The Chicago developer Calvin Boender transformed the former disco at 940 N. Rush St with over $2.5 million dollars in renovations, converting the iconic dance venue into 6,000 square feet of upscale retail space, reflecting a shift towards boutique shopping and capitalizing on the foot traffic generated by the nearby Bloomingdale's.

The North Side's DePaul neigh­borhood is gearing up for another boom. Already the city's hottest residential area for rehab and re­novation, it is now ripe for office redevelopment.

If you live in Illinois you will find on the November 8th ballot a simple yes or no vote for the Illinois Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment.

I listened to a Freakonomics Podcast episode that dealt with the proliferance of mattress stores in Schererville, Indiana and more recently a similar story in the Chicago Tribune Business section.

In a previous post I detailed how intensive corn stover utilization for livestock feed replacement and cellulosic ethanol production causes soil degradation through nutrient removal, erosion, runoff and minimizes the soil’s water holding capacity.

Operating as the CEO and president of NorthDevelopment, a Chicago real estate development firm I founded, I have over 35 years of expertise in residential and commercial real estate.

I have years of experience in the commercial and residential real estate industries. I founded North Development Ltd. to facilitate residential and commercial projects in and around the greater Chicago area.

In my college years, I worked as a carpenter and drove a garbage truck through the streets of Chicago. Unknown to me then, I was learning valuable lessons that I have applied later in my real estate career.

The only positive economic indicator is blind human optimism and investors sense trouble ahead. This has triggered a search for value in a marketplace weary of government intervention and manipulated financial statistics.