In owning the buildings located at the southwest corner of Albion Avenue and Sheridan Road, Loyola had incurred a development dilemma: renovate and bring the buildings up to code (a $500,000 option) or demolish the structures altogether (a $100,000 option)? The university chose the latter (See: “LU building demolished” pg. 1), and we at the Phoenix believe this decision to be a rational one. Source/read more.But wait, there's more.
Bruno Roti, who owns the nearby Bruno’s Lounge and has lived in Rogers Park since 1943, believes that the lot will be an eyesore and is worried about the effect the demolition might have on business. “If they asked me for my opinion, I would say leave the buildings up. But — of course — no one asked me,” Roti said.Looks like Joe got a taste of his own medicine. I can't tell you how many meetings Joe has gone to bat for a developer by saying "it's a matter of right...."
This sentiment was echoed by Alderman Joe Moore (49th Ward). “Loyola has emphasized that they do not need any approval from the city,” Moore said. Source/Read more.
RELATED:
Morse Gravel Pit.
Howard Hole.
North Shore Weed Center.
23 comments:
Just what we need - a gravel pit to walk by. I'm surprise - I really thought Loyola would make it look nice and do something to it while it was empty. They have students that go by there on a daily basis - what a waste of space!
According to an e-mail I received from Alderman Moore, Loyola is turning the parking lot behind this area into a park (green space?). This will eliminate the 4th parking area at Loyola since I came 9 years ago (gravel lot where the Life Sciences building is now located, Madonna lot, Fine Arts lot, and now Albion). Soooooo....we can all compete to park in the deck or receive a ticket from Loyola or Chicago (zoned parking). I was told freshmen aren't allowed parking passes, but this year my son, a freshman, was offered one. You can't even go out for lunch without risking looking for parking for 25 minutes when you return. I have had professors with large classes of almost 200 students call me to run down to their class and ask them to wait while the professor looks for parking. Loyola just keeps ticketing. I paid them $190 last week for tickets.
P.S. God bless Bruno Roti for standing firm.
===According to an e-mail I received from Alderman Moore, Loyola is turning the parking lot behind this area into a park (green space?).===
According to Joe Moore the Morse Theater was to be open by summer.
We all know that didn't happen.
I'm glad it's turning to green space. Heaven forbid the Loyola professors and students should have to take public transit. RP's density and LACK of parking is a GOOD THING. It's time we start paying the full costs if car ownership. If every unit of housing had a parking space this wouldn't be Rogers Park...it'd be Skokie. Now who wants to live in Skokie??
Loyola had a dilemma:
continue paying property taxes on these buildings or reduce their assessment by erasing the improvements
"According to Joe Moore the Morse Theater was to be open by summer."
do i recall correctly, did the 400 get a TIF subsidy to rehab for live acts?
loyola figures the community owes them a vacant lot since they built loyola station
fair is fair
loyola figures they are entitled to blight parity
Joe always falls back on, "it's their right to do it" but he DOES have power as an alderman to get concessions. He practically kisses Loyola's arse.
Marcum:
I'd rather live in Skokie than Rogers Park, but since I own, I'm stuck in this market!
In Skokie, if you have a problem, there's a very responsive village board to complain to.
Here, we got Joe Moore!
Hell, even Maywood is better!
Marcum said, "I'm glad it's turning to green space. Heaven forbid the Loyola professors and students should have to take public transit."
Heaven forbid? I work 8:30-5:00. My day starts at 6:00. I also have to drop my daughter off at St. Margaret Mary on the way to work. There is no way I am getting up any earlier so that I can rough it on public transportation and freeze my ass off too. Quite honestly, we're too special.
Wasting $100,000 is rational?! I'm always becoming more and more embarrassed by being a Loyola student. Just spend the $500,000, at least that's an investment. Regardless, they are a private business and can do whatever the hell they want. Loyola can probably piss $500,000; they only need to accept an additional 13 students to pay the bill.
Originally they were going to make it a green space, according to Moore's email blast. Then my friend showed me an article in the Phoenix that said they were just going to make it an ugly gravel lot.
Rogerspark - It looks like you must work at Loyola - does that new lot over CVS help with parking? Also, that lot on Albion doesn't seem that full when I walk by.
Why does a student at Loyola need to drive a car to get lunch?
Why is Chuck Didrickson such a dick?
Razldazirr, I am not sure about the CVS parking lot, but the Albion lot does get used. Many times throughout the year Loyola tells those of us who pay about $500 a year to park that we can’t use the deck and have to use that lot. They do it for days at a time when students are moving in, when students are moving out, graduation, etc. Then on the first week of school, parent’s weekend, etc. they leave the gates to the deck open so that those who don’t pay have free parking while we who pay compete.
