The plot thickens. There is an unverified report that Wendy's will take over the former KFC site at 95th Michigan.
Also, it has been reported that Wendy's will be opening a store at the 87th street retail corridor.
So will we have two stores opening? Will we have 4 stores in a 5mile radius with the existing stores at 86th Stony and 83rd Ashland?
What's your thoughts?
In addition there's also a Wendy's at 111th/State in Roseland. Also let's not forget that the former Wendy's at 95th/King Drive still hasn't found another tenant yet. Though it's great to finally have a new business in the former KFC space which closed permanently near the end of 2015. Here's one of our ig posts.
Two posts from Marathon Pundit to mark the Memorial Day holiday. One was taken at the former St. Salomea Catholic Church @ 118th & Indiana Ave. (also known as Salem Baptist Church) in Roseland. That's the pic you see above.
The other pic was taken at George Pullman School located at 11311 S. Forrestville Avenue in Pullman.
Hopefully everyone had a wonderful and safe Memorial Day holiday.
You might see this reposted onto our ig page. In the meantime here's Eric Allix Rogers photo of this vacant church in Roseland at 113th Place and State Street.
There are some great buildings and architecture in our communities. Someone out there appreciates them, if only there was a way to keep these buildings in use so they won't meet the wrecking ball.
After Thursday's heavy rain this is how Abbott Park at 95th & Michigan had fared earlier this afternoon. After the heavy snow melts and with heavy precipitation it seems prone to standing water in the grassy areas of the park. And standing water on the sidewalks surrounding the park.
As of now the CTA terminal at 95th endures. It has undergone some changes over the years, a reconstruction in 2003-04, the shutdown & reconstruction of the Red Line south in 2013, and of course the expected overhaul expected to be completed in 2018. The ig post below from the CTA's ig profile shows a scene not too unfamiliar to today's transit riders who begin or compete their commutes at 95th street.
The issue of Shedd School came up at the last of this year's community meetings with Ald. Anthony Beale in October. There is interest in re-opening Shedd as a school and Beale's response was to a written question posed by a resident in attendance.
Unfortunately it was noted at the meeting that Shedd was closed because of declining enrollment. While the question noted an increase in children in the community Beale suggested that it still isn't enough to justify reopening that former school. If it were to ever re-open there may have to be consideration of bringing in students from outside of the neighborhood.
In the meanwhile the school remains for sale as there are signs on the building as I saw from this past summer, pictures were shown on our ig account. Beale pledged to let the community know of any bidders on the property.
On Tuesday I noticed the remnants of a phone which about where Greyhound buses used to stop for pick-ups and drop-offs. It's been a few years since I've taken a Greyhound from 95th Street and remember Greyhound personnel perhaps the drivers using the phone. The station where you can buy your tickets was actually in the terminal near the fare controls, however, that changed in the late 90s.
By 1999 at least one of the last few times I took a bus from 95th the actual ticket office was moved to the back where the 29 State bus starts its journey. Sometime after an overhaul which had been in 2002-03 Greyhound began drop-offs and pick-ups at their ticket office in the back of the CTA terminal.
Sometime during the past decade this phone was disassembled and then the line cut. Funny part is that I knew it was there but hadn't thought about it in years until seeing this recently. Whenever CTA finish the new 95th terminal this ancient device will be history.
The pictures above were shot in April 2016 near 107th & King Drive of a vacant lot which as you see in the pic above is zoned for a cellphone tower. A group of Roseland activists want to see this turned into a park:
Members of the 9th Ward Greater Roseland Community Coalition said they fear the potential environmental and health threats the cell tower could bring to the empty lot at 107th Street between Vernon and Eberhart avenues. ... The neighborhood coalition has been circulating petitions opposing the cellphone tower. Members said they want the land cleaned up and turned into a park and botanical garden.
Of course there's this:
The city did an environmental screen of the site in 2014 to identify any potential environmental concerns and said the site’s history of pollution doesn’t make it the best location for a garden.
"The site is listed as an abandoned service station, and available records identified several underground storage tank (UST) installations and removals dating back to 1953," a letter from Fleet Management to [9th ward Ald. Anthony] Beale reads. "In addition, at least three USTs were abandoned in place in 1984, and a demolition notice was issued in 1996. Although no releases have been reported for the Site, the majority of the USTs were removed or abandoned in the 1970s and early 1980s, prior to requirements to have spill protection, conduct confirmation sampling, or report releases."
The letter says that since there is no data available to confirm a release hasn't taken place, the tanks "present an environmental concern to the Site."
It was recommended that the site not be used as a community garden because there is “high potential for both current and historic USTs at the site.”
Bryant Payne, a spokesman for Beale, confirmed Friday that the land is contaminated and that before anything is built there, it would have to be cleaned up.
This is a nice lot that could see some use in the future. How successful will this group be in getting it cleaned up and hopefully a garden could be placed there instead of a cell tower?
I realized that I failed to what I set out to do a few months ago. I wanted to do a photo essay and basically I started with taking some photos along 103rd Street. This was back in October and although I shared a few pics back then there were than that in my photo library.
