Enjoy Chicago

Dress: Carolina Herrera Stripe Tulle Dress c/o also available here // love this version, too!

Bag: Ana Romero Grid Leather Clutch c/o // Shoes: Brian Atwood Platform Heels

Eyewear: Céline White Marta Sunglasses // Jewelry: Julie Vos Florentine Hoop Earrings c/o

Dress: Carolina Herrera Stripe Tulle Dress c/o also available here // love this version, too!

Bag: Ana Romero Grid Leather Clutch c/o // Shoes: Brian Atwood Platform Heels

Eyewear: Céline White Marta Sunglasses // Jewelry: Julie Vos Florentine Hoop Earrings c/o

Photography by Allie Provost.

Find all of my favorite murals, street art, and colorful walls in my New York Wall Charades Guide!

Follow Style Charade on Bloglovin’!

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 have likely locked in those lower August rates but moving forward, such as in January and February 2019, those buyers likely won’t have that same lower rate.

Some argue that 5% mortgage rates are still “cheap” compared to the 6%+ level of the pre-2011 period so what’s the big deal?

But home prices have now returned to 2007-2008 highs, or even exceeded them. 5% rates mean higher monthly costs.

How much would a standard 2/2 monthly mortgage payment rise with 5% rates?

This 2-bedroom in Michael’s Terrace at 1309 N. Wells in Old Town came on the market in June 2018.

The listing says it was “gut rehabbed.”

It has an east facing balcony and windows.

The kitchen has white cabinets, quartz counter tops and new stainless steel appliances.

It has hardwood floors in the living/dining room.

This unit has the features buyers look for including central air, washer/dryer in the unit and garage parking is included.

Originally listed in June for $419,000 it has been reduced to $414,900.

I ran the mortgage costs for this unit at 30-year rates of 4.55% and at 5% on Baird and Warner’s mortgage calculator.

At 4.55% with a 10% down payment, or $41,490, the monthly mortgage payment including taxes, PMI and insurance is $2671.04 (this doesn’t include the assessments):

• Principal: $1903.12
• Taxes: $494.92
• Ins/PMI: $273 (PMI = $152; INS = $1452 yearly)
• Total = $2671.04

At 5% with a 10% down payment:

• Principal: $2004.55
• Taxes: $494.92
• Ins/PMI: $273
• Total = $2772.46

The 5% rate is just $101.42 more a month.

Is the 5% rate a game changer in the Chicago market or is it much ado about nothing?

Patrick Santry at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures here.

Unit #907: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed

• Sold in February 1995 for $122,000
• Sold in April 1999 for $195,000
• Sold in February 2004 for $280,000
• Originally listed in June 2018 for $419,000
• Reduced and raised
• Currently listed at $414,900 (includes garage parking)
• Assessments of $560 a month (includes doorman, exterior maintenance, scavenger and snow removal)
• Taxes of $5939
• Central Air
• Washer/dryer in the unit
• Bedroom #1: 15×11
• Bedroom #2: 13×11
• Living room: 19×16
• Kitchen: 13×7

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) on its data portal. I copied the Chicago Energy Benchmarking dataset into the Chicago Cityscape database (for future features) and then loaded it into QGIS so I could analyze the data and find the least efficient buildings in Chicago.

The dataset has all three years so I started the analysis by filtering only for the latest year, 2016. I first visualized the data using the “ghg_intensity_kg_co2e_sq_ft” column, which is “greenhouse gas intensity, measured in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per square foot”. In other words, how much carbon does the building cause to be emitted based on its energy usage and normalized by its size.

In QGIS, to symbolize this kind of quantitative data, it helps to show them in groups. Here are “small fry” emitters, medium emitters, and bad emitters. I used the “Graduated” option in the Symbology setting and chose the Natural Breaks (Jenks) mode of dividing the greenhouse gas intensity values into four groups.

There are four groups, divided using the Natural Breaks (Jenks) method. There’s only one building in the “worst” energy users group, which is Salem Baptist Church, marked by a large red dot. The darker red the dot, the more energy per square foot that building consumes.

Among the four groups, only one building in Chicago that reported in 2016 was in the “worst emitters” group: Salem Baptist Church of Chicago at 10909 S Cottage Grove Avenue in Pullman.

The Salem Baptist Church building was built in 1960, has a gross floor area of 91,800 square feet, and an Energy Star rating of 1 because it emits 304.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per square foot (kgco2esf). (The Energy Star rating scale is from 1 to 100.)

The next “worse” emitter in the same “Worship Facility” category as Salem Baptist Church is several magnitudes of order lower. That’s St. Peter’s Church at 110 W Madison Street in the Loop, built in 1900, which emits 11.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per square foot (but which also has an Energy Star rating of 1).

The vast difference is concerning: Did the church report its energy usage correctly, or are they not maintaining their HVAC equipment or the building and it’s leaking so much air?

A different building was in the “worst” emitter category in 2015 but improved something about the building by 2016 to use a lot less energy. Looking deeper at the data for Piper’s Alley, however, something else happened.

In 2015, Piper’s Alley reported a single building with 137,176 gross square feet of floor area. The building’s owner also reported 5,869,902 kBTUs of electricity usage and 1,099,712,681 kBTUs of natural gas usage. Since these are reported in kilo-BTUs that means that you multiply each number by 1,000. Piper’s Alley reported using 1 trillion BTUs of natural gas. Which seems like an insane amount of energy usage, but could be totally reasonable – I’m not familiar with data on how much energy a “typical” large building uses.

Piper’s Alley in Old Town is the building that reported two different floor areas and vastly different energy usage in 2015 and 2016. The building’s owner didn’t report data for 2014 (although it may not have been required to).

