Enjoy Chicago

We’ve been chattering about the possibility of 5% average mortgage rates for years here on Crib Chatter.

Every time the rates have gotten close, they have retreated…until now.

For the first time since 2011, 30-year average mortgage rates have hit 5%.

Just a reminder, but in August, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 4.55% up from 3.88% in August 2017.

Most of the current buyers ...

About five years ago (I’m too lazy to look it up right now), the City of Chicago adopted an energy benchmarking law. This means that owners of buildings of a certain size would soon be required to report how much energy (electricity, natural gas, district steam, chilled water, and other fuels) their buildings use. Every few years they have to audit their reports.

The city has posted three years of energy reports for the “covered” buildings (the ones of a certain size)...

The Midwest Economy Index (MEI) ticked up to +0.53 in April from +0.52 in March. Contributions to the April MEI from three of the four broad sectors of nonfarm business activity and two of the five Seventh Federal Reserve District states increased from March. The relative MEI moved down to +0.18 in April from +0.31 in March. Contributions to the April relative MEI from three of the four sectors and four of the five states decreased from March.

The address 1308 N. Elston Avenue may not be familiar to most Chicagoans, but many people can picture the 100-year-old industrial structure standing between the Kennedy Expressway and the Morton Salt shed with its large south-facing billboard.

“It’s one of those buildings that we’ve all passed our entire lives,” says Regina Stilp of Farpoint Development, the Chicago-based firm that recently finished transforming the former light fixture f...

by Zachary Wright October 26, 2018

Come on out and enjoy the Highland Park Strings FREE concerts during their 40th Anniversary Season. As they begin their 40th Anniversary Season, the mission of the Strings remains the same: to provide community concerts free of charge where families, friends and North Shore neighbors can gather for an afternoon of musical enjoyment at the highest level. This unique policy of free admission is made possible by the Park District...

There was a surprising uptick in non-tenders all around baseball today, and that included a surprise non-tender on the Cubs: Ronald Torreyes.

The Cubs’ other seven arbitration-eligible players (including Addison Russell) received contract tenders for 2019, but Torreyes – whom the Cubs just acquired in trade this week, and whose pres...