The city of Chicago and Chicago Transit Authority are continuing to invest in their transit infrastructure and three downtown projects are poised to make the city even more friendly to commuters.
The three projects total an investment of approximately $150 million. First up, the new Washington/Wabash CTA station, which will consolidate two stations into a single stop, both improving the station and shaving time from a trip through the Loop.
The city is also working to develop a Central Loop Bus Rapid Transit system that will create dedicated bus-only lanes on Madison and Washington, separating the buses from the typical rush hour traffic snarls.
Third, a transit center at Union Station will provide a sheltered area for buses and an underground connection to the existing Amtrak system to allow commuters to access the station without cross the street.
You can read an article from the Chicago Tribune here with graphics and renderings of all three projects.
The Near West Side is Chicago's top seller's market, according to figures out from Chicago Magazine. Following behind are Logan Square, River North, East Village and West Lawn.
“It’s not a hard and fast rule, but in buyers’ markets there is a general association with a slower economy,” Skylar Olsen, a Zillow Economist involved in producing the report told Chicago Magazine. “While in sellers’ markets consumer confidence and real estate activity is usually more robust with more bidding and higher prices.”
Four of those markets, Zillow reported, have become seller's markets because they're regarded as trendy and demand far out-strips supply. Rents in those neighborhoods have also been climbing.
For the full report, head over to Chicago Mag here.
And while you've visiting Chicago Magazine, you can take a video tour of many of Chicago's neighborhoods and suburbs.
Real Estate Report Ian Spula has been taking and making video tours of different areas since shortly before joining the publication last year.
His current video tour is of Lincoln Park. Watch it here.
If video tours is something you go in for, YoChicago has a tour of the Bucktown pocket neighborhood, Holstein Park.
Centered on the park of the same name south of Fullerton, east of Western and north of Armitage, Holstein Park has seen tremendous interest from buyers of all stripes.
The neighborhood was also in the news last week because Governor Pat Quinn secured $1.2 million in funding for its aging but beautiful park field house.
Watch the video here.