For example, I have some pics taken east of King Drive on 103rd Street.
103rd & Rhodes
The pic above I knew at one time as the offices of Congressman Mel Reynolds. In 1995 he was caught up in a sex scandal with an underaged girl and was forced to resign. Unfortunately this property is now vacant and looking for a use since the time of Reynold's having his congressional offices here.
Across the street is a former dry cleaners. It's unclear when this particular building became vacant. Across the street from here is this.
103rd Street between Rhodes and St. Lawrence
In a different time this property had once been home to a McDonald's. That store eventually closed down and was ultimately demolished a with a church built instead.
Beyond this church and the former dry cleaners is this vacant lot.
103rd Street between Rhodes & St. Lawrence
I see this as potention for this part of 103rd and one of many undeveloped lots ready for the right development. To be sure 103rd is largely a commercial corridor and is quite walkable. With the right development it could be a very vibrant corridor.
Of course this is only an example of some of the pics I took in October 2016. I hope to share more of them in the future. And apologies for not sharing these much sooner. My goal is hopefully to come up with some ideas perhaps this part of town could use some bold vision and why not.
John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit takes a look at the Pullman neighborhood and any progress made on the national monument here. Ruberry doesn't have much faith that the federal government will make far more progress here than the state government had. The state actually owns the Hotel Florence that you see above which is waiting for a new use.
He goes through the history of this neighborhood and any governmental role in the future of this neighborhood. Including the purchase of select property such as the Pullman factory, adminstrative buildings and the clock tower. Those in addition to the Hotel Florence.
He also noted the Bernie Sanders signs throughout the neighborhood. Sanders back in March lost the Illinois Democratic presidential primary to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but we see one strong enclave of Sanders supporters. I even noted a sign on our ig page.
Ruberry has some strong opinions on what's going on here. Anyone want to agree or disagree with the Marathon Pundit?
For the past month I've went to the Pullman neighborhood to document the sights of the neighborhood. And I've allowed myself the opportunity to document the nearby communities as well. Most of what you see documented is photographed on my cameraphone often utilizing an olloclip lens.
So last week I took a quick stroll one late afternoon in Roseland and stopped in front of the Roseland Theater Building. This old building appears to be going through some remodeling and changing tenants in the storefronts as they appear to be vacant currently.
This former neighborhood movie house is looking for new use having long since stopped showing movies. According to Cinema Treasures - link above - it is being converted into retail use. Though this news hasn't changed for years so perhaps a number of things happened and I don't see a lot of progress.
However, I have one potential idea and it would involve doing something similar to what was done with the Logan Theater. It was rehabbed in 2011 and is a second run movie house and is a story you can read here - unfortunately that story is behind a paywall in spite of being published in 2012. Perhaps when the time is right that story of a deep pocketed developer who comes in to redevelop this building could happen here at the Roseland Theater.
In the meanwhile as I document Pullman as it is in 2016 a year after it was designated a national monument and other development activities there my hope is that this spreads across Cottage Grove. Roseland and the business district that sits on Michigan Ave from between 103rd & 115th Street can see some of the effects of being so close to a very successful tourist destination.
And furthermore I hope that in the near future we can see further progress on bringing the red line from 95th through Roseland. Thus the Roseland can certainly have a future similar to the Logan Theater which also isn't that far from a CTA L station.
ALSO you can see some of the photos of Pullman and Roseland over at The Sixth Ward's ig account. Here's the post below of the Roseland Theater.
The US Bank building is located near 111th Street just off of the Bishop Ford Expressway (I often just call this stretch the Calumet Expressway as the Ford is the newest name for this highway). I mostly know of this building as the Pullman Bank building, however, as it happens banks go through name changes as they go through new owners.
Before US Bank took ownership of this building it had been owned most recently by FBOP Corporation which bought Pullman Bank & Trust Company in 1999. FBOP Corp failed in 2009 and US Bank came in to purchase the remaining assets.
This is an unusual building on the south side and it certainly a landmark on this part of town recognizable. In googling the history of this building it has been surmised that it has been used as a billboard or free advertising for whoever owned this building.
Since I'm sure most businesses seek to not sink much money onto labor or otherwise utilize processes that don't cost much money I'm sure US Bank doesn't use the whole building. Pullman Bank presumably used this as their HQ and that changed when ownership changed between banks. It makes me wonder if there are other tenants in this building.
Announced at the 95th Red Line terminal on Thursday these are the changes expected to start this summer:
• The 95th Street bus, which will combine separate east and west segments to create a continuous route. • The No. 4 Cottage Grove bus, which will extend service south from 95th Street to 115th Street. • The No. 71 71st Street bus, which will extend all trips from 73rd to 112th and Torrence, and see increased frequency. • The No. 26 South Shore Express, which will add earlier and later service. • The No. 34 Michigan and No. 119 Michigan/119th bus routes, which will add increased frequency during midday and evening hours. • The Cottage Grove and Ashland/63rd branches of the Green Line will have increased frequency during the a.m. and p.m. rush hours.