Charlie Didrickson, I am not a student. I work there. They have me 8.5 hours a day and I should not be held to Loyola’s trappings for lunch hour. If I pay to park there should be enough parking. If there isn’t, stop selling so many passes. It seems to be a great way to generate ticket income. Imagine your son or daughter paying a premium for a class and than having to wait for a professor who can’t find parking. Also, on my lunch hour I may choose to run to the post office (which is only open when I am at work), the grocery store, or home to flip in another load of laundry. These small errands squeezed into an hour often afford me the luxury of having a less than crazy evening when I do finally get home.
Why is Chuck Didrickson such a dick?
Ha Ha..
Thanks RP60645
I guess that makes sense. That said, I don't think Loyola being such a commuter school should need to provide an over abundance of parking when Public Trans is so plentiful.
Just one Dick's opinion of course.
well, loyola likes to make stuff new, so not a huge shocker, this tear down,
just glad the other buildings with pizza place and bar/liquor store have different owners.
commercial buildings usually get the most grief and abuse.
so nothing new. sucks to have gravel lot though. should just be grass. eventually something nice should go up there.
I am not sure that Loyola knows what they will be doing with the space.
Originally they planned to convert the area into a garden / green space area as a part of some kind of grant to study the plantlife. Further studies showed that this location was not suitable for such an application due to the proximity to the El and Sheridan Road. Last I read they were undecided as to what to put there.
Maybe a dollar store or cell phone store?
I was rather sad that these two buildings were razed. I didn't even get to snatch a piece of the lovely blue and white terra cotta that ornamented the second story facade of the 2nd building.
I remember when this line of buildings was beautiful and cohesive. Then, a fire happened, and the best-looking building was lost. And another had been torn down before.
I can understand why Loyola would not want to restore those two places, for they weren't really exceptional, just charming and quirky.
So I thought, I'm divided, so I didn't bother to attend the meeting. I only hope Loyola makes good on their promise to put a garden on this site until there is impetus to develop the entire row into an intimate, cohesive commercial district, hopefully with two or three-story mixed use buildings with retail on the ground floor.
Right now, that block is looking sad and naked.
In case you want to remember.
http://rp1000.blogspot.com/2009/10/another-beautiful-building-gone.html
I'm talking not about the buildings that were just torn down, but two that used to be in the vacant lots on that block.
One was destroyed by fire about 10 years ago, and it was the most beautiful.
This block is part of the Loyola TIF district, and the TIF money has made it possible for Loyola to do a lot of unnecessary demolition. Those people have way too much taxpayers' money to play with.
This is typical of what TIF produces- empty lots, beautiful old buildings torn down and replaced with ugly, inappropriate new development, like Ashland ave and the corner of Berwyn and Broadway.
TIF districts, like all government funded boondoggles, do not spur "economic" development but produce mostly blight and economic ruin and always have. First it was the big housing projects that tore apart the dense social networks that poor people form over generations out of sheer necessity, by "slum clearance". Then it was the FHA redlining of perfectly intact city nabes in the 50s to build the tens of thousands of square miles of suburban ticky-tacky in the 50s, crappy little houses that are now deteriorating very quickly, financed by the FHA, the GSAs, and VA with their no-down loans. Then, at last, it was the speculative rampage of the past 10 years and the ensuing credit disaster from all those bad loans on overpriced housing. Now, our federal and local governments, with our tax money, are fostering the destruction of our most charming neighborhoods - more "economic development" on our dime- while sponsoring another wave of FHA loans with 3.5% downpayments and $8000 tax credits, that has a delinquency rate of 14% already and will result in yet ANOTHER tax funded bailout in a couple of years.
When will we learn that all government-funded development produces is blight and financial ruin?
rogerspark - I agree with you - if I was paying for parking I would expect the ability to come and go as I choose. That's the purpose of paying!!
as an alum and resident living north of campus near the lake, this demolition allows me to spy the southbound el tracks and adjust my rushing to the station accordingly.
on a more serious note, however, i'm confident loyola will do something to brighten up that lot's appearance; but i know that the campus interior is still undergoing extreme renovation which i'm sure already ties up plenty of funds. if this is a huge issue with other residents (particularly those who live nearby and probably benefit from loyola's campus safety personnel/vehicles), feel free to start fundraisers in order to help the university more quickly develop the lot.
and does bruno roti really think this demolished building will affect his alcohol sales to the loyola student population (including hundreds if not thousands of minors)? he's quick to offer his opinion, but not the extra $400,000 that might have kept those buildings up to code and still standing, no?
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