South Loop wins the 2017 Curbed Cup

Via The Chicago Neighborhoods

Congrats to the South Loop. It's a great neighborhood with many things happening and it doesn't hurt that it's on the southern outskirts of downtown Chicago. It's a vibrant neighborhood with great activity and perhaps an example of how to turn around an area that for many years had been depressed.

If you want to follow more of what's going on in the South Loop check out Sloopin - A South Loop blog. They will let you know especially of any new businesses - whether national chains or small/locally owned establishments that set up shop there. It's a great blog if you want to see what goes on in another south side neighborhood. Yes I do consider South Loop a south side neighborhood.

Here's the tweet to announce the Curbed Cup results for 2017 from Curbed Chicago.

The 2017 Curbed Cup winner is... South Loop! https://t.co/E8uwzlv15w pic.twitter.com/HNbi94rVvq

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) January 2, 2018

Woodlawn made it to the finals and didn't quite make it to repeat last year. That's OK because Woodlawn is still a neighborhood to watch for the future, it's another neighborhood that for many years had been depressed and today it's being built back up.

2017: Year in review

Happy new years everyone a few things happened and one big story we'll talk about at length here. Of course that will make this year end post unusual this year. 2017 has certainly been an interesting year - especially since this blog has been publishing for 10 years. Here's looking towards 2018 and the promise the new year offers.

Woodlawn is going to the finals....#CurbedCup2017

Woodlawn is back in the finals in the 2017 Curbed Cup, this year they will face the South Loop. Sorry no rematch with Uptown, although a lot of positive developments is coming to that part of town. We will hear from them again yet, especially if Uptown Update has anything to say about it.

Which neighborhood should win Curbed Cup: Woodlawn or the South Loop? Cast your vote now! https://t.co/VY0B47vpnA pic.twitter.com/G65TWsYR6u

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) December 29, 2017

While good things are expected to happen to Woodlawn with some construction going around for the Green Line - and I don't mean the restoration of service past Cottage Grove. There's the Obama presidential library that's expected to come to Jackson Park. A new Jewel-Osco is coming to 61st & Cottage Grove, so some things are happening there.

Meanwhile the South Loop which contains an area from roughly Cermak to the lakefront and then Congress to the Dan Ryan on the West. I've been following their progress through the Sloopin blog - which had been quiet about the Curbed Cup until today - and the area appears to be a hot neighborhood over the years. The redevelopment of that neighborhood even inspired a post years ago wondering if Chatham could be "South Looped".

Click the tweet you see above or click here and hopefully you will support Woodlawn to repeat in 2017. Voting will be open through January 2, 2018.

Once voting is over and the winner of the Curbed Cup 2017 is announced hopefully we can discuss what neighborhoods we'd like to see get their recognition next year. Curbed Chicago always looks for those neighborhoods with some development, for example new business activity, new construction especially for housing, and certainly it helps if a major project like a national park in the case of Pullman or in the case of Woodlawn getting a presidential library is being planned or created. Let's find ways to make something happen in our communities so that they get the attention they deserve!

Don't forget to support Woodlawn through January 2 and happy new year!

Woodlawn is back in Curbed Cup finals...

In yesterday's poll over at Curbed Chicago - the tweet you see below - they edged out the hipster enclave on the northwest side of Logan Square. Woodlawn is one step closer to repeated at the Curbed Chicago neighborhood of the year.

Curbed Cup Final Four: (1) Woodlawn vs. (4) Logan Square. Vote now! https://t.co/TsBybWhInT pic.twitter.com/t2CIgf3TgS

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) December 27, 2017

Meanwhile the other final four contest is between the South Loop & Uptown. So far there doesn't appear to be a winner as I write this post. Though I like the idea of a Woodlawn vs. Uptown Curbed Cup. Time will tell on that.

Curbed Cup Final Four: (3) South Loop vs. (7) Uptown. Vote now! https://t.co/BBwxEgPQNV pic.twitter.com/GvV4BEeQRj

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) December 28, 2017

I'm sure JP Paulus would like to amp up the trash talk with our friends over at Uptown Update who I'm sure are on the edge of their seats waiting for their results. If Uptown gets into the finals again there will be a rematch from last year with Woodlawn and bear in mind Uptown already won two Curbed Cups.

