It seems hard to believe that this year’s Summer Soirée marked the 10th time we have celebrated this annual rite of passage for the Chicago real estate community. The significance of the occasion was matched by the perfect weather with clear skies, comfortable temperatures and a light breeze coming in from Lake Michigan.

You all probably know the game where someone says a word, and you are asked to respond with the first thing that pops into your mind. If I were to say “pothole,” odds are good that your first reaction would not be “art.” But that’s probably because you are not familiar with artist Jim Bachor and his amazing series of pothole mosaics that have been popping up all around Chicago since 2013.

On Sunday afternoon, August 28, five-year-old Devin McGregor was shot in the head while sitting in his father’s car which was parked on the 7600 block of North Paulina just north of Howard Street. The shooter was sitting in the back seat of a Black Hyundai and fired the shots as part of a “drive-by” rampage that began and ended in just moments as the Hyundai shooter opened fire and then quickly sped away.

Perhaps no single industry suffered more from the pandemic than bars and restaurants. Seemingly overnight, these establishments went from hubs of activity to dark and empty spaces where patrons could no longer congregate for fear of spreading the dreaded COVID-19 virus.

Money Magazine just came out with its list of Best Places to Live for 2022-2023 and, guess what? Our own Rogers Park neighborhood took the #5 spot, behind Atlanta, Tempe (AZ), Kirkland (WA), and Raleigh (NC). The first two sentences in the Money Magazine description of the community read:

As reported in Block Club Chicago, renovation of the Rogers Park Metra station at Lunt and Ravenswood Avenues could begin within the next three to five years. The station is one of four (soon to be five) stops within Chicago city limits on the Union Pacific North Line. The line runs between downtown Chicago (Ogilvie Transportation Center) and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rogers Park is the final stop in Chicago.

On Wednesday, July 20, 2022, the Chicago City Council passed what is popularly referred to as the Connected Communities Ordinance, but what is perhaps better described as a wide-ranging set of alterations to the city’s Zoning Regulations, known as the Municipal Code.

Within weeks of each other, 46th Ward Alderman James Cappelman, 48th Ward Alderman Harry Osterman and 43rd Ward Alderwoman Michele Smith all announced that they would not run for reelection to the Chicago City Council in 2023. For Cappelman and Osterman, there is little doubt that serious challenges from left-leaning opponents played heavily into their decisions.

I figured I’d do something a little different for this Summer 2022 Newsletter. I’m constantly reading stuff in other magazines and newspapers that I think are really interesting, but that can easily be overlooked in our busy lives. So, I figured, why not put some of these random “fun facts” together in one place and see if anyone else finds them interesting? Maybe not – that’s the trouble when you are a geek. You think stuff is cool and everyone else just rolls there eyes. But here goes. Read, enjoy, or send me rotten tomatoes! I’m hoping I’m not the only one who finds this stuff interesting!

You wouldn’t think a global pandemic, the sudden evaporation of 25 millions jobs, and massive social unrest in the wake of the killing of George Floyd could do anything good for the real estate industry.

By:

Rick Ofman
Advisor, Kiser Group

Kiser Group and the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance (NBOA) surveyed over 150 Chicago housing providers to determine the effect of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) on the rental housing market in the Chicago area and its impact on rent collections and the neighborhood housing landscape since the onset of the pandemic.

On February 26, 2019, Lori Lightfoot was elected Mayor of Chicago. Her victory was both historic and surprising. When she announced her run, Lightfoot was relatively unknown and a political outsider. She is also female, African-America and an out-lesbian – in marked contrast with almost every past occupant of that coveted fifth floor office on Clark Street. Consider that, in its less than 200-year history, Chicago has had exactly one other female mayor (Jane Byrne), two African-American mayors (Harold Washington and Eugene Sawyer), and no publicly-declared LGBT mayors. There has certainly never been a mayor that checked all three boxes. Suffice it to say that few people took Lightfoot’s candidacy seriously when she first announced her run.

Although this is not a Rogers Park story, we should all be paying attention to the ban on demolitions that was recently approved by the Chicago City Council, effectively halting development near the western half of the 606 Trail.

By:

Scott Post
Owner of PW Disposal Service and RPBG Member
 

I have been a member of RPBG since my good friend, Marty Max, talked me into coming to my first meeting at Devon Bank. Before the meeting, I didn’t know what to expect. Afterwards, I was already hooked.