook Page also posted a farewell.

Let’s end this wrap-up with a little humor. As reported in Block Club Chicago, no, there is no nude beach in Rogers Park …

But, given what we know about the neighborhood, it’s diverse population and open-minded ways, it almost seemed plausible that there could be, maybe somewhere a little off the beaten track and out of view. Maybe that’s why, when “Nude Beach Past This Sign” suddenly appeared at Loyola Beach, it almost seemed believable. After all, Rogers Parkers have earned their reputation as being just little more free-wheeling, uninhibited and less constrained that the residents of other, more conventional neighborhoods.

Thanks to the coordinating work of the Rogers Park Business Alliance, the Clark Street corridor between Devon and Arthur Avenues is going to have a new look in the very near future. Beginning on July 5th, the Vision Clark Street Corridor Master Plan begins its transformation from a bunch of ideas and pretty drawings to actual construction and tangible results.

Ken Walchak and the Rogers Park community go back a long way. Ken and his brother Ed have been deeply involved in Rogers Park for decades and have run the Clark-Devon Hardware store for half a century. They followed in the footsteps of their father and grandfather who founded the company just shy of a century ago.

The Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance (NBOA) and the Latino Real Estate Investors Council (LREIC), put together a fascinating and informative panel discussion via Zoom hosted by Rafael Leon, Executive Director of Chicago Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. (CMHDC), and including Alderman Andre Vazquez (40th Ward); Ami Novoryta, Chief Program Officer with Catholic Charities; Paul Roldan, President of Hispanic Housing Development Corp. (HHDC); and Kalman Resnick, Partner at Hughes Socol Piers, Resnick & Dym, Ltd.v

In the Fall 2022 Newsletter, this newsletter reported on plans for an all-affordable new housing development at the northeast corner of Howard and Paulina Streets that would bring 110 units of housing to the Howard Street corridor. Like many such proposals, these plans required public assistance to make the project feasible since rents cannot exceed 60% of area median income (AMI) while construction and other development and financing costs are the same (or higher) than comparable market-rate developments.

As reported in Block Club Chicago, Sol Café is closing after ten years of operations at 1615 W. Howard Street. The article cites the lingering fallout from the pandemic as well as recent increases in crime and violence along the Howard Street corridor.

NBOA (and RPBG) President, Mike Glasser, never misses an opportunity to educate the general public about housing issues from the housing provider’s point of view. This is a perspective that often gets overlooked, if not dismissed outright, by a local press that seems more inclined to amplify the viewpoint of tenant groups and downplay our own.

Chicago will hold two rounds of municipal elections on February 28th and April 4th. In Rogers Park, all eyes will be on the Aldermanic race where incumbent Maria Hadden faces challenges from Belia Rodriguez (see the related article in this Newsletter) and Bill Morton who are both looking to unseat her. If no candidate wins a plurality of the vote (50% plus one) in round one, a run-off will be held between the two candidates with the highest vote count in round two.

As has been widely reported, the migration crisis at the US-Mexico border is no longer confined to the southern tier of states. Beginning last year and continuing into 2023, bus-loads of asylum-seekers and other migrants have been arriving in Chicago in search of better lives and a safe haven from the poverty and violence endemic to the countries from which they flee.

In her January 14, 2023 Newsletter, Alderwoman Hadden outlined possible future plans for a “new construction limited-equity cooperative” with between 30 and 40 residential units that would be built at the long-vacant Howard and Ashland parcel that the city acquired under the previous Moore administration. Alderwoman Hadden says more details will be forthcoming later this year and that the development will “provide much needed housing that is big enough for families with children, is accessible, and designed to meet the affordability needs of 49th Ward residents, many of whom say it's increasing difficult to find housing they can afford to stay in our community.” We will follow this developing story as more information becomes available.

This past October, West Ridge property owner and housing provider, Frances Walker, was brutally murdered and dismembered by one of her tenants. According to news reports, Ms. Walker was murdered after serving her tenant with an eviction notice and had had numerous previous disputes with this tenant prior to the crime. Other tenants in the building notified police when they heard screaming from within the building on Washtenaw Avenue. The tenant was subsequently arrested and charged for the crime and was last reported as being held in Cook County jail without bail.

Every neighborhood has its quirky landmarks and novelties – Rogers Park more than most. Longtime residents and visitors alike would have a hard time missing the amazing, multi-colored Victorian house at 1525 W. Pratt – popularly known as the “Candyland House.”

This past May, during an early season heatwave, three elderly residents of the James Sneider Apartments died from heat-related causes when temperatures inside the building quickly rose. The building contains ten stories and 120 age-restricted units with a mix of market and restricted rents. The location is 7450 N. Rogers Avenue.

The old Morse Theater at 1328 West Morse has been through a lot of transformations in its more than 100 years of existence. The former vaudeville theater has been a performance venue, movie palace, special events space, and even a synagogue and shoe repair store.