There’s another problem with the reporting for Piper’s Alley, however: For 2016, it reported a gross floor area of 217,250 square feet, which is 36 percent larger than the area it reported in 2015. The building reported using significantly more electricity (58 percent more) and significantly less natural gas (137 percent less), for a vastly lowered kgco2esf value.

I think the energy benchmarking data set needs more eyes on it. Discuss in the comments below, or reply to my Twitter thread.

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 factory into five stories of trendy loft offices.

The company essentially “decorated with demo,” reducing the old building down to its most basic—and attractive—elements: rustic brick walls, high beamed ceilings, and oversized windows.

“With an adaptive reuse project we always try to find the one key thing that sets a building apart,” explains Stilp. In the case of 1308 N. Elston this feature was the rear loading dock that Farpoint turned into a walled courtyard with new landscaping. The space serves as a building amenity and is a key part of its “unique entry sequence.”

The courtyard leads to a glass-walled lobby with a decorative green wall and a new elevator shaft clad in oxidized corten steel—a nod to the corrugated metal roof of the nearby Morton building. Above, a rooftop deck offers sweeping views of the downtown skyline.

Farpoint moved forward with the overhaul “on spec”—or without any office users signed—and the company has yet to formally announce a tenant. The development team took a risk on 1308 N. Elston because it felt strongly about its high visibility, convenience to the highway, and proximity to neighborhoods like Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, and Bucktown.

“People know the building and once they realize that they are five minutes from home, it becomes an appealing proposition,” says Stilp.

Chicago’s surrounding North Branch Corridor will eventually welcome other major investments such as the mixed-use redevelopment of the former Morton building into the “Salt District” as well as the 800-pound gorilla of a project that is Lincoln Yards.

“The North Branch is an interesting story and we’re happy to be part of it,” Stilp adds. “It’s nice to be there first.”

by Zachary Wright October 26, 2018

Having terrible neighbors can be an extremely negative experience for homeowners. However, luckily the vast majority of people currently believe that they have good neighbors. According to Realtor.com’s Good Neighbor Report, 77 percent of participants said they are satisfied with their neighbors.

“While it’s true that some people focus on what annoys them about their neighbor, it’s a welcome surprise to see that people generally think positively of their neighbors,” said Nate Johnson, chief marketing officer at realtor.com. “Trust and dependability plays an integral part in helping a neighborhood feel like ‘home.’ Building it can be as easy as stopping by to say hello.”

However, not everyone is happy with their neighborhoods. Around 7 percent percent of all surveyed said they don’t have good neighbors. Eight percent of women did not think they had good neighbors, while 5 percent of men agreed.

But there are still some who may not know their neighbors. Nearly one-fifth of participants said they don’t know if they have a good neighbor. Eighteen to 34-year-olds had the highest unsure responses at 21 percent, compared to 17 percent of 35 to 54 year olds and 13 percent of those 55 and older.

Either way, all generations agreed that being quiet and trustworthy are the most important qualities in being a good neighbor with more than half of those surveyed listing those as important qualities. Friendship isn’t required to be a good neighbor, with less than 15 percent saying friendship isn’t necessary.

Disrespecting the property is the worst quality a neighbor can have, according to 67 percent of respondents. Being loud, messy and unfriendly were also named the worst qualities.

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 of Highland Park, YEA! Highland Park, the Negaunee Foundation and the generosity of other supportive foundations and individual donors. They are also pleased this season to join in the celebration of the sesquicentennial of the City of Highland Park which was organized in 1869. To help observe this special year-long event—titled “HP150”, ALL of the soloists at the concerts will be residents of Highland Park. It is not an overstatement to say: “Highland Park’s Got Talent”.

The opening concert in October will present the acclaimed pianist SUSAN MERDINGER. Making her second appearance with the Strings, pianist Susan Merdinger, who will open the season with Tchaikovsky’s “Concerto for Piano No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23” at 3 p.m. on Oct. 21 at Highland Park High School, the orchestra’s performing home. The program will also include Tchaikovsky’s “Polonaise” from “Eugene Onegin” and Schumann’s “Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major.

The holiday concert in December will feature husband and wife, DAVID CUNLIFFE AND DESIREE RUHSTRAT. Comprising two-thirds of the Grammy nominated Lincoln Trio (which this summer made its 11th appearance at Ravinia), David and Desiree will perform The Muse and the Poet by Saint-Saens. Lawrence Block will also be joined by LUCY COLMAN in the Concerto for Two Cellos by Vivaldi—a reprise of the first performance 28 years ago.

The final concert in May features Highland Park High School graduate, cellist BEN FRIED, who will perform the extraordinarily difficult Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich. The Strings will close the season with the New World Symphony by Dvorak.

• When: 3 p.m. on Oct. 21, Dec. 2, and May 19
• Where: Highland Park High School, 433 Vine Ave., Highland Park
• Tickets: Free admission

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 presence made it all the more understandable that the Cubs would part with Tommy La Stella – was not tendered. Interesting.

Perhaps the Cubs thought they could trade for him and then get him to agree to a contract for 2019 at $X … but then that didn’t happen, so they non-tendered him. Certainly unusual to see. Given the high volume of non-tenders around baseball, it’s also possible that the Cubs saw some other back-up middle infield types that they’d rather go after. I guess it’s also possible they wanted insurance this week in case they were able to trade Addison Russell. Which didn’t happen.

The Cubs could still try to re-sign Torreyes, but he’s a free agent now.

The Cubs tendered contracts to all of their pre-arbitration players, too, with the exceptions of pitchers Allen Webster and Justin Hancock. Hopefully the Cubs already have minor league deals in place with them, because both would be nice arms to keep in a depth position for the bullpen next year.

After the moves, the Cubs’ 40-man roster stands at 36.