Can we help Woodlawn repeat as winner of the Curbed Cup?

Remember last year when Woodlawn won Curbed Chicago's Cup for neighborhood of the year. Then the year before where it was Pullman that had the honor.

In 2017 Woodlawn is back and made it into the final four for this year's Curbed Cup. There were three other entrants in this competition from Chicago's south side. Hyde Park, Bronzeville, and yes the South Loop. I do consider the South Loop south side even if they may have the close proximity to downtown and for many years it was an area that hadn't be doing well until the 21st century.

Curbed Cup Elite Eight results! West Loop and Fulton Market knocked out https://t.co/viQ6tUmBFS pic.twitter.com/gtrktAgNWW

— Curbed Chicago (@curbedchicago) December 22, 2017

Anyway, why Woodlawn again? The expansion of the University of Chicago further south, the Obama library is expected to come that way, there's going to be a new Jewel-Osco on 61st & Cottage Grove. I want to add a grassroots movement to re-extend the CTA Green Line beyond their current terminal at Cottage Grove. This would be great news for another are of Chicago's south side that hadn't done well in recent years until now.

BTW, voting will begin on the final four neighborhoods after the Christmas holiday. Hopefully that means on Tuesday - today - you will see a poll on a future poll at Curbed Chicago. Let's support Woodlawn and allow that neighborhood to repeat their accomplishment from last year.

And I still want to open the floor for other neighborhoods we all hope will get nominated next year. Yes I'm looking at you Englewood, Chatham, Roseland, or even Pullman - again! Am I missing any from our part of town? Let us know!!!

Woodlawn - 2016 Curbed Cup champs

After the New Years break over at Curbed Chicago and some voting irregularity Woodlawn has won the Curbed Cup in 2016. In 2015 another south side community Pullman won the Curbed Cup.

So what's going on in Woodlawn that has caught Curbed's attention. This is from yesterday's post:

This new year is going to be an important one for the Woodlawn community. It seems like 2015 and 2016 were the years that really set a few major things in motion, but the neighborhood will really begin to see the fruits of these projects pay off in the coming years. In 2015, the neighborhood’s historic Shrine of Christ the King cathedral designed by Henry J. Schlacks burned down in a horrific blaze which left the church’s future in limbo. However, the community pulled together to save the historic building and work is underway to restore it.

 ...
However, the biggest news in Woodlawn in the last year has been about the future Obama Presidential Center. The new facility is planned for a section of Jackson Park which faces the Woodlawn community. It will be designed by the famous husband and wife architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien and is expected to cost anywhere from $500 million up to $1 billion. The Obama Presidential Center is a major investment that will not only attract visitors to the community, but it help create new permanent jobs, and is expected to spur economic growth and new development activity throughout the South Side.

Congratulations to Woodlawn and may greater growth happen in that neighborhood. A future post I would like to reiterate those communities who I hope will place in future Curbed Cups. There was a similar post written about this last year.

Vote for Wodlawn in the Curbed Cup neighborhood poll!

Finally the South Side looks like it might get a bit of respect!
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The website Curbed has an annual poll for best neighborhood...however, it's clear wo their clientele is, as most of the neighborhoods are predominantly white and upper class.

We encourage not just you, but all of your friends to vote for Woodlawn. If they win, then other neighborhoods we represent, like Chatham, Englewood and others, can also get a chance to win.

Read the article, then scroll down and VOTE here = http://chicago.curbed.com/2016/12/29/14116562/chicago-neighborhood-of-the-year-lakeview-woodlawn-2016

Share the link with friends. As of this writing, Woodlawn is down 626 votes. If we all share the word, it would be an amazing victory!

Neighborhoods I wish I could see in the Curbed Cup Chicago

Curbed Chgo

Now I could say for this year, but something to aspire to in the future. By this I mean maybe not 2016 but hopefully 2017 or 2018 for as long as Curbed Chicago continues to publish their blog. I got my eye on three communities within this blog's main geographical coverage area that hopefully will get more attention.

To start I got my eye on Roseland. Hopefully were the 2015 Curbed Cup winner Pullman goes so can the surrounding neighborhoods.

