How Al Friedman helped create River North

The first night I ever spent in Chicago was in a fleabag hotel on Wells Street in the late-60s. The area now known as River North was then one of Chicago’s Skid Rows and my room was swarming with roaches.

Business Week recently spotlighted River North’s transition into its current affluence and a destination for tech-oriented offices. The Business Week article quotes Al Friedman, who may have been the single most important individual in the neighborhood’s transformation, and who remains a major property owner in the area.

If you watch YoChicago’s four-part interview with Al Friedman you can learn a great deal about how neighborhoods change. The second, third and fourth parts of the interview, which took place seven years ago, are below.

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