The Home Front

The former Xsport Fitness at Piper's Alley (above) By Don DeBat Thousands of Old Town neighborhood residents are gleefully doing cartwheels over the planned opening of a classy Whole Foods Market store on the 1600 North block of North Wells St. after an eight-year grocery desert. However, many real estate insiders are skeptical about the mystery behind the sudden announcement. Is it all part of the sophisticated chess game developer Fern Hill is playing at the intersection of

By Don DeBat Chicago home buyers may have to look at the housing market through long-range binoculars if they hope to see affordable...

(Above) Rendering by GREC Architects of Old Town Canvas, including a Walgreens store at lower left. (Click on image to view larger...

(Above) Rendering by Pappageorge Haymes Partners of 57 West Oak Street. (Click on image to view larger version.) The Chicago City...

(Above) 534 West Division Street in the Cabrini-Green housing project, photographed in 1998 by Camilo J. Vergara (Library of Congress)....

(Above) Area in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood in which a revised “Old Town Canvas” is planned. (Click on image to view larger version.)...