The improvements will cost an extra $5.7 million a year and are planned to be implemented in September, but some could be seen as soon as the beginning of the summer, said CTA spokesman Jeff Tolman.
“These improvements are related to CTA President Dorval R. Carter's goal of looking at service from a holistic perspective and providing the most effective service possible,” Tolman said. “These improvements will further improve the quality and reliability of service for riders."
“With this expansion, the CTA is continuing the important work of connecting more residents to jobs and economic opportunities,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “This announcement builds on the strides we have made to improve connections to and from downtown. These types of investments help our economy to grow, our neighborhoods to prosper, and our city to thrive – and we will continue to make them to ensure that every resident has an opportunity to succeed.”
Took this snapshot of this old fire station near 108th/Cottage Grove in Pullman. BTW, who is that person sitting in that top window on the left side. I thought this place was abandoned lol.
Regardless if you want to know more about the history of this building there's this page from Forgotten Chicago.
This firehouse is located on 108th Street in Pullman, just north of the charred remains of the famous factory. Built in 1895 and home to Engine Company 80, this is the last former firehouse in Chicago with an observation tower. Many 19th century firehouses originally had them to aid in locating fires. This station was disused in 1957 and currently sits abandoned.
And now with the additional attention Pullman is getting with the national park designation what other use could this architectural treasure see?
This is the Hotel Florence as seen from across the street on 111th Street. An historic building designed in the 19th century for those who did business with the Pullman Company for whom this neighborhood was named. These days unfortunately this particular building is owned by the state and still trying to find a use for this building.
Even if it's not for a hotel my hope is that it can be used as a community meeting place or for business purposes as a restaurant for example. Closer to Cottage Grove a park surrounds it known as Arcade Park & Pullman Park.
This residential building is on the corner of 111th & Edbrooke. The next street over is Michigan Avenue. Literally here is an abandoned house/apartment building literally open to the elements as the windows on the top floor are broken. The building beyond this one is in a similar state.
There are previous years shots of those buildings and they seemed to be in better condition than they were on my recent walk to Pullman. Wow what a difference a few years makes.
So on my recent walk to Pullman brought me past Shedd School to the Walmart in Pullman where I took shots of the future site of the Whole Foods Market distribution center. Then back west on 111th Street to hop on the Michigan bus to go back north. There are more shots to share.
On my walk to Pullman a few days ago. It was a wet rainy day as depicted in these photos. The first two pics are of the front one is similar to the shot you see in the blog's header.
200 E. 99th Street
200 E. 99th Street
Here's the backlot a field that I used to play around in during recess and of course before school started the kids would play in this field also. Fun days and sadly no longer common. I'll explain after this pic.
Looking from 98th & Indiana
Shedd School has been closed since about 2013 and the local community organization Roseland Heights Community Association has been concerned about a zoning change for this property. It has been zoned for industrial use and therefore a concern is now seen over this greenspace just a block away from Michigan Avenue.
As a former student there, it's unfortunate that classes are no longer held here. However, my hope is that the greenspace remains for the community. If the building remains then it shall be used for the benefit of the community.
Sidenote - I've been using this accessory on my smartphone called an olliclip. Basically this is something you can slip onto your iPhone, iPad or Android devices and take shots with various lenses to enhance your mobile photography. That's why one of the pics above seem unusual.
On a wet day I decided to take a walk into the Pullman neighborhood. I never ventured from the main thoroughfares, just walks along most of the periphery until I got to Walmart. Then upon leaving Walmart the walk ended at 111th and Michigan where I hopped on a bus to go back north.
Took some shots along the way. Some of the sights that I saw when I finally arrive at my destination. Unfortunately it wasn't a bright sunshiny day it was raining. Hopefully when the weather is nice on a day in the future this is something I can try again. Perhaps even venture into those areas of great interest to me architecturally and as a budding urbanist.
Just for the sake of it, here's a pic below of the future site of the Whole Foods Distribution facility and you also see in the background he Methods plant in the back.
720 E. 111th Street
720 E. 111th Street
I do hope the put a sidewalk here when this facility is finally constructed. This is the same area from that second snapshot.
720 E. 111th Street
I hope for nicer weather in the future so that I can do this again and have more documentation of the sights. There are more to share from this day, hopefully you will see in the near future.
Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax talks about the increase of students in our high schools and increase the number of high schools. In addition he makes these comments as far as the policy over neighborhood schools and retaining the middle class in our city:
Neighborhood schools weren’t working in many neighborhoods at the bottom of the economic ladder. So, Chicago embraced public school choice. But that isn’t working either for kids on the lowest economic rungs. Charters can kick kids out for low performance, behavioral problems, etc. and they do that a lot.
I happen to think charters can be a great thing. But, man, the costs sure are high to run all those new schools. And innovators like Kansas City are also having some very real problems.
I wonder if some of these issues involved with the neighborhood schools include Harlan. I'm very sure that they might and it also have some undeserved reputation for violence. I say it's undeserved because over the years they attempt to emphasize the students who got something going for themselves with college and the scholarships for example.
BTW, I would suggest you read the full post at Capitol Fax and read The Atlantic article he quotes from. It deserves a read from me regardless.
