Uptown Rebirth

The Slatin Report features a piece on a recent development in the Uptown area of Chicago. Called Uptown Square, the development is about a block south of Lawrence and Broadway, the nexus of Uptown, with the Riviera, Aragon, and Uptown Theaters located around the intersection, as well as the well-known jazz club Green Mill.



As the image above illustrates, Borders is the main retail tenant of the development - renovated by architects Hartshorne + Plunkard - which also features market-rate condos and affordable units. The article is a good lesson in the real estate/developer decisions driving the economic regeneration of parts of the city, as well as the political steps along the way. With Uptown's illustrious history between the wars, it was only a matter of time before its built environment found new life, evidence of the cyclical nature of city neighborhoods.