More Crain's tidbits

Crain'sis just a treasure trove of information. Tom Corfman and his team just have this beat covered down pat. They had three stories today that caught my interest:

  • In the completely unshocking department, Sam Zell may convert parts of the Tribune Tower into condos. Any person in the dirt biz saw that coming the minute he laid eyes on the company. Nonetheless, it's news.

  • The New City project near North and Halsted being developed by Structured Development and Commonfund will build luxury apartments instead of condos to go with the 75% leased retail portion of the project. JV negotiations are ongoing. I've known about this for a while, but I have this thing about client confidentiality.... My friend and client, Dan Lukas, put it succinctly in his own inimitable way:

    “The condo market is in the toilet. With the market’s sales velocity, we could be selling one to two units a month … It really doesn’t matter how good the product is; there’s no buyers and there’s no financing right now.”

  • Finally -- and this interests me on two levels, a developer is planning a 140,000 fitness center and driving range on the near west side. The driving range is, in my opinion, a great interim use for dirt while you wait to see where the market's going. There was a range for some years, as you may recall, over in what is now River East. Besides, I could use a good place downtown to hit some golf balls from time to time. I hope there is a good bar/restaurant facility or something where you can have a meeting attached to the range (hint, hint).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oops. I plain forgot.

I said some time ago that I would publish a review of the new Powerhouse Restaurant and Bar , located right beneath my Chicago office. And I never did. So here goes. I've had a couple of lunches and dinner since the place opened, so I can be candid. All the food I had ranged from very good to superb. The pork belly and chicken thigh appetizers were wonderful. The pork chops were juicy and tasty. The ribeye steak was perhaps the best I've ever had (and trust me, I have eaten a LOT of steak in my life). Forget the red meant and cholesterol and fat and all that stuff for one meal; just splurge and eat it. One of my dining companions said the cod was good but not superlative in his view. I was really too full to enjoy the sweet potato doughnuts. On the lunch side: I recommend the cheese quesadillas and the burger, which also has the tastiest bacon from Wisconsin. I'm getting hungry and I don't want to tempt myself...2008, after all! Service is always first rate, f
Read more

The DLB's Third Anniversary Post

Wow -- three years of blogging this Sunday.  Since I do not plan to write this weekend, I want to take a moment now to reflect on what the past three years have meant to me. First and foremost, blogging has been fun and educational. I truly believe that, thanks to reading more, writing more, and interacting with pros in the business I have become a better adviser to my clients. Yes, the technical lawyering and drafting and stuff is very important. But I have learned much by trying to put on the glasses of your client and thinking practically, while also keeping that lawyer hat on.  That said, I know I am not the business guy, but I also think I can give better advice while at least keeping in mind that side of the coin. You just do the best you can. I have also changed as a blogger, and hopefully for the better.  I get more news and posting from Twitter now than I do from the news or from other blogs. I do not know whether that is good or bad, but I know it is the reality of the situat
Read more