As our BRO summer vacation tour continues I thought I would do a little city bashing to make Buffalo feel a bit better about itself. For my next two posts I am going to look at the seamy underside of two very different cities and compare them to Buffalo. The first city in my sights, as you can see from the title, is Chicago Illinois. yep that's right Chicago sucks.
Of course Chicago does not suck (too much). It is a fantastic city with amazing neighborhoods, a Great Lake, and a great architectural tradition. It is vibrant, fabulously wealthy, and chock full of wonderful institutions. Buffalo in many ways resembles Chicago, which might be why I was originally attracted to the city. Any individual Buffalo neighborhood could easily fit comfortably in Chicago. Also just like Buffalo, not all is good in Chicago. Although the grass may appear very green on this side of the fence it is grass that has become a bit unkempt of late. I began thinking of writing this story as the Statler troubles unfolded after the Bashar Issa debacle. That massive empty building in the center of downtown has become a poster-building for all that is wrong in New York State and Buffalo. Well Buffalo don't despair, you are not alone Chicago wants to steal your limelight.
Where do we start - First, Illinois government is in a horrible mess. It has a massive $12B deficit (not counting last year's). The governor and legislature cannot agree on how to fix it. They have not been able to pass a budget and have failed to pay out money owed state colleges and local school districts. The state told them to go borrow the money. The Chicago schools are planning to lay off 7000 teachers and increase class sizes to 38 students. The Chicago Transit Authority just recently made drastic reductions to its bus and train schedules to fill a void in its budget. The governor that I mentioned? He is in office because he took over after the last one was kicked out of office. That former gov is now on trial for corruption including trying to sell President Obama's senate seat. The governor before him is already in jail. The C(r)ook County sales tax is the highest in the nation at 11% in parts of the city. Even with this giant tax the county still has trouble balancing a budget. A former Chicago police commander was just convicted for torture and the state has a moratorium on its death penalty law because 7 or 8 death row inmates were found to actually be innocent.
With that primer let's get back to talking about big empty buildings. I know people in Buffalo like to think they are special and that a big empty Statler building is quite unique in the USA and that only Buffalo is so sucky and the Statler should be torn down and the city is corrupt and the crack addicts - blah blah blah. Well I hate to break your heart Buffalo but you are not unique. Chicago is filled with empty giants and dead projects. Much of this is due to the recent economic crisis but some of the vacancy goes back decades. Across the street from my office sits a brand new (well, 1 1/2 year old) 12-storey condo building with a massive parking garage. I think it must have over 100 apartments and also includes one commercial space. The building is completely empty. It hit the market 2 years too late. Even so, it probably would have been foreclosure central if it had been completed before the economic crash set in. Although Chicago is not in the big leagues of real estate bubble popping disasters like Las Vegas or Phoenix, it is still quite dismal owning one of the highest foreclosure rates and a hefty drop in house values. I estimate that my (paper) loss from the high point against Buffalo's continued gain in real estate value is close to $150,000, maybe more. Thankfully I did not buy in at the insane price level 2 years ago.
Half built structures are common around the city. Just down the street from the empty condo building sits the shell of a half built group of low rise condos which were halted in their tracks after the economic melt down. The biggest and most prominent of these ghost buildings is the half built Waterview Tower. It was to rise 90 stories above Wacker Drive, one of the most prestigious business streets in the city. It sits as a hulking concrete frame, having gotten to just barely above the parking deck level. Its neighbors recently sued to have the idled tower-crane removed. Walking by, pedestrians are greeted with aging signs proclaiming the great lifestyle this building was to provide.
Around the corner from Cityview Tower is Block 37. Block 37 is such a dysfunctional development site that it has an entire book written about it. The site was cleared of a fabulous set of historic buildings 20 years ago. Plans to tear down the block go back at least another 20 years before that. For 17 of those years the block sat idle except for a temporary park that gave it some much needed life. The site was finally developed with a very scaled back mixed use structure. The building came on line just in time to celebrate the bank crisis. The mall portion is mostly empty with a slowly increasing tenant base. Emptiness abounds in other large structures as well. The old county hospital building (the model setting for the TV show ER) has been empty since a new hospital was completed 8 years ago. The massive historic building is a wedding cake of detail. Some wanted to tear it down but momentum seems to be gathering to save it. No plan yet however. Chicago's old post office is another empty giant. Again it was vacated when a replacement was built. Its 3 million square feet have been empty for 15 years. The federal government spends $2 million a year to maintain the empty building. Can you think of something better to do with $30 mil and counting? No plans have stuck for this one yet either. Interesting that the feds decided to just ditch the old post office in Buffalo when its time had come. Buffalo figured out what to do with the massive building to the consternation of many who coveted the site for parking.
So all this writing to say that Buffalo really isn't doing so bad sort of. There have been a flurry of new projects proposed as the state is finally set to pass a law that benefits upstate (oh wait not yet!). On top of that the city finally has a crop of developers who actually do something, unemployment is not the worst in the country or even close to worst, real estate values continue to rise, and the sales tax is not the highest in the country. Now if only M&T does not sell out to the Spaniards and HSBC grows its presence in Downtown we can really start to party.
