The Home Front

North side after the fire (above) By Don DeBat Chicago may be the Windy City, but it also is home of some of the greatest fires of the past century. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871—when most city neighborhoods consisted of wooden balloon-frame homes—claimed more than 300 lives, displaced 100,000 people and scorched 3.3 square miles of the Windy City. A few years later, in 1903, the Iroquois Theater fire at 26 W. Randolph in Chicago’s Loop took 602 lives. In 1958, the devastati

Photo obtained from Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago. Over 1,000 builders and real estate professionals gathered at the Lincoln Park Builders of Chicago’s Real Estate Forum to discuss civic priorities, market conditions, and future profits. By Don DeBat Looking to 2026 and beyond, Chicago builders likely will have to juggle civic priorities, analyze market conditions, and gaze into the crystal ball on the direction of mortgage interest rates in order to bank future profits. T

(Above) Rendering by HKS Architects of revised Bally’s casino and hotel being constructed along the Chicago River across from River...