Sunday Reading

The New York Times looks at the explosion of residential development around Millennium Park, in particular directly west of the park and within the Lakeshore East development to the north.

In the late 1990's, the area, known as the East Loop or South Michigan Avenue, was a fairly sleepy retail and office district. In the last five years, however, it has emerged as one of the city's hottest residential neighborhoods with more than a dozen projects rising within blocks of the park.

According to a study commissioned by the city in 2005, the park is responsible for about $1.4 billion in residential development and for increasing residential real estate values in the area by $100 a square foot.

The article not only goes a bit far by branding this "the Millennium Park effect," it also fails to acknowledge the City's Central Area Plan, an important document drafted in 2003 that anticipates the rise of a mixed-use neighborhood in the East Loop. Seen in the framework of this document, Millennium Park is but one ingredient in the greater plan rather than the cause of changes in the area. If anything, the article indicates that the park's success has been even greater than the City could have hoped for.