Housing & development

How Realtors deal will affect homebuying

By Abby Miller

Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during a news conference at state of Illinois’ offices in the West Loop last week.

Pritzker announces new action plan to combat homelessness and address racial disparity

The plan includes a $50 million increase to funding in next fiscal year’s proposed budget for Home Illinois, a program created by Pritzker’s administration in 2022 to prevent and end homelessness.

By Mohammad Samra

Loop

Loop's weekend foot traffic exceeds level before pandemic, but retail vacancies still at record high

The Chicago Loop Alliance released its latest report on the Loop, finding that it offered some signs of a revival.

By Amy Yee

Housing & development

House next to Obamas' Kenwood home, once linked to Tony Rezko, nears completion

A Chicago couple has invested at least $4.2 million into building a home on a lot once owned by the wife of convicted political fixer Tony Rezko.

By Abby Miller

'Deceptive' real estate firm tied to Loop's Monroe Capital sued by Kwame Raoul

By Stephanie Zimmermann

Rendering of a proposed new White Sox ballpark at The 78.

Sports

Chicago stadiums, arenas and real estate make for a playground for the wealthy

We all love sports teams, but regular people don’t own the buildings or the land they frolic upon. We just pay homage to the teams — and to the power-laden who own them.

By Rick Telander

Carl Wolf, executive director of Respond Now, a non-profit in the south suburbs, says if more municipalities don’t want to use $20 million in Cook County grants to help migrants, they can pass the money through to organizations like his.

Immigration

Cook County is offering $20 million for suburbs to help migrants — but finding few takers

Some towns say they’re already overburdened. Nonprofit organizations working to help migrants say suburbs could pass the money to them.

By Kristen Schorsch | WBEZ Chicago

Work

Janitors union rallies in Loop for better pay as contract deadline looms

Hundreds of janitors who keep the city’s office buildings clean held a rally ahead of a possible strike vote on Saturday.

By Amy Yee

Immigration

Gala to support migrant housing that provides 'safe places' amid shelter evictions

The Bienvenidos A Casa gala on Saturday will support housing that has provided solace for newly arrived migrants.

By Mariah Rush

Members of The Salvation Army Chicago give a homeless man supplies like blankets and hand warmers as all stand clad in coats and hats on Lower Wacker Drive.

City Hall

Johnson's failed Bring Chicago Home referendum gets boost from unlikely source

At a news conference announcing subsidies to adapt downtown office buildings for residential and commercial use, developer Quintin Primo III touted creation of a fund to reduce homelessness, which was rejected by voters in March.

By Fran Spielman

Housing & development

Mayor Johnson seeks more than $150M in TIF assistance for La Salle Street revamp

The four projects named by Johnson’s office stand to create more than 1,000 new apartments with at least 319 projected to have affordable rents through tax increment financing assistance.

By Fran Spielman, Abby Miller, and 1 more

Sendy Soto wears a cream suit jacket and stands at a podium in front of a diagram of Lawson House, with Mayor Brandon Johnson at her side as he gestures.

City Hall

Chicago's first chief homelessness officer is named

Sendy Soto, a former official with the city’s Department of Housing and co-chair of the housing committee on Johnson’s transition team, will take on the job next week.

By Kaitlin Washburn

Roseland

Roseland residents are given a chance to co-own a strip mall

A social enterprise firm is recruiting people in the South Side neighborhood to invest in projects designed to open up real estate ownership.

By Esther Yoon-Ji Kang

Housing & development

Chinatown apartment complex gets $11 million federal grant for energy efficiency upgrades

Archer Courts, 2242 S. Princeton Ave., will soon get a new hot water system, ventilation system and rooftop solar panels through a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

By David Struett

Environment

Chicago's glass buildings kill thousands of migratory birds each year. Advocates want stronger protections

The city of Chicago has worked for years on building design standards that prevent fatal crashes of migratory birds. Making those standards optional for builders is a problem, bird lovers say.

By Kaitlin Washburn

A woman wears a maroon parka with its fur-lined hood over her head and her hands in her pockets, as snow on the street, sidewalk and structures are seen behind her.

No-heat complaints from renters hit 5-year-high in January, but building owners are rarely fined

By Violet Miller, Amy Qin, and 1 more

Immigration

Migrants sheltering at 5 city parks to be moved

Still, residents living near the Gage Park field house say moving migrants is going to make the issue “another neighborhood’s problem.”

By Mariah Rush

Housing & development

Affordable housing developments in Edgewater, West Pullman among those awarded low-income housing tax credits

The Interfaith Housing Development Corp. and the Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp. have apartment buildings that will focus on providing affordable housing to families in Chicago.

By Elvia Malagón

Snow falls outside of Blommer Chocolate Co.'s brown brick factory as steam or smoke puffs out of its chimneys on a cloudy day.

Housing & development

Blommer Chocolate to close Chicago factory

Blommer will move its headquarters and a research and development center to the Merchandise Mart, and plans to invest $100 million in its chocolate production facilities elsewhere.

By Amy Yee and Cindy Hernandez

National Association of Realtors headquarters Chicago

Housing & development

National Association of Realtors to pay $418M, settling lawsuit over agent commissions

The deal, subject to court approval, could affect Americans’ cost to buy or sell homes.

By David Roeder