Next up: Buffalo Ain't Detroit
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Of course Chicago does not suck (too much). It is a fantastic city with amazing neighborhoods, a Great Lake, and a great architectural tradition. It is vibrant, fabulously wealthy, and chock full of wonderful institutions. Buffalo in many ways resembles Chicago, which might be why I was originally attracted to the city. Any individual Buffalo neighborhood could easily fit comfortably in Chicago. Also just like Buffalo, not all is good in Chicago. Although the grass may appear very green on this side of the fence it is grass that has become a bit unkempt of late. I began thinking of writing this story as the Statler troubles unfolded after the Bashar Issa debacle. That massive empty building in the center of downtown has become a poster-building for all that is wrong in New York State and Buffalo. Well Buffalo don't despair, you are not alone Chicago wants to steal your limelight.
Where do we start - First, Illinois government is in a horrible mess. It has a massive $12B deficit (not counting last year's). The governor and legislature cannot agree on how to fix it. They have not been able to pass a budget and have failed to pay out money owed state colleges and local school districts. The state told them to go borrow the money. The Chicago schools are planning to lay off 7000 teachers and increase class sizes to 38 students. The Chicago Transit Authority just recently made drastic reductions to its bus and train schedules to fill a void in its budget. The governor that I mentioned? He is in office because he took over after the last one was kicked out of office. That former gov is now on trial for corruption including trying to sell President Obama's senate seat. The governor before him is already in jail. The C(r)ook County sales tax is the highest in the nation at 11% in parts of the city. Even with this giant tax the county still has trouble balancing a budget. A former Chicago police commander was just convicted for torture and the state has a moratorium on its death penalty law because 7 or 8 death row inmates were found to actually be innocent.
With that primer let's get back to talking about big empty buildings. I know people in Buffalo like to think they are special and that a big empty Statler building is quite unique in the USA and that only Buffalo is so sucky and the Statler should be torn down and the city is corrupt and the crack addicts - blah blah blah. Well I hate to break your heart Buffalo but you are not unique. Chicago is filled with empty giants and dead projects. Much of this is due to the recent economic crisis but some of the vacancy goes back decades. Across the street from my office sits a brand new (well, 1 1/2 year old) 12-storey condo building with a massive parking garage. I think it must have over 100 apartments and also includes one commercial space. The building is completely empty. It hit the market 2 years too late. Even so, it probably would have been foreclosure central if it had been completed before the economic crash set in. Although Chicago is not in the big leagues of real estate bubble popping disasters like Las Vegas or Phoenix, it is still quite dismal owning one of the highest foreclosure rates and a hefty drop in house values. I estimate that my (paper) loss from the high point against Buffalo's continued gain in real estate value is close to $150,000, maybe more. Thankfully I did not buy in at the insane price level 2 years ago.
Half built structures are common around the city. Just down the street from the empty condo building sits the shell of a half built group of low rise condos which were halted in their tracks after the economic melt down. The biggest and most prominent of these ghost buildings is the half built Waterview Tower. It was to rise 90 stories above Wacker Drive, one of the most prestigious business streets in the city. It sits as a hulking concrete frame, having gotten to just barely above the parking deck level. Its neighbors recently sued to have the idled tower-crane removed. Walking by, pedestrians are greeted with aging signs proclaiming the great lifestyle this building was to provide.
Around the corner from Cityview Tower is Block 37. Block 37 is such a dysfunctional development site that it has an entire book written about it. The site was cleared of a fabulous set of historic buildings 20 years ago. Plans to tear down the block go back at least another 20 years before that. For 17 of those years the block sat idle except for a temporary park that gave it some much needed life. The site was finally developed with a very scaled back mixed use structure. The building came on line just in time to celebrate the bank crisis. The mall portion is mostly empty with a slowly increasing tenant base. Emptiness abounds in other large structures as well. The old county hospital building (the model setting for the TV show ER) has been empty since a new hospital was completed 8 years ago. The massive historic building is a wedding cake of detail. Some wanted to tear it down but momentum seems to be gathering to save it. No plan yet however. Chicago's old post office is another empty giant. Again it was vacated when a replacement was built. Its 3 million square feet have been empty for 15 years. The federal government spends $2 million a year to maintain the empty building. Can you think of something better to do with $30 mil and counting? No plans have stuck for this one yet either. Interesting that the feds decided to just ditch the old post office in Buffalo when its time had come. Buffalo figured out what to do with the massive building to the consternation of many who coveted the site for parking.
So all this writing to say that Buffalo really isn't doing so bad sort of. There have been a flurry of new projects proposed as the state is finally set to pass a law that benefits upstate (oh wait not yet!). On top of that the city finally has a crop of developers who actually do something, unemployment is not the worst in the country or even close to worst, real estate values continue to rise, and the sales tax is not the highest in the country. Now if only M&T does not sell out to the Spaniards and HSBC grows its presence in Downtown we can really start to party.
Next up: Buffalo Ain't Detroit
![Selling [ Off ] Buffalo](http://www.buffalorising.com/assets_c/2011/02/Central-Art-deco-Buffalo-NY-thumb-145x145-18060.jpg "Selling [ Off ] Buffalo")
Thanks for some well-needed perspective, Steel. I think Buffalo shares many of the same positive and negative aspects of larger cities, just to a smaller scale in each case.
I took the train to Chicago a few months ago, and it was quite an eye-opener arriving in Chicago through the South Side. The vacancy and empty blocks there make much of Buffalo's East Side look positively stable and charming.
I also have taken the train to and through Chicago, I really like seeing a city from the backside so to speak, it gives a different perspective that helps get an overall feel of the place. Also tends to take you through the historic core areas where many of the oldest buildings survive.