Whatever benefit Pullman gets with a national momnument hopefully the positive effects will spillover into at least Roseland. There is a commerical area in Roseland between at least 111th and 115th streets which deserves more investment. There's Roseland Hospital which is certainly one of the assets of this community. As with another community that I will mention in this post, Roseland is basically a blank slate which with the right investment could turn this impoverish community around. I hope one of those investments is the future CTA Red Line extension.

The next community I would like to see place in the Curbed Cup is definitely Englewood. There are those who say Englewood is a community with potential to become the next hot neighborhood. While we can view that area as a blank slate some of their assets are coming into play.

Consider the Green Line L which is an asset, Kennedy-King College, and then the coming in 2016 Whole Foods Market at 63rd/Halsted. As with Michigan Avenue in Roseland, the 63rd/Halsted area hopefully can again become an area of commerce as it once was. In fact in its hey day it almost rivaled downtown Chicago.

Another thing to note with Englewood is that we here at The Sixth Ward have come to note the very passionate activists who for example started RAGE. If Englewood did place in the Curbed Cup I'm sure it would be thanks to the push by RAGE members to get the votes necessary as Pullman did at the end of last year.

Finally I want to throw in the Chatham neighborhood. One of the reasons I started The Sixth Ward is to really talk about this area as an historic bastion of the Black middle class. Unfortunately it has gone on the decline in recent years however that neighborhood is known for their activism and are willing to fight for Chatham's reputation.

Chatham's assets mostly is the housing the bungalows and the modernist housing dotted through the community - which got some attention at the end of last year also. The history is a good asset for a future Curbed Cup, but I'm hoping that we can hear of some development plans in the future. Perhaps we can see further improvment along 79th Street or even 75th Street in addition to Cottage Grove or State Street on the periphery. Regardless if Chatham can get the right attention it's time to see them in a future Curbed Cup and hopefully the many community organizations there will put some focus into it.

What other neighborhoods should Curbed Chicago have their eyes on at the end of 2016?

Pullman is the Curbed Cup 2015 winner

We had to wait a few days for the official call, but thanks primarily to a strong effort in the comments and voting by Pullman residents and supporters they did it. Pullman is the 2015 neighborhood of the year for Curbed Chicago. Here's hoping for a great 2016 for that historic and architecturally significant community on the far south side of town.

Curbed Cup final Loop vs. Pullman

Hotel Florence Pullman

Pullman advances and you have until tomorrow night on New Year's even to cast your vote for the neighborhood of the year over at CurbedChicago. Hopefully you're vote will be for the Pullman neighborhood which has had quite a year in 2015.

the Pullman neighborhood on the city's far south side has had a huge year. Its historic district has become the first national monument in Chicago and there's even growing support for a full blown national park campus. Pullman also welcomed the first new factory to open on Chicago's south side in three decades. The colorful factory is not only generating much needed revenue for the neighborhood, but it has also set a very high bar for other companies when it comes to being environmentally friendly.

To be sure I like the loop but home for me is the South Side and it's a no brainer that this part of town would get my vote. Hopefully Pullman is back again for the Curbed Cup in 2016.

Pullman in Curbed Cup Final Four!!!

Via The Chicago Neighborhoods

 It's the end of the year and Curbed Chicago has their annual Curbed Cup. In the final four and the neighborhoods of Pullman, Uptown, Lakeview, and the Loop.

Unfortunately I missed the start of this neighborhood competition that pits up-and-coming neighborhoods of Chicago against each other. This is how Pullman is described:

The Pullman neighborhood on the far South Side had a very big year. The area, which is known and named for its connection to the Pullman Palace Car company, was designated as a National Monument by President Obama in February. Then in April, the soap maker Method opened its $30 million eco-conscious factory in the neighborhood. Pullman gained a lot of momentum this year, and the neighborhood doesn't appear to letting down anytime soon. When we called for Curbed Cup nominations, Pullman residents came out in droves to make sure that their voice was heard.

So far Pullman has edged out Bridgeport and the West Loop neighborhoods can they edge out the north side community of Uptown?

Vote here now and hopefully by tomorrow we'll know whether or not Pullman moves onto the final and hopefully a wonderful 2016 for that historic far south side community.

BTW, I wonder if our friends up there at Uptown Update are following this -  and they are.