Parking in downtown Chicago is scarce and usually comes at a price.
But parking lots in general might be disappearing as real estate developers see more value in the land for building residential buildings as the rise of rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft make urban denizens less dependent on owning a car.
According to Chicago Tribune columnist Ryan Ori, there’s “anecdotal evidence” more parking lots are being built over as the demand for downtown living increases.
“I’ve been doing this 30 years, and I’ve bought many a parking lot,” developer Alan Lev, president and CEO of Belgravia Group, told the newspaper. “The rate of parking lots disappearing is accelerating.”
Ori reports Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development as having conducted a 2013 downtown parking survey that counted 91,747 between Roosevelt Road, Chicago Avenue and Halsted and LaSalle streets.
But the development boom downtown doesn’t show any signs of slowing and parking lot surfaces are an increasingly hot commodity, some developers say.
“Keep in mind that Chicago has been the fastest-growing urban center in the United States over the past decade,” Steve Fifield, founder and CEO of development firm Fifield Cos, told the Tribune. “People are coming here for jobs, so all of us entrepreneurs are trying to source deals (for new developments).”
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According to the column, even Steppenwolf Theatre Company plans to sell property that includes a parking garage on North Avenue. The buyer plans to build a 92-unit apartment building alongside a retail building, the paper reports.
Parking in downtown Chicago is scarce and usually comes at a price.
But parking lots in general might be disappearing as real estate developers see more value in the land for building residential buildings as the rise of rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft make urban denizens less dependent on owning a car.
According to Chicago Tribune columnist Ryan Ori, there’s “anecdotal evidence” more parking lots are being built over as the demand for downtown living increases.
“I’ve been doing this 30 years, and I’ve bought many a parking lot,” developer Alan Lev, president and CEO of Belgravia Group, told the newspaper. “The rate of parking lots disappearing is accelerating.”
Ori reports Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development as having conducted a 2013 downtown parking survey that counted 91,747 between Roosevelt Road, Chicago Avenue and Halsted and LaSalle streets.
But the development boom downtown doesn’t show any signs of slowing and parking lot surfaces are an increasingly hot commodity, some developers say.
“Keep in mind that Chicago has been the fastest-growing urban center in the United States over the past decade,” Steve Fifield, founder and CEO of development firm Fifield Cos, told the Tribune. “People are coming here for jobs, so all of us entrepreneurs are trying to source deals (for new developments).”
According to the column, even Steppenwolf Theatre Company plans to sell property that includes a parking garage on North Avenue. The buyer plans to build a 92-unit apartment building alongside a retail building, the paper reports.
