Dom's Market would have been the perfect business to satisfy this space and your needs. Too bad they are taking over the Plums market on Wells instead of this space.

In order for our local Old Town economy to continue to grow and succeed, we need to be taking measures to draw and house more people within the neighborhood. Businesses, services, and amenities flow to where there are more people to spend and/or use them. If we continue to see the current down-zoning trend of the areas housing stock, these businesses/amenities will lose it's vital customer base and cease to exist or be replaced. We need to be pushing for higher density developments, like this one should be, in order to continue our neighborhood's success story. We should also be taking major steps towards protecting our neighbors and visitors by developing safer and more equitable street infrastructure. Lets not become stagnate only to be outshined by Lincoln Yards or Fulton Market. Lets show the city of Chicago and others that our community can adapt, grow, succeed, and continue to be the best neighborhood in town!

Mixed Use

We need to take this opportunity to add additional housing stock to this area that is unfortunately seeing multi-unit flats being converted into single family housing. A medium to high rise apartment/condominium complex with street level retail/restaurant space should be placed on these lots. TOD development as well. We need to be competing aggressively against other neighborhoods that are expanding rapidly (West Loop & Fulton Market) for those residents/businesses and all of the spending/tax dollars that come with them. Use this opportunity to develop traffic calming infrastructure to reduce not only the speeds of vehicles but to discourage the use of them in the neighborhood. Wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, medians lined with trees, curb bump-outs to reduce speed of right turns taken. This project should include anything and everything that will bring more residents, more businesses, and safer streets to our neighborhood.

This surface parking lot is wasted space that provides no economic or community value other than a space for people outside of the community to store their private vehicles, which we should be actively discouraging driving within our neighborhood. These lots are visually dreadful and do nothing to enhance the appeal of the area. This open space and wide lanes promote the act of speeding and pose a risk to pedestrians. We need more housing stock, wider sidewalks, narrower lanes, more retail/restaurant space, and more street lining trees - all of which this lot can and should provide!

There are no positive benefits for this or any other surface parking lots within the Old Town Neighborhood.

Michael M
Accessibility: do not provide any street parking adjacent to the building. Install steel bollards to protect pedestrians from vehicles. Provide abundant parking for micromobility vehicles like bikes & scooters. First floor: commercial leasing (let the market decide what shops are desirable). Above the first floor: 20 floors of market rate apartments and/or condos. We need more density!

Michael M
Please ignore any feedback that encourages dog parks, more parking, and low density developments. Our country is in a housing crisis that can only be solved with more housing.

Absolutely in need of some traffic calming measures to be implemented all around the neighborhood - wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, curb bump outs to make slower right turns, medians with trees, drop off/delivery only zones, bus only lanes, red light/speed cameras. Drivers should be made uncomfortable when travelling at such high speeds in a city setting, as they have been doing.

Hi Kelly! There are unfortunately/surprisingly multiple vacant lots, parking lots, and/or vacant buildings that currently line Wells Street. We should be applying pressure, and possibly a vacant lot tax, to the alderman and property owners to develop these amenities that cater towards your demographics. Same could be said about the potential of developing these amenities along North Ave and all of its empty store fronts, if we were able to widen the sidewalks and slow traffic considerably then it would be a more desirable area to traverse!

Old Town is different now because we constantly cater to every demand made by those with private vehicles. The neighborhood is being strangled by cars, everywhere you look there is a metal box speeding, double parked, or almost hitting our own neighbors while they cross the streets. We need to reduce the use of cars in our community, not pave over valuable space to store someone else's private property.

If this member of the community is within a mile from this proposed grocer, then yes we should be promoting walking or biking to this establishment and to those businesses around. No need to hunt down a parking spot when you arrive without a car. Pushing for our community to reduce their trips by personal cars will in turn lead to a much healthier, safer, and happier neighborhood.

The Old Town community is already being choked out by the amount of vehicles passing through. We need to discourage people from driving and have a better system in place, such as better sidewalks/streets/public transportation, that encourages people to not drive to our neighborhood. If we build more parking that will in turn bring more cars and increase the traffic problem you are wanting to get rid of.

Absolutely should not be constructing any more parking structures within the area. If anything we need to either build on top of the ones we have or demolish a few of them. Our efforts should be made towards building a neighborhood that is not reliant on vehicles whatsoever. Push for more walkable/bikeable streets and better public transportation routes that encourage people to take a bus/train to our neighborhood instead of driving.

"Old Town" is all but a name for this area now. Most of the historical buildings have been demolished, replaced, sit empty, or converted to single family homes. North Ave is a dangerous open wound that cuts through the neighborhood and only aids in high speed traffic coming/going from LSD or I90. We NEED to rethink our ability to adapt and change or we risk losing out on economic opportunities to neighborhoods who encourage growth like West Loop/Fulton Market. This doesnt mean slap a bunch of high rises in the area but the mentality of "lets just do with what we have" is not going to aid in solving any of the areas problems. Lets make this our Field of Dreams and "If we build it, they will come" (create a better economy).

Nate Lielasus
Traffic through North/LaSalle/Clark is definitely a bit hairy and intersections are wide and intimidating.

Elizabeth M
Protected bike lanes. Wide walkable sidewalks. Shared streets. Public spaces for sitting. Reduced auto traffic and reduced on-street parking.

This is a great opportunity to reinvest and improve this space, surrounding area, and community experience. Lets not squander this chance and cater to a few loud voices that in the end provide no substantial value to our community. Implementing a local grocer, building more housing, and making the necessary infrastructure improvements to increase use of walking/biking (which removes vehicles/traffic off of our streets and makes them safer) will provide exponential value to our homes, businesses, and to our own personal/families well-being.

Commercial

The greatest opportunity the surrounding community can benefit from is for a grocery store to establish itself within this space. Curbside improvements such as sidewalk leveling, increased foliage, and additional bike racks/Divvy docking stations should be made. New exterior coat of paint that refreshes the building and brightens the street. Protected bike lanes. Means to discourage double parking on the street. Focus on increasing pedestrian foot traffic and well-being over those using vehicles. More windows to make the building look less like a warehouse and more inviting to want to enter. Promoting walking/biking over driving will help this neighborhood feel open and lively rather than patrons secluding themselves in their cars.

If this property remains unutilized, the surrounding community will be restricting its own access to local services and tax revenue generated by the tenant. Vehicle traffic in the area will remain high as nearby residents will have to continue to drive to the next nearest grocer. Structural, visual, and curbside improvements would not be made if this property remains vacant or under-utilized.

The surrounding community does not benefit from this large retail space remaining empty.