Clients in the News - New City moving forward

I guess I can talk more about this deal now: in a followup to a previous Crain's piece, Globest.com reports that the New City mixed-use project being developed by Structured Development and Commonfund Realty at Clybourn and Halsted is a go. Dirt should finally start moving by January to meet construction milestones.

Why the delay? Well, you've gotta adapt to the market and changing conditions, and that makes a few months' delay worthwhile. Here, this means less residential and some more commercial/retail. As my friend Jeff Berta points out:

"We originally envisioned condo uses, but housing market conditions shifted, so we reduced the number of units in total to 280," Jeff Berta, senior director of real estate development with Structured, tells GlobeSt.com. "We also saw opportunities for hotel and theater entertainment uses, which we began to realize were a good fit with our location. We replaced some of those units with space for those commercial uses."

I have watched this development shape from day one, and, while I don't think it is appropriate to comment on all the inside workings, I can say its changes have been fascinating to me. And yes, I like the way Structured is able to do this at this location. The adaptations make so much sense on so many levels and doing apartments and commercial uses is the right idea right now. Note: my former colleagues and friends are spearheading the legal efforts right now, while my title company handles that end of the deal. But I can tell you this: New City's a fun project with a lot of complicated legal work being done, and I am excited about it.

There's also a little tidbit in the past paragraph about the Blackhawk-Halsted project across the street and the